TradeOffs: Helping Out (1978)

This Canadian economic-education film, Tradeoffs, teaches the idea of indirect benefits (and the policy choices they create) through a story about rabies vaccination. A town-council member, Martin, argues against publicly funded “life-saving classes” and insists people should pay for what they want—until his daughter Sarah is bitten by a stray red dog and faces the prospect of painful rabies shots if the animal can’t be found and proven vaccinated. The frantic search reveals the real problem: when vaccination is left purely to individual choice and cost, some owners skip it, creating risks for everyone—especially when animals roam and records are hard to verify quickly. After learning the dog actually had a recent rabies shot (paid for by someone else), Martin recognizes that one person’s action protected strangers like Sarah and reverses his stance, concluding the community may need to ensure universal coverage. The film then explicitly frames the policy “tradeoffs,” asking viewers to evaluate three alternatives—fines/penalties, tax-funded subsidies, or encouragement/voluntary compliance—using criteria like owner freedom, owner responsibility, and who benefits.