Regulating Dangerous Behavior, Learning, and Externalities
In August, a Bloomington man hurt himself when he “ignited a mortar-style firework that he taped to an old football helmet and placed on his head,” as it says here. This illustrates an important point for public policy: some people are dumb enough that if we prevent them from hurting themselves on way, they will find another way, so much our our burdensome safety regulation isn’t going to help save lives in the long run.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A man suffered severe burns to his face and head when he ignited a mortar-style firework that he taped to an old football helmet and placed on his head.
Police said Kaleb Spangler, 21, of Bloomington attempted the stunt while drinking at a party along Indiana 46 between Bloomington and Nashville early Saturday morning.
His girlfriend said Spangler decided to duct tape the large firework to the old football helmet. He then put on the helmet and ignited it.
She told police she saw a large flash, then saw Spangler on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from the head. The helmet was destroyed by the blast.
Spangler was taken to Bloomington Hospital, where he was treated for severe burns, lacerations and a concussion.
Mr. Spangler is no doubt going to injure himself repeatedly until he is either dead or has some sense pounded into his head— perhaps literally, as here. As a result, it is wrong to argue that we need to ban fireworks to protect people like this from their own stupidity.
Suppose we did a cost benefit calculation and found that the cost of banning fireworks was a loss worth $200,000 to 200,000 other people (at $1 each) and a gain of $300,000 to Mr. Spangler (the value of avoiding his injury). That calculation ignores the value to Mr. Spangler of learning to be careful. Without being injured by this stunt, he is more likely to do something else and get injured that way too. In fact, the learning here might save him from death by car crash, drug overdose, or breaking his neck diving in a quarry. In that case, his injury with its consequences is an actual benefit to him.
We must remember, however, that accident-prone people do inflict negative spillovers on other people. In this case, for example, he might have injured other people with the fireworks. Dangerous drivers crash into other cars. Some kinds of dangerous behavior should indeed be regulated, to avoid harm to those who are not accident prone. But this strengthens the case for not regulating other dangerous behavior, which fails to harm others. If Mr. Spangler learns from his present injury, or is killed by a similar injury, he will not injure other, innocent people in the future. We should applaud opportunities for dangerous people to kill themselves alone rather than save themselves till they kill bystanders too.