The Cobra Effect - Deepstash

The Cobra Effect

  • The British offered bounties for cobra heads—so locals bred cobras to turn in their heads.
  • A policy designed to reduce the cobra population had the opposite effect.

Lesson: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

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todho

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  • The wrong metrics can cause unintended consequences. For example, when the British government offered a bounty for every dead cobra in Delhi, enterprising start...

Origin of The Cobra Effect

Origin of The Cobra Effect

The term ‘Cobra Effect’ originates from Colonial India, which was under the rule of the Britishers. To tackle the problem of the growing number of cobras, the British government announced a bounty on every dead cobra. Enterprising locals started breeding cobras and kept on claiming the bounty...

Good Heart's Law: A measure ceases to be a good measure when it becomes the target

JAMES CLEAR

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