Background

Law that cannot be repealed

The Law of Unintended Consequences was first identified by famous economist Adam Smith, who wrote:

“as the “invisible hand” that moves upon laws and regulations dictated by governments and results in unintended consequences”

This is blog focuses on unintended Consequences of Government and Non-Government Organizations (NGO) intervention via policy design and implementations in society. Each law, policy and procedure has unintended consequences.

We start with the premise that all these interventions are with good intentions. This is crucial since are we not sitting judgement on the initial policy – our sole intention it to help the policy maker and other stakeholders improve the quality of intervention by anticipating the unintended consequences of the policy as currently framed i.e. what can be possible cons that are not currently apparent.

We hope by the anticipating the unintended consequences the policy design can be modified to ameliorate possible negative consequences, which could seriously impair or even overcome the intended positive benefits.

Anticipating Law of unintended Consequences

This blog focuses on anticipating Law of Unintended Consequences of Government and NGO policy intervention in current complex global environment. Too often due to Law of Unintended Consequences the secondary effects of policy decisions turn out to be at least perverse, if not downright detrimental.

The Law of Unintended Consequences is part of that pantheon of statutes written into the fiber of human existence, like Murphy’s Law, that we would love to repeal if we could. It also  like the law of gravity. You can defy it temporarily, but never escape it completely. And if ignored the result is invariably painful.

Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions

We start with the premise that these policy interventions are with good intentions. This is crucial, since are we not sitting judgement on the initial policy – our sole intention it to help the policy maker and other stakeholders improve the quality of intervention by anticipating the Law of Unintended Consequences of the policy as currently framed i.e. what are the possible cons that are not currently apparent to the policy initiators, designers and implementors.

We can safely say – Good Intentions Bad Results

 

Anticipating Unintended Consequences is the Key

We hope by the anticipating the unintended consequences the policy design can be modified to ameliorate possible negative consequences, which could seriously impair or even overcome the intended positive benefits.

We presume that policies are intended for welfare of many. However, unfortunately, due to limited understanding of unintended consequences, many are poorly designed and at times cause more harm than good, thereby defeating the orignal intend.  By anticipating unintended consequences we hope to provide specialized input in improving policy initiation, design and implementation.

Special Interests acquire a life of their own

Off course, when policies are initiated to support/uplift a particular group or constituency ,  these take a life of their own, crowding out other priorities. No society has unlimited resources, so any incremental laws/rules/regulation/financial support should evaluated against the costs to non-special interest group members, at each step of the way.

Otherwise, single-minded promotion of special interests of a particular group imposes unintended costs to the society at large, based on The Law of Unintended Consequences.

If you want to write on this complex subject, please see

https://www.unintended.org/blog/for-contributors/

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