Law of diminishing returns

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The law of diminishing returns: at some point, doing more of the same stops paying off like it used to.

You might think that adding more of a good thing would make things better. And, yes, that’s often true, up to a point. However, the law of diminishing returns suggests that as you add more of a single factor, you are likely to yield progressively lower benefits.

It’s like the old adage, “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” Another cook or two might help, but beyond that, they’ll probably start getting in each other’s way. Aside from cooking broth, you might see the law play out in spending on advertisements, quality improvements in production or your wealth.

And we should also never forget that more is different.

The sketchplanation is an homage to perhaps my favourite comedy sketch with an early-career Simon Pegg in the series Big Train: The Cake Factory (video) . Well worth two and a half minutes.

Also see:

The law of diminishing brownies

I updated this sketch for the release of Big Ideas Little Pictures. Here's the original

Published 30 Nov 2019

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What is the difference between traditional Stock, Broth and Jus explained: a large cooking pot of water has bones thrown in to make Stock. A second pot has meat added to water to make Broth. The cooking tray used to roast a chicken is tipped up to pour out the Jus, made from pan drippings.

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People are complicated. Life is complicated. Ecosystems are complicated. And despite our best efforts or intentions, we have a remarkable history of messing things up in unexpected ways. One simple theory for why this may be is that unintended consequences are likely to happen whenever we try to regulate a complex system by using a simple system. This so often happens in any kind of large-scale or government attempt to control something within a complex system using relatively simple programs, regulations, laws, policies or other actions. Things will happen that we didn’t anticipate. Examples of the Law of Unintended Consequences Examples abound: A policy of suppressing forest fires that goes on to cause even greater fires. An attempt to reduce traffic in Bogotá by restricting who could drive each day based on licence plates that led people to simply buy more cars. More open workplaces that cause people to behave more privately: the transparency paradox. Elimination of predators that leads to the proliferation of grazing animals and a reduction in diversity. The effects of literally any dam built anywhere. What happens when you change software. Desire paths The Streisand effect The Diderot effect Or social distancing policies that results in outdoor natural spaces being crammed with people at weekends. And on, and on. The traffic example in Bogotá is from the Freakonomics podcast episode on the cobra effect. The workplace privacy example is known as the transparency paradox. Related Ideas to the Law of Unintended Consequences Often, as with some of these, the outcome can be the opposite of what you intended, known as the cobra effect. Controlling complex systems is difficult. Goodhart's Law Campbell's Law You Get What You Measure Conway's Law The Law of Diminishing Returns…People are complicated. Life is complicated. Ecosystems are complicated. And despite our best efforts or intentions, we have a remarkable history of messing things up in unexpected ways. One simple theory for why this may be is that unintended consequences are likely to happen whenever we try to regulate a complex system by using a simple system. This so often happens in any kind of large-scale or government attempt to control something within a complex system using relatively simple programs, regulations, laws, policies or other actions. Things will happen that we didn’t anticipate. Examples of the Law of Unintended Consequences Examples abound: A policy of suppressing forest fires that goes on to cause even greater fires. An attempt to reduce traffic in Bogotá by restricting who could drive each day based on licence plates that led people to simply buy more cars. More open workplaces that cause people to behave more privately: the transparency paradox. Elimination of predators that leads to the proliferation of grazing animals and a reduction in diversity. The effects of literally any dam built anywhere. What happens when you change software. Desire paths The Streisand effect The Diderot effect Or social distancing policies that results in outdoor natural spaces being crammed with people at weekends. And on, and on. The traffic example in Bogotá is from the Freakonomics podcast episode on the cobra effect. The workplace privacy example is known as the transparency paradox. Related Ideas to the Law of Unintended Consequences Often, as with some of these, the outcome can be the opposite of what you intended, known as the cobra effect. Controlling complex systems is difficult. Goodhart's Law Campbell's Law You Get What You Measure Conway's Law The Law of Diminishing Returns

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