Concorde’s economic lessons: a closer look - EP131

The British-French supersonic airplane Concorde soared through the skies at Mach 2 in the years 1976 to 2003. Its history illuminates several important economic and business lessons. Is a supersonic airplane simply uneconomic or will commercial passengers fly supersonic again? Show host Gene Tunny and his fellow economist Arturo Espinoza Bocangel discuss. Links relevant to the conversation EP129 which mentioned the Concorde: https://economicsexplored.com/2022/03/07/top-10-insights-from-economics-ep129-show-notes-transcript/ Economist article on the Concorde with good summary of what went wrong: https://www.economist.com/business/2003/10/16/after-concorde Conversation article on future of supersonic air travel: https://theconversation.com/supersonic-flights-are-set-to-return-heres-how-they-can-succeed-where-concorde-failed-162268 AP article on Concorde being “unexpected success” in 1986: https://apnews.com/article/fa1e281d544267a8afe77afceaf3f03f Early seventies cost-benefit analysis of the Concorde mentioned in the episode: http://www.bath.ac.uk/e-journals/jtep/pdf/Volume_V1_No_3_225-239.pdf Other websites consulted: https://daily.jstor.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-supersonic-concorde/ https://www.businessinsider.com/concorde-supersonic-jet-history-2018-10?r=AU&IR=T https://theadaptivemarketer.com/2012/01/14/a-pricing-lesson-from-the-concorde/ https://www.heritageconcorde.com/who-built-concorde https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-concorde/ https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/concorde2.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde https://ultimateclassicrock.com/phil-collins-live-aid/ https://www.cntraveler.com/story/celebrity-passengers-and-caviar-at-55000-feet-what-it-was-like-to-fly-concorde-in-the-70s https://www.economist.com/1843/2018/09/03/when-concorde-was-the-future Thanks to the show’s audio engineer Josh Crotts for his assistance in producing the episode. Please get in touch with any questions, comments and suggestions by emailing us at [email protected] or sending a voice message via https://www.speakpipe.com/economicsexplored. Economics Explored is available via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, and other podcasting platforms.