Tyler Cowen of MR alerts us to this abstract:

Of 174 patients with injuries of varying severity, 94% were first-time charity-parachutists. The injury rate in charity-parachutists was 11% at an average cost of £3751 per casualty. Sixty-three percent of casualties who were charity-parachutists required hospital admission, representing a serious injury rate of 7%, at an average cost of £5781 per patient. The amount raised per person for charity was £30. Each pound raised for charity cost the NHS £13.75 in return.

Parachuting for charity costs more money than it raises, carries a high risk of serious personal injury and places a significant burden on health resources.

Charity parachuting--wtf? Given the high rate of injury, perhaps I should have called this post "Better to Feel Bad than to Do Good."

This loss associated with charity brings to mind Smith's famous quote, "I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the publick good." The comments to Tyler's post contain several other examples of negative gain arising from charity.