Como se definem objectivos (parte IV)

Há muitos anos fui a uma entrevista de emprego numa fábrica de pneus. A caminho da sala onde teria a reunião passei pela produção. Não sei a que propósito alguém me contou que se os pneus tivessem defeitos reparáveis à saída do molde os operários teriam de fazer horas extra para os reparar. Eu, jovem inexperiente, achei a coisa absurda por poder ser um incentivo para produzir defeitos, ou para os evitar.

Entretanto, descobri esta página cheia de exemplos deliciosos, "Perverse incentive". O primeiro é o Cobra Effect:

"The term cobra effect was coined by economist Horst Siebert based on an anecdotal occurrence in India during British rule. The British government, concerned about the number of venomous cobras in Delhi, offered a bounty for every dead cobra. Initially, this was a successful strategy; large numbers of snakes were killed for the reward. Eventually, however, people began to breed cobras for the income. When the government became aware of this, the reward program was scrapped. When cobra breeders set their snakes free, the wild cobra population further increased."

E o último:

"In his autobiography, Mark Twain says that his wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens, had a similar experience:

Once in Hartford the flies were so numerous for a time, and so troublesome, that Mrs. Clemens conceived the idea of paying George a bounty on all the flies he might kill. The children saw an opportunity here for the acquisition of sudden wealth. ... Any Government could have told her that the best way to increase wolves in America, rabbits in Australia, and snakes in India, is to pay a bounty on their scalps. Then every patriot goes to raising them." 

Parte I, parte II e parte III.