Word: economists
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...fact is that past fare wars have been one of the chief causes of the recent Darwinian merger wave. Says Economist Alfred Kahn of Cornell University, who is widely viewed as the father of airline deregulation: "Instability is the price we pay for competition." Indeed, some 150 airlines have filed for bankruptcy or ceased operation since 1978, as the industry has lurched from occasional feast to occasional famine. The low point for deregulated airlines came in 1982, when the industry suffered an $800 million operating loss. The best unregulated year was 1984, when industry-wide profits hit $2.3 billion...
Even so, consolidation does not make it inevitable that the benefits of deregulation will disappear. Says Harvard Economist John Meyer, an expert on airline deregulation: "This may not mean the end of low fares, just the end of $99 transcontinental fares." The Department of Transportation's Scocozza argues that "as long as there is head-to-head competition in the marketplace, we should not be concerned." For every airline merger, Scocozza adds, "I see a smaller carrier taking its place." Houston-based TranStar, for example, is now offering a $79 fare between Miami and Los Angeles. As far as overall...
...able to buy more goods from American exporters. But because they are wary of rekindling inflation, Japan and Germany have not brought down their interest rates as swiftly as the U.S. would like. "We have been drumming this song for a long time," said Rimmer de Vries, chief international economist for Morgan Guaranty Trust, "but there's been no response." Late last week, though, the Japanese government did announce a $23 billion public-spending package that includes a boost in housing loans...
...strong hope for an improved trade situa tion, the economists agreed, would be a still weaker dollar. Indeed, Treasury Secretary James Baker prompted a new dip in the dollar's value last week by declaring that the currency may have to come down further to force a shrinkage of the trade deficit. If the greenback were to fall another 15% against all currencies, Economist De Vries figured, it would slash about $50 billion from the deficit. One reason: foreign manufacturers would finally be compelled to push their prices up substantially on goods sold in the U.S. The rise in import...
...TIME Board of Economists divided sharply over the virtues and vices of the comprehensive tax-reform bill, which is likely to win final approval by Congress this week. Board members hailed such features of the bill as the lowering of the top tax rate from 50% to 28%, the lifting of all tax liability from some 6 million poor Americans and the abolition of many nonproductive tax shelters. But some of TIME's economists expressed concern that this complicated legislative contraption could dampen business investment and make the rules of the tax game even more uncertain for many corporations...