Alfred E. Kahn
| Alfred E. Kahn | |
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| Born | October 17, 1917 |
| Died | December 27, 2010 (aged 93) |
Alfred Edward Kahn (October 17, 1917 – December 27, 2010) was an American professor, an expert in regulation and deregulation, and an important influence in the deregulation of the airline and energy industries. Commonly known as the "Father of Airline Deregulation," he chaired the Civil Aeronautics Board during the period when it ended its regulation of the airline industry, paving the way for low-cost airlines, from People Express to Southwest Airlines.
He was the Robert Julius Thorne Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Cornell University.
Kahn was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on Oct. 17, 1917, to parents Jacob and Bertha Kahn. His father, a Russian Jewish immigrant, worked in a silk mill. Kahn graduated from high school at 15 and New York University at 18, summa cum laude (highest average in his graduating class). He earned his doctorate in economics from Yale University in 1942 after graduate study at NYU and the University of Missouri.
Before World War II, he also worked for policy research organizations and government agencies in Washington, including the Brookings Institution and the antitrust division of the U.S. Justice Department. After serving in the United States Army, he became Chairman of the Department of Economics at Ripon College.
He moved to Cornell University in 1947, where he served as chairman emeritus of the Department of Economics (a position he held for the rest of his life), as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University and as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1974 he became chairman of the New York Public Service Commission, and later served as Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, Advisory to the President on Inflation under Jimmy Carter, and Chairman of the Council on Wage and Price Stability – Carter’s “inflation czar” – through 1980.
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