Lessons from Deregulation: Telecommunications and Airlines After the Crunch

Rating:
Summary: At least he's consistent
Review: In this short book, Fred Kahn gives us his take on airline and telephone deregulation. He thinks they're both swell. His analysis of phone dereg is well thought out, as you'd expect from the person most identified with it, but I fould his analysis of telephone dereg much less persuasive. He lines up solidly on the side of the Bells, and although some of his arguments are clearly true, e.g., you can't create true competition by forcing one competitor to sell below cost to another, in all I found him far too accepting of the Bells' self serving arguments.

Kahn writes well, and even if you disagree with him, he's well worth reading. Any student of industrial policy or regulation should invest an hour and read this book, either on paper or the PDF on the publisher's web site.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: You would hardly expect economist Alfred E. Kahn, the grandfather of deregulation, to back down on the concept now - and he doesn't. This helpful, up-to-date guide gives a snapshot of Kahn's take on the state of aviation and telecommunications deregulation amid the economic struggles of the post-bubble, post-Sept. 11 era. Does deregulation still serve the public's interest? Kahn, whom you can thank or curse the next time you board a cheap, overcrowded flight, argues staunchly that deregulation's biggest problems come from regulatory authorities who succumb to the temptation to, well, regulate. This is particularly true in the arcane field of telecommunications policy, where some governmental bodies have passed regulations designed to stimulate artificial, rather than market-driven, competition. Overall, the book is stronger when Kahn analyzes the complexities of aviation deregulation than it is when he unravels telecommunications policy. We highly recommend it to policy wonks who love what Kahn hath wrought and to those who wish they could hang up on it.