The small Pacific island nation of Kiribati (population ~100,000) has a simple economy with two main industries: fishing and coconuts. The problem was that there were too many fishermen (or at least, too many good fishermen), so the government came up with a brilliant plan. In order to reduce overfishing, they would subsidize the coconut pickers. That way, the people would have an incentive to make more money, and the fish population would have a chance to recover.
While the government patted itself on the back for their flawless plan and passed around cigars, a grad student named Sheila Walsh thought to ask, "Hey, did your plan actually work?" Spoiler alert: It didn't.
Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
"Oops."
Walsh came back and told them that fishing was up 33 percent, and that the reef's ecosystem was in dire straits as a result. It turns out that the people weren't exactly interested in having enough money to buy whatever leisure items you might possibly need on a gorgeous Pacific island. What they were interested in was having enough spare time to enjoy leisure activities out on their oceanic paradise ... like fishing.
By subsidizing coconuts, the government had accidentally gone with the option that took up less time. Folks could now earn more money in a shorter amount of time, and now all they wanted to do was fish -- which could incidentally be used as a further source of income. Damn you, prosperity, leisure, and industriousness! Damn you to hell!
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