[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 29, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S1932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                      REMEMBERING DR. ALFRED KAHN

 Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, as chairman of the Senate's Judiciary 
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, I 
pay tribute to a giant of antitrust law and economics, the economist 
and legal scholar Alfred E. Kahn, who passed away on December 27, 2010, 
at the age of 93.
  A scholar at the forefront of public utility deregulation, Dr. Kahn 
was perhaps best known as the ``father of airline deregulation.'' His 
work in the Carter administration in the 1970s to deregulate the 
airline industry led the way for dramatic reductions in airline fares, 
saving consumers billions, when he spearheaded passage of the U.S. 
Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 as chair of the now-defunct Civil 
Aeronautics Board. While a highlight of his career, this was just one 
of many of Dr. Kahn's achievements--throughout his life he was an 
outstanding advocate for consumers, against monopoly and unnecessary 
government interference in the private market, and for the creative and 
vigorous enforcement of antitrust law.
  Born on October 17, 1917, in Paterson, NJ, the son of Russian 
immigrants, Alfred Edward Kahn graduated from New York University, 
first in his class, at the age of 18 and received a Ph.D. from Yale 
University. In the early 1940s, Dr. Kahn worked at the Brookings 
Institution, in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, 
and for the War Production Board as an economist.
  During World War II, Dr. Kahn served as an Army economist for the 
Commission on Palestine Surveys. Soon after the war, he spent 2 years 
as a professor at Ripon College in Wisconsin, before beginning his 
esteemed career at Cornell University, which, other than the time he 
spent in public service, would last until his death.
  Before stepping onto the national political scene, Dr. Kahn served as 
head of the New York State Public Service Commission, the State's 
regulator for electricity, gas, water, and telephones. From there, 
seeking to use deregulation as a means to stimulate economic growth, 
President Carter tapped Dr. Kahn to serve as chairman of the now-
defunct Civil Aeronautics Board in 1977. The CAB was entrusted with 
economic regulation of the airlines--including the routes carriers 
could fly and the fares they could charge.
  At the time of his appointment, Dr. Kahn professed to know little 
about the airline business, referring to airplanes as ``marginal costs 
with wings.'' However, he was a quick study, and the industry was ripe 
for change. Substantial investments had recently been made in wide-body 
aircraft, and industry players wanted access to new routes and new 
passengers. Though slight in physical stature and viewed purely as an 
academic and not someone who could wield much influence, Dr. Kahn was 
able to take on the industry and persuade the establishment that 
excessive government regulation had long-harbored inefficiency and was 
facilitating artificially inflated fares.
  Through various avenues, including the press, CAB proceedings, and 
testimony in Congress, Dr. Kahn was the intellectual leader and primary 
advocate of deregulating the airline industry, highlighting that many 
planes were flying half full at fares many could not afford. Less than 
2 years after assuming his post at the CAB, Congress passed and 
President Carter signed into law the Airline Deregulation Act. This 
landmark legislation was the first complete dismantling of a Federal 
regulatory scheme since the 1930s. In all, Dr. Kahn testified before 
U.S. House and Senate committees more than 70 times in his career. He 
testified before our Antitrust Subcommittee several times, always 
eloquently and honestly, with impressive candor and penetrating 
insight.
  In later years, Dr. Kahn steadfastly defended his work on airline 
deregulation by pointing out that more Americans were flying with 
greater choice at lower rates than ever before. In a 1998 essay in the 
New York Times, Dr. Kahn admitted that even though the ``resulting 
competitive regime has been far from perfect, it has saved travelers 
more than $10 billion a year.'' For Dr. Kahn, the deregulation of the 
airline industry had one powerful effect: empowering the consumer 
through competition. This was perhaps the signal achievement of his 
outstanding career. Throughout his life, he stood for consumers against 
entrenched monopolies, for innovation against the established economic 
order, and for unleashing the dynamism and creativity of an unfettered 
free market and excessive and heavyhanded regulation.
  Not only a brilliant economist and legal scholar, Dr. Kahn will be 
remembered for his sharp wit and humor. Dr. Kahn famously created a 
buzz with his initiative to eliminate government ``bureaucratese'' when 
the Washington Post published a copy of his memo calling for his staff 
to use ``plain English'' and ``quasi-conversational, humane prose'' in 
their writing. Following his time in Washington, Dr. Kahn returned to 
chair the economics department at Cornell, where he would author more 
than 130 academic papers and 8 books.
  Upon his passing, I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Alfred Kahn 
for his contributions to the antitrust and regulatory economics fields 
and for his service to the American people and offer my deepest 
condolences to his wife and family.

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