Economic perspectives on aviation security

This chapter investigates economic aspects of aviation security, which we argue defines a fundamental economic problem, that of resource allocation. We review the recent history of attacks on civil aviation and the institutions that comprise global governance of aviation security. We outline economic approaches to defining and measuring output, cost efficiency and productivity and we compare the costs and the financing of aviation security across international jurisdictions. We consider the economic arguments underlying the question of who should pay for aviation security and we discuss the necessity for significant changes to the future implementation of aviation security in the decades to come.