Too often policy is crafted based on discrete events/goals, yet enacted with a continuous time frame. Big mistake! Policy should instead try to reflect the iterated (game-theoretic) nature of history and time, often with "stop" clauses. For instance...
One example is the "Cobra" effect. Anecdotally the British gov in India, concerned about poisonous snakes, offered a bounty for every cobra head. So people bred cobras for the money. Net result: More poisonous snakes! But this has a simple solution...
If the cobra bounty was offered for only, say, 3 months, it would have been a great policy. By constraining the time, you cut out the iterated nature.
Such time limits should be done with more policies.
Such time limits should be done with more policies.
