This article from the BBC provides an amusing and thought provoking illustration of the rule of unintended consequences. The rule of unintended consequences says that when new laws or rules are imposed, people often change their behavior in response to the new constraints or stimuli in some very unexpected ways--often which run counter to the intent of the law put in place.
A lot of folks (especially lawyers) seem to think that if you promote or restrain certain behaviors, then that is all you get. However, they fail to understand that people will adjust their behavior as they see fit and not necessarily as others wish them to. As the world is a complicated fabric of individual actors, the unintended consequences of rule changes can be many, varied, and downright bizarre. It is the reason that the legislative process (or indeed company policymaking) can sometimes resemble a game of “whack a mole.” A perceived malady will pop up and get beaten down, only to produce many other effects that may either be good or bad but entirely unexpected.
Anyway, the article is on the unintended consequences of the smoking ban in bars in Scotland. There are some real surprises. And if you want a challenge, try to think of a few ways that a smoking ban may actually get more people smoking before you read the article.
it's absolutely amazing how entwined everything is in this world. So with bar tabs down and chef wages up, is this the ultimate cause of inflation? ;)
When I saw the bit about increasing global warming I was ready for a big laugh, expecting that some schmoe was going to say that the cigarettes outside were adding more emissions... Thank goodness that wasn't the claim.
Posted by: David McGinnis | 23 May 2007 at 02:23 PM