THE COBRA
EFFECT
In the days
of the Raj someone had
A
wonderfully simple idea
To reduce
the number of deaths
From snake-bite
every year.
They
decided to pay a bounty
On each
dead snake brought to them
But grossly
underestimated
The native
business acumen.
Cobra farms
soon sprang up
All over
the place,
A nice
little earner for
The local
populace.
When the
penny finally dropped –
Or should
it be the anna
There was
surprise at the villagers’
Entrepreneural
manner.
The bounty
was withdrawn -
The cobras
were set free,
So there
were even more snakes
Than there
used to be.
When good
intentions do not have
The result
one would expect,
And only
serve to make things worse,
It’s called
“The Cobra Effect”
January
2014
p.s. When authorities try to save money –
and introduce another layer of management to do so,
it ends up costing even
more – wonderful example of
The Cobra Effect.
