Home > Unintended consequence

• positive, in which case we get serendipity or windfall s
• source of problems, according to the Murphy's law
• definitively negative: perverse effect, which is the opposite result to the one intended

The Law of unintended consequences holds that almost all human actions have at least one unintended consequence. In other words, each cause has more than one effect including unforeseen effects.

1 What causes this phenomenon

Much of this phenomenon is a result of the world's complexity.

Also a certain amount can be attributed partly or entirely to human stupidity, self-deception or other cognitive biases or emotional bias es.

The most common kind of unintended consequences arises from perverse incentives, a term for an incentive that has the opposite effect to that intended. See the article on perverse incentives for many examples of this.

2 Examples of high scale unintended consequences

Of course, unintended consequences are common in everybody's life, but some can impact the whole society. Here are some examples:

• In medicine unintended consequences are known as side effects. Most drugs have some side effects. As with other unintended consequences, these are often negative, but are sometimes beneficial; for instance aspirin, a pain reliever, can also help prevent heart attacksplaque builds up in the walls of blood vessels. Acute myocardial infarction AMI or MI , commonly known as heart attack is a serious, sudden heart condition characterized by varying degrees of chest pain, weakness, sweating, nausea, and vomiting, sometimes.

• The introduction of rabbitRabbit usually refers to the European Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus a native of southern Europe. It has been widely introduced elsewhere often with devastating effects on local biodiversity. Rabbits in the wild The European Rabbit is a small grey-brown mams into AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring count for sport led to an explosive growth in population, and led to rabbits becoming a major pestA pest is an animal which has characteristics which people regard as injurious or unwanted. It is possible for an animal to be a pest in one setting but beneficial or domesticated in another (for example, European rabbits introduced to Australia caused ec in Australia.

• " ProhibitionFor the judicial writ of prohibition, see Prohibition (writ). For prohibition of drugs in general, see Prohibition (drugs . Prohibition was the period between 1919- 1932 in Finland (called 'kieltolaki'), between 1900 and 1948 in locations in Canada and be", intended to suppress the alcohol trade, drove many small-time alcohol suppliers out of business, consolidating the hold of large-scale organized crimeOrganized crime is crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. The Organized Crime Control Act ( US 1970) defines organized crime as: "The unlawful activities of. a highly organized, disciplined association. Some Criminal Organizati over the illegal alcohol industry.

• Sixty years later, the " War on Drugs", intended to suppress the illegal drug trade, has driven many small-time drugs dealers out of business, consolidating the hold of large-scale organized crime over the illegal drugs industry.

• The medieval policy of setting up large hunting reserves for the nobilityThe nobility represents, or has represented, the higher stratum of a society in which social classes can be distinguished. The most distinctive feature of nobilty is that once acquired, it is passed to descendants, possibly according to some rules. Initia has preserved green space throughout England.

• The wartime sinking of ships in shallow waters creates artificial coral reefs.

• In CIA jargon, " blowback" describes the phenomenon of supporting a foreign regime or terrorist entity, on the principle that your enemy's enemy is your friend, only to have it attack you, often with the weapons and resources you gave it. Examples include:
  • support of Colonel Manuel Noriega
  • support of the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan, and later the Taliban
  • support of Saddam Hussein
  • support of Al-Qaida

• In countries where firearm ownership is or was recently legal, restrictions on legal ownership of firearms has been associated with increases in personal crimes as criminals have less to fear from victims who are more likely to be unarmed.

• Numerous attempts by governments to reduce accommodation costs by the introduction of rent controls has led to the unintended consequences of shortage of property and reduction in quality or even the creation of slums — rental property not being built or maintained.