NEW YORK — The government has a fairly simple response to taxpayers who are skeptical about the federal bailout of the airline industry: the potential for stock options.

        A provision in the airline bailout bill says the federal government will give preference in awarding up to $10 billion in loan guarantees to airlines “that will allow the federal government to participate in the gains of the company.”

        The government has a history of accepting equity in a publicly traded company in exchange for loan guarantees. The 1979 bailout of Chrysler, for example, had a similar arrangement that resulted in a profit of more than $300 million for the government.

        But critics expressed concern about the potential for conflicts of interest and questioned whether the government was capable of making astute investment decisions for taxpayers.

        Austan Goolsbee, an economist at the University of Chicago, called the provision troubling, likening it to the controversy surrounding privatization of Social Security accounts.

        “Would they have an incentive to make certain rules and regulations more lax on companies whose stock they own?” Mr. Goolsbee said. “Will they want to bail out certain companies or approve mergers?”

        Since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, airlines have cut capacity by 20 percent, laid off more than 90,000 employees and affirmed the likelihood of multibillion-dollar losses into 2002. Without the loans, industry officials say, some major carriers would likely go out of business by next summer.

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