Legendary Economist Alfred Kahn Dies of Cancer at Age 93; Kahn is Best Remebered for Deregulating Travel Industries

Alfred Kahn, a true historical figure, died Monday, Dec. 27, 2010, in Ithaca, New York, at the grand old age of 93. Kahn was an economist with a lot of foresight. He is regarded as the economist who was most responsible in shaping the airline industry. His efforts resulted in making jet plane travel affordable to everyone. Kahn is also held responsible, by some, for pushing the airline industry into a bankruptcy tightrope act.

He spent the majority of his academic tenure at Cornell University, though he wouldn't become a national figure until President Jimmy Carter tapped Kahn to head the Federal Civil Aeronautics Board.

President Carter didn't just pick Alfred Kahn out at random. Kahn had already published a monumental, two-volume work titled "The Economics of Regulation," and obviously Kahn called for deregulating the airline industry. So the economist was already well known for his scholarly work by the time President Carter approached Kahn to head the FCAB.

Alfred Kahn was at the top of President Carter's list of names to head the Council on Wage and Price Stability, though by the time he took the position, it was too late and Kahn could do little to stem the constantly expanding inflation in the 1970s.

Alfred Kahn was a revolutionary and well ahead of his time. Some of his accomplishments also include deregulating control of the air, rail and trucking industries. There is also little doubt that deregulation increased competition. This, in turn, lowered ticket prices, which allowed almost all Americans the same travel luxuries that were once reserved for the rich only.

Kahn, years later, stated, "the competition that deregulation brought certainly was terribly, terribly hard on the airlines and their unions, who had heretofore enjoyed the benefits of protection from competition under regulation." So Kahn can certainly be viewed from several angles and all the points of view about him would be correct.

Deregulating air, rail, trucking and trains certainly increased competition. As we all know, when there is strong competition, it is the consumer who wins out. Nevertheless, by his own admission, Kahn came clean about his policies putting airline industries into a very tough predicament. A predicament that they still struggle with today, to some degree.

Interestingly enough, one of my favorite notable quotes comes from Alfred Kahn. He would often say, "If you can't explain what you're doing in plain English, you're probably doing something wrong."

What is Alfred Kahn's legacy?

The truth is that many of his economic ventures are still in place today and are now kept safe by the House of Representatives as well as the Senate. After all, how many times have we heard of this airline or that airline filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent years?

Kahn was a brilliant man but, like the rest of us humans, he had his flaws too.