Re: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Airline deregulation

[Doug Henwood]

Eugene Coyle wrote:

>     I liked one sentence in it, though.  "Two decades ago, supporters of the
>status quo predicted that deregulation would result in higher airfares, poorer
>quality service, and a deterioration of safety."
>
>     Well, 2 of those 3 predictions were right and I would argue the 
>3rd (higher
>fares) is correct as well.

Here's what the CPI has to say:

                 all     airfares  air/all    energy
1960s*          3.8%      3.0%       79%      2.1%
1970s           7.8%      9.2%      117%     12.9%
1980s           4.7%      8.1%      172%      1.7%
1990s           2.9%      5.1%      179%      2.2%

*starts in 1963

During the decade of the great energy inflation, airfares - adjusted 
for quality - increased a bit more than overall prices. During the 
decades of energy disinflation, they've increased at almost twice the 
rate.

So it's 3 out of 3.

Doug