Book Reviews

• Author: Rolla Edward Park
• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X7502000207
• Published date: 01 June 1975
• Date: 01 June 1975
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

BOOK

REVIEWS

417

Jeremy

J.

Warford,

Public Policy Toward General Aviation,

Washington, D.C.: Brookings

Institution

(1971), 193 pp.,

$7.95.

Jeremy

Warford

argues

that

general

aviation

aircraft!

pay

too little

for

use of the nation's

airports

and

airways.

He

projects

the

average

annual subsidy to general aviation

through

the 1970s

at

$640

million-more

than

$3500

per

air-

craft.

On

both

equity

and

efficiency grounds, he

argues

that

user

charges should be

raised

to eliminate most or

all

of

the

subsidy.

Predictably,

Warford's

book has

not

been well received by

general aviation interests. Because Ihave one foot in

that

camp, I

must

be

extra

careful to reveal possible sources of

bias. As a general aviation pilot (with acommercial certifi-

cate,

instrument

and

multi-engine

ratings),

I am a

frequent

user

of the full

range

of traffic control

and

information ser-

vices

that

are

provided without

direct

charge by the

Federal

Aviation Administration. So please be

warned

that

Ihave a

direct financial

interest

in

the outcome of the

user

charges

controversy.

On the

other

hand, I am subject to

what

may

be an off-

setting

source of

bias:

As an economist who

has

studied

air-

plane congestion, Ihave published anumber of

papers

that

support

markedly

higher

flight fees

during

peak times

at

busy airports." One

major

purpose

of such fees would be to

discourage low value general aviation use

at

times when

it

imposes high congestion costs on

other

users. So please be

1General aviation

aircraft

are all those

not

owned by the

air

carriers or the military. They are mostly relatively small,

and

in-

clude

air

taxis, business

and

private planes.

2See A. Carlin

and

R. E.

Park,

The Efficient Use of

Airport

Runway Capacity in a Time of Scarcity, RM-5817-PA,

Santa

Monica:

Rand, August 1969; A. Carlin

and

R. E.

Park,

"A

Model of Long

Delays

at

Busy Airports," Journal of Transport Economics

and

Policy,

January

1970; A. Carlin

and

R. E.

Park,

"Marginal Cost

Pricing of

Airport

Runway Capacity," American Economic Review,

June

1970;

and

R. E.

Park,

"Congestion Tolls

for

Commercial

Air-

ports," Econometrica, September 1971.