Evaluate The Nation\'s Airport Security Systems

2 Pages 401 Words

If I had been hired as an economic consultant to evaluate the nation's airport security systems to determine the effects of a $5.00 increase to an airplane ticket and an extra 10 minute wait time for passengers; there are a few questions I would need to ask myself in my evaluation. This is an example of positive economics or analysis that answers the questions, what is or what will be.

The first question I would need to ask would be are the changes really needed? Does there really need to be a change in the security procedures already put into place after the September 11th attacks? Are the changes really warranted? This is an example of a marginal change question. How will changing one variable cause changes in another variable?

The next question that I would have to ask would be would the increase in both money and time cause people to choose other types of travel. Although $5.00 may not be a deterrent to most people, there are some people that would have a problem with the increase. There is also the question of the 10 minute wait time increase. Since time is valuable to most people, a lot of people may not want to wait the extra 10 minutes on top of the already long wait times most people experience at airports already.

Due to the events on September 11th and the current state of hostilities and terrorism however, I feel these changes are needed. There are reports everyday of airports and airplanes being surveyed by suspected terrorists to find weaknesses in the systems. If the security of airports was improved this trend would more than likely decrease. I also feel if people were given an explanation of the changes and why they are needed, more people would be willing to put up with them.

People value money and time, but I feel that in the long run; people value their safety even more. There are certain opportunity costs involved in every decision we make. The opportunity cost of safe...