In the fall, the federal government launched a six-week pilot program to collect firearms it classified as 'prohibited' from licence-holders in Cape Breton, N.S.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press

When an individual falls victim to the sunk cost fallacy, the consequences that follow are generally even worse. Maybe it’s an extra few thousand wasted on a rust bucket of a car just to feel like the money invested in it wasn’t for nothing. Maybe it means staying in a bad relationship that ought to have ended years ago. Maybe it’s why – just to pick a totally random example – a columnist will persist with a snoozer of a column because she’s typed out 500 words already. These are emotional, illogical decisions, but humans are emotional, illogical creatures who often have a hard time reversing course when we feel like we’ve already invested a lot of money, time or attention.

When governments fall victim to the sunk cost fallacy, however, the toll is much higher than a broken-down Nissan blocking traffic. In the infamous case of the Concorde jet debacle, the British and French governments continued pouring hundreds of millions – and eventually billions – over the course of decades into developing the airliner, even after it became clear the project was not economically viable. In the end, the........

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