Cobra Effect
Back in 1870s, The British Government was troubled by the growing cobra population in and around Delhi. To solve that problem as they started a reward program for every indian that bought a dead snake back to officials.
Though the strategy seemed to work initially however, in the desire to get maximum rewards, breeding of cobras proliferated among the enterprising people of India.
The British Government thus ended up with more problems the results of their actions could have unintended consequences or Second Order Effects.
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Most of us think and care about only the immediate implications of our decisions/actions don't consider that our actions could have unintended consequences or Second Order Effects.
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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...
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