Everyone knows that when you get on an airplane that you are no longer allowed to use cell phones.
In fact, in the very first episode of the West Wing they have an issue like that. Toby Ziegler, the White House Communications Director, is on a plane when he finds out President Bartlett has been in an accident and he is unable to call to the ground because they were about to land. Toby has a hard time believing that something he bought at Radio Shack could bring down a brand new Boeing plane.
There is good news for Mr. Toby Ziegler, planes are beginning to allow text messaging and Wi-Fi on planes. The Economist is even reporting that soon there will be cell phone calls on the planes.
Planes with phones would probably cause people to be loud and keep others from sleeping. When it comes to texts and emails then it would be less intrusive. Will this stop people from wanting calls on the planes?
Should we support this because it would increase productivity of business people?
Or is this a pure case of externality?
By definition from the Economist online dictionary:
"Externalities are costs or benefits arising from an economic activity that affect somebody other than the people engaged in the economic activity and are not reflected fully in prices."
The person next to you is catching all the benefits from using the cell phone while the person sitting next to you is getting much of the cost.
What should be done?
My suggestion would be to have a separate section for business people who want to use cell phones and others who just want text messaging and email.
