Part 2/13:
In the annals of history, lessons from governance rarely fade without a trace, and yet, humanity often seems doomed to repeat errors of the past. One striking example is the British Raj's ill-fated campaign against cobras in colonial India. Faced with a substantial population of deadly snakes threatening agriculture and plantation operations, the British government opted for a bounty system to incentivize snake hunting. Initially, this approach yielded significant results as people flocked to earn more via hunting than in traditional jobs. However, it soon backfired as cunning local farmers began breeding cobras, realizing that the bounty system could be exploited for profit. Upon discovering this subterfuge, the British government scrapped the program, setting loose a far larger cobra population than before. Economists call this a case of “perverse incentives,” where instead of resolving an issue, an attempt to solve it creates a more significant problem.