Book excerpt: Aviation Markets: Studies in Competition and Regulatory Reform is a collection of 17 papers selected from David Starkie's extensive writings over the last 25 years. Previously published material has been extensively edited and adapted, and combined with new material, published here for the first time. The book is divided into five sections, each featuring an original overview chapter, to better establish the background and also explain the papers' wider significance including, wherever appropriate, their relevance to current policy issues. These papers have been selected to illustrate a significant theme that has been relatively neglected thus far in both aviation and industrial economics: the role of the market and its interplay with the development of economic policy in the context of a dynamic but partly price regulated industry. The result provides a strong flavour of how market mechanisms, and particularly competition, can operate to successfully resolve policy issues. The book will be of interest to academics and those engaged in the formulation of aviation policy, such as public administrators and consultants, as well as those working in the aviation industry. It is also relevant to economic studies in a more general context, particularly to students and practitioners in industrial organisation economics, including those studying and researching the public utility industries.