The cobra effect

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The story goes something like this. Back in colonial India the top Brit in charge decided there were too many cobras around Delhi. To reduce the population they put in place a cash reward, or bounty, for anyone who brought in a dead cobra. The intention was clear. Legend has it that people did bring in the cobras reliably because some enterprising souls had started breeding cobras for the very purpose of getting the bounty. When the authorities realised this they scrapped the scheme, the cobra farms closed and the bred cobras were released into the wild significantly increasing the cobra population by a few orders of magnitude. Hence, the cobra effect: when a well-intentioned measure can have the opposite effect to that desired.

It’s not clear how true this story is, but the cobra effect has been demonstrated many times. The Freakonomics podcast on the cobra effect discusses some excellent examples (with references), including:

A bounty on rats in French colonial Hanoi — where the bounty was earned by bringing in a rat tail — which went the same way as the cobra story
Removing wild pigs at Fort Benning, Georgia, at $40 a pigs tail that didn’t make a dent. It could be the hunters would bait the pigs with all sorts of tempting scraps. Many pigs learned to avoid the hunters and instead bred like crazy while well-fed on scraps.
The capital of Colombia, Bogotá, tried to reduce traffic congestion by restricting each car from driving one day during the week. The result: people started buying more than 1 car and did more driving on weekends.
Publication of proposed areas of habitat to be protected for endangered species meant land developers responded by building in those areas before the land was protected.

People are smart. Incentives work—in the sense that you tend to get what you incentivise. So be careful what you are incentivising. As Charlie Munger said: "Show me the incentive, and I'll show you the outcome."

Also see:

Published 7 Jul 2019

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While travelling in Southeast Asia, I was in awe of the open-air kitchens of street-food restaurants. Just by wheeling out a few carefully stocked trolleys and some prepared ingredients, one person was able to run a bustling street-side restaurant serving a score of customers delicious, fresh-cooked food each night. It's a remarkable feat of ingenuity and efficiency. We had a delicious meal from an old lady in Vietnam who'd just carried her entire restaurant on a bamboo pole over her shoulder, with two large baskets at either end. The pole held everything necessary to cook, including several small stools to sit and eat on. What Makes Street Food Open-Air Restaurants Work? Some of the attributes I noticed about the best ones: Menus with Prices you can see from a Distance We made part of the decision about whether a place looked good to eat at as we approached a stand. A clear menu with large prices you can see as you walk up is a simple way to slow down the right customers before they've walked past. Fresh Ingredients on Display Seeing the fresh ingredients at the front of the stall builds trust in what you're about to eat and whets the appetite. Pre-chopped Ingredients and Giant Rice Cooker Having boxes of pre-chopped ingredients to throw in makes cooking super speedy, and as so many dishes were served with rice, a single giant rice cooker enabled preparing meals in moments. Trolleys on Wheels and Everything Within Reach Having everything on wheels allows quick and easy deployment and packing up, and a chef can adjust each unit to have everything in easy reach. Carefully Chosen Kit A single high-powered gas stove with a large wok cooks nearly all the dishes Trolleys stacked with plates, bowls, cups and utensils A waste bin handles scraps and excess liquids A multi-use towel wipes surfaces and hands Why Isn't Street Food Like This Everywhere? It helps to have the right kind of weather. A warm and generally dry climate means you don't need to rent indoor space, heat it or cover it. This enables so much creativity with food, reducing prices and barriers to entry and increasing selection. Alas, I'm in the UK for this one. It also suits food that is quick and simple to cook, often using pre-prepared, flavourful sauces and fresh ingredients that cook quickly, as opposed to dishes that require long preparation, ovens, or simmering times. Thai and Vietnamese food, in general, lend themselves well to this. It's remarkable how these simple yet effective setups can spin up a restaurant at the side of the street, turning a few trolleys, some carefully chosen gear and a talented chef into a culinary treat. Related Ideas Also see: Hedgehog a mango Cut an onion into teeny pieces Deseed a pomegranate Open a coconut Arrange kitchen storage to minimise excess travel Learn kind words first The kitchen working triangle 3 miscellaneous cooking tips And all sorts of other food and drink sketches…While travelling in Southeast Asia, I was in awe of the open-air kitchens of street-food restaurants. Just by wheeling out a few carefully stocked trolleys and some prepared ingredients, one person was able to run a bustling street-side restaurant serving a score of customers delicious, fresh-cooked food each night. It's a remarkable feat of ingenuity and efficiency. We had a delicious meal from an old lady in Vietnam who'd just carried her entire restaurant on a bamboo pole over her shoulder, with two large baskets at either end. The pole held everything necessary to cook, including several small stools to sit and eat on. What Makes Street Food Open-Air Restaurants Work? Some of the attributes I noticed about the best ones: Menus with Prices you can see from a Distance We made part of the decision about whether a place looked good to eat at as we approached a stand. A clear menu with large prices you can see as you walk up is a simple way to slow down the right customers before they've walked past. Fresh Ingredients on Display Seeing the fresh ingredients at the front of the stall builds trust in what you're about to eat and whets the appetite. Pre-chopped Ingredients and Giant Rice Cooker Having boxes of pre-chopped ingredients to throw in makes cooking super speedy, and as so many dishes were served with rice, a single giant rice cooker enabled preparing meals in moments. Trolleys on Wheels and Everything Within Reach Having everything on wheels allows quick and easy deployment and packing up, and a chef can adjust each unit to have everything in easy reach. Carefully Chosen Kit A single high-powered gas stove with a large wok cooks nearly all the dishes Trolleys stacked with plates, bowls, cups and utensils A waste bin handles scraps and excess liquids A multi-use towel wipes surfaces and hands Why Isn't Street Food Like This Everywhere? It helps to have the right kind of weather. A warm and generally dry climate means you don't need to rent indoor space, heat it or cover it. This enables so much creativity with food, reducing prices and barriers to entry and increasing selection. Alas, I'm in the UK for this one. It also suits food that is quick and simple to cook, often using pre-prepared, flavourful sauces and fresh ingredients that cook quickly, as opposed to dishes that require long preparation, ovens, or simmering times. Thai and Vietnamese food, in general, lend themselves well to this. It's remarkable how these simple yet effective setups can spin up a restaurant at the side of the street, turning a few trolleys, some carefully chosen gear and a talented chef into a culinary treat. Related Ideas Also see: Hedgehog a mango Cut an onion into teeny pieces Deseed a pomegranate Open a coconut Arrange kitchen storage to minimise excess travel Learn kind words first The kitchen working triangle 3 miscellaneous cooking tips And all sorts of other food and drink sketches

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