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Beware the Cobra Effect! Incentives are hard, hard things to get right. "The term cobra effect originated in an anecdote set at the time of British rule of col
by dmm 9y ago
Beware the Cobra Effect! Incentives are hard, hard things to get right.
"The term cobra effect originated in an anecdote set at the time of British rule of colonial India. The British government was concerned about the number of venomous cobra snakes in Delhi. The government therefore offered bounty for every dead cobra. Initially this was a successful strategy as large numbers of snakes were killed for the reward. Eventually, however, enterprising people began to breed cobras for the income. When the government became aware of this, the reward program was scrapped, causing the cobra breeders to set the now-worthless snakes free. As a result, the wild cobra population further increased. The apparent solution for the problem made the situation even worse."
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_effect
- bcks 9y agoThis very thing happened with rats in French-occupied Hanoi in 1902: all you had to do to claim a bounty was turn in a rat’s tail. Rats without tails can still have babies and soon people were breeding rats for profit instead of killing them. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hanoi-rat-massacre-1902 https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hanoi-rat-massacre-190...