Let's Discuss... The Cobra Effect

In this event we going to talk about the cobra effect. In economy known as perverse incentive.

The cobra effect came from a story in Indian Briton.

"The British government, concerned about the number of venomous cobras in Delhi, offered a bounty for every dead cobra. Initially, this was a successful strategy; large numbers of snakes were killed for the reward. Eventually, however, people began to breed cobras for the income. When the government became aware of this, the reward program was scrapped. The cobra breeders set their snakes free, leading to an overall increase in the wild cobra population."

We commonly say "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".

How can we find out if our intentions and our actions have the desired effect?

How should individuals or organisations respond to the existence of perverse incentives in their environment?

Should individuals who exploit perverse incentives for personal gain face moral blame, or is the fault primarily with the system that created the incentive?

*Please do your own research and share resources related to this topic in the comment section.

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The Examined Life, "Let's Discuss..." session is an open discussion.

The format of this event will be:

13:00 - Free flow group discussion.

14:00 - Splitting to smaller groups for more engaging discretion.

16:00 - End of the official meetup. Most often attendees stay and continue discussing up to around 18:00.

For more details about the event setup: https://www.meetup.com/The_Examined_Life/messages/boards/thread/53638389

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https://www.meetup.com/The_Examined_Life/messages/boards/thread/51818751

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Art work: Le charmeur de serpents 1879 by Jean-Léon Gérôme