Economic Lessons from Obituaries

Where is the best place in the newspaper to learn about how the economy works?

In today’s Washington Post the business section has the usual stories about Ben Bernanke’s manipulations, government debt, and regulatory issues. But there is little on the innovation and dynamism that is at the heart of long-run economic growth.

It is entrepreneurs who create growth, and they are often best covered in the obituary section of the paper. Today the WaPo has a Bloomberg story about the passing of Albert Ueltschi, “who founded aviation-training company FlightSafety in 1951 [and] expanded it into an international powerhouse.”

Here are a few highlights:

As pilot of Pan American’s first corporate plane . . . Ueltschi hit upon the idea of opening a testing and training center for the booming aviation industry in the 1950s.

That company today is FlightSafety International Inc., which bills itself as the world’s leading aviation-training company, teaching pilots, aviation mechanics, flight attendants, dispatchers and others each year.

...

After graduating from high school in 1934, he opened a hamburger stand and used the proceeds to take flying lessons. A year later he borrowed $3,500 to buy an open-cockpit bi-wing airplane, the Waco 10, and made it his next business venture. "I took people up for a dollar a hop, gave lessons, and even put on air shows."

...

[I]n 1951, Ueltschi borrowed $15,000 by mortgaging his house and opened FlightSafety at LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal.

In subsequent years, Mr. Ueltschi worked his tail off juggling two jobs and building what would become a multibillion part of the U.S. economy. The government did not build FlightSafety. Nor did the government build the thousands of other firms and industries that comprise the bulk of the U.S. economy, such as the electric guitar industry, as I discuss here.

To revive the economy, we need fewer central planners like Ben Bernanke and more decentralized business-builders like Albert Ueltschi. We need more firms like FlightSafety and less like Solyndra. Both candidates for president are promising to create jobs, but what we really need is for the government to get out of way of the people who create companies and industries.

A Few Notes:

Here’s a brief history of FlightSafety and pilot training. As in some other tech industries, it appears that the government helped to boost the demand for this industry’s services. But the basic innovations and advancements were made by gutsy individuals taking risks in the marketplace.

A final note is that the Washington Post does run some articles on live entrepreneurs, not just deceased ones. For example, Thomas Heath’s column is often very interesting and inspiring.