ROME – There is a story that during British rule of India, colonial officials became concerned about poisonous cobras in the city of Delhi and decided to offer a bounty for every dead snake. Enterprising locals, naturally, began to breed cobras in order to collect the reward. When the British discovered the ruse and withdrew the offer, breeders set their now-worthless cobras free, thereby making the problem significantly worse.
The so-called “Cobra Effect” is a classic illustration of what’s come to be known as the “Law of Unintended Consequences”. Quite often, actions designed to accomplish one outcome actually generate a cascade of other effects, most of which were never envisioned or desired.
