This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, June 28th, 2017. I'm Caleb Brown.

Among federal priorities for the president, privatizing air traffic control is an idea that's worked well in Canada and Great Britain.

Chris Edwards, Director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, explains. to explain. The The President Trump has proposed privatizing the air traffic control system in his recent

budget.

The Trump idea was not a new one. The House Republicans

actually passed a bill out of committee last year to privatize our air traffic

control system which is currently run by the Federal Aviation Administration.

It's long been clear that the FAA has been bungling our Air Traffic Control System in terms

of investing in new technology and

keeping up with our increasingly crowded airspace. So the Trump proposal is

long overdue and I'm optimistic we can actually get this done and move into a better, more innovative,

more efficient air traffic control system.

Where do we see the kind of efficiency gains or cost reductions or safety benefits in a privately run air traffic control system?

That's a great question and the answer is multifaceted. We would move from a subsidized system

which we currently have to a self-funded system. So the users of the system, meaning mainly the airlines, would pay. So that's a good efficiency thing.

Secondly, we would move air traffic controllers out of the government's backwards personnel system into a private more flexible

system where you could use pay for performance.

We would move out of the government's backwards procurement system into a private system giving greater flexibility to buy and innovate

with the latest technology.

Experience in both Britain and Canada which have private systems show that private systems are just more innovative.

There's more incentive to install the latest technology and to make advances.

The U.S. system under the FAA has suffered from really backwardness in terms of its technology.

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