The Cobra Effect
The Cobra Effect
By: Steele Beatty
Sometimes when a rule is put in place and broken, there could be an unintended consequence. This is now called the “Cobra Effect”. This effect was first established in Britain because of the number of deaths caused by wild animals, especially by snakes. For example, in the years 1871 and 1872, 1,033 people lost their life to a venomous snake compared to the 227 people whose death was caused by another wild animal. In few years following, this hazard escalated to an even worse state and the government took a huge notice to it. So the government put a cash reward on any venomous snake brought to the district office in Britain. In 1873 the price was eight annas for each snake. While the snake population started to decrease, the prospect of finding a snake to kill became an even greater challenge. Since the demand for venomous snakes was still great, entrepreneurs started to breed them through mass production and district offices took notice to this when people began bringing snakes in for reward in bags of twenty or more. Once this became a recurring pattern, officials began an investigation and found that multiple residents had been breeding snakes to reap rewards from the government. They immediately dropped the program and the breeders cut their losses and let the snakes go and the supply of snakes increased from that point forward.
The Cobra Effect with
There was a rule set in place for the whole state of Wisconsin that benefitted the entire restaurant, pub, and convenience store industry in the state. Every year hunters have to register their deer they shot at a local gas station, bar, or restaurant. Except for this year the DNR put a new system in that Wisconsin residents can tag their deer online or over the phone which may have sped up the process. This online registration is active in three states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Georgia. But that had a huge opportunity cost for businesses in Cornucopia and other cities in northern Wisconsin. It caused a huge deflation in The Village Inn and in The Cornerstone in Cornucopia.
It has destroyed many bars businesses people would sit at the bar and wait for people to bring deer in every night and since everybody registers online nobody comes into the bars anymore. Also most businesses that registered deer hosted contests to see who could bring in the biggest buck that year to embrace the competitive spirit of the season. Now these competitions are no more because nobody brings their deer into town due to the convenience of online registration of their deer. This is just one of the few factors that affect the revenue of these local businesses due to online registration. This registration should be removed from each state because it takes away from the revenue of local businesses that used to register deer. Works Cited
"The Cobra Effect - Josh Linkner." Josh Linkner. N.p., 14 Mar. 2016. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.
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