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What are some examples of the law of unintended consequences?
What are unintended consequences?
What is an example of a positive unintended consequence?
What are the three types of unexpected consequences?
Possible causes of unintended consequences include the world's inherent complexity (parts of a system responding to changes in the environment), perverse incentives, human stupidity, self-deception, failure to account for human nature, or other cognitive or emotional biases.
- “Three strikes” laws may actually be increasing the murder rate, and not decreasing it.
- Seat belt laws increase the number of car accidents, and increase pedestrian and cyclist deaths.
- Banning the insecticide DDT almost certainly has led to more deaths, not fewer.
- Teaching children not to talk to strangers (e.g. the “Stranger Danger Campaign”) may be making them less safe, not more safe.
- Korean Demilitarized Zone. In July 1953 the shooting phase of the Korean War came to an end when North and South Korea signed an armistice that brought three years of brutal warfare to an end.
- HMS Dreadnought. In 1906 the British launched a revolutionary new warship. HMS Dreadnought was more heavily-armed and armored than any other ship afloat.
- India’s Vultures. In the mid-1990s India’s population of vultures began to die in droves. At first it was thought the animals were being killed off by a mysterious disease, but the culprit was eventually identified as an anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac that was being administered to sick cattle.
- The Four Pests Campaign. In 1958 Mao Zedong launched the Democratic Republic of China into what he called “the Great Leap Forward.” Over the course of five years he intended to transform China from an agrarian society into an industrial powerhouse.
The concept of unintended consequences is one of the building blocks of economics. Adam Smith ’s “invisible hand,” the most famous metaphor in social science, is an example of a positive unintended consequence.
Learn how every action has a predicted consequence and side-effects the actor did not dream of. See examples of railroads, cars, radio, TV, and InstaCalc.
Aug 6, 2019 · Unintended consequences are common and hard to predict or evaluate, and can arise through all parts of the policy process. They may come about through ineffective (null effect), counterproductive (paradoxical effect), or other policy mechanism (harmful externalities).
Learn how actions can have unanticipated outcomes, either positive or negative, and how regulations can change incentives and behaviour. See how seat belt laws, fuel eficiency standards, trade restrictions, and the invisible hand all affect the economy and society.
