The number of fireworks being lit off at night is out of control this year.
While people often light off fireworks close to the Fourth of July, this year fireworks have been lit in large numbers starting weeks earlier. New York City had a 4,000% increase in fireworks complaints in the first two weeks of June compared with last year.
And New York City is not alone. There are two possible economic reasons behind an increase in fireworks usage: falling prices or increased supply. However, neither of these is the culprit.
The vast majority of the fireworks individuals shoot off in the U.S. are manufactured overseas, mainly in China. Each shipment of fireworks brought into the U.S. includes a detailed invoice that shows the quantity and price the importer paid.
Price data for the first four months of 2020 show importers paid an average of $2.63 per kilogram for fireworks from China. A year earlier, importers paid an average of $2.60 per kilogram. This means prices rose slightly from 2019 to 2020, eliminating the falling price argument.
Increased supply is also not the reason. In a typical year there are two holidays with widespread firework usage; New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July.
Deliveries in 2020 are an exception to this pattern. Because of the coronavirus, the U.S. imported very few fireworks in March. During the first four months of 2020 the U.S. imported 9 million kilograms of fireworks from China. That’s one-third less than a year earlier.
Another potential reason could be changes in laws.
Most major dense cities such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco ban fireworks.
However, if neighboring jurisdictions have loosened their rules, then people can easily drive outside the city to purchase fireworks.
There has been a steady reduction in state prohibitions against individuals using fireworks. Only one state, Massachusetts, completely prohibits individuals from owning and using any type of fireworks. All the rest allow them in some form.
However, the most recent two states to allow consumers to shoot off fireworks are New Jersey in 2017 and Delaware in 2018. Since most states relaxed prohibitions against fireworks more than two years ago, recent rule changes also cannot be behind the increase.
To find the real reason, it helps to consider that millions of Americans have been locked down in their homes for months. As an employee at a fireworks store in Stroudsburg, Pa., put it, “People are bored. They just want to blow stuff up.”
I think the most likely reason is even simpler. It has a lot to do with opportunity costs, something economists think about.
Opportunity costs put a dollar value on what else a person could do with their time. For example, before the pandemic, I had many choices at night. I could work, go out with friends, watch TV or see a movie in the theater.
COVID-19 has dramatically reduced my choices.
The pandemic has also thrown millions out of work. Many people who would normally be working at night are not. This means the opportunity cost for using fireworks is exceptionally low compared with before, since there are so few opportunities to socialize, be entertained or work.
Beyond lower opportunity costs for fireworks users, there are many unemployed people who are now looking for opportunities to earn money. Buying fireworks in a rural area such as northern Pennsylvania and selling them at higher prices in a city that bans their sale, such as New York City, can be easy and profitable.
There is an old quote that idle hands lead to mischief. In this case, idle people lead to large amounts of illegal firework usage.
Jay L. Zagorsky is a senior lecturer at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University. Distributed by The Associated Press.
