AN INTERESTING STORY FROM ETHIOPIA

When business, culture, politics, and psychology collide, the consequences are often disastrous.

. Ethiopia builds a new railroad across the entire country.

. To save money, they do NOT build a fence to protect the tracks from animals.

. People are worried that their camels can be killed by the train.

. The government says not to worry, they will offer compensation equivalent to twice the market value of the animal (a little under $1000 per camel). They figure it’s cheaper to compensate for the death of a few camels than build an expensive fence.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

. You probably guessed it. The number of camels that “wandered” on the rail tracks and got killed went way up!

. Turns out, many people turned the new policy into a business.

You buy a camel. You push the camel under the train. You get twice the value of the camel in compensation. You buy two camels … and so on.

GREAT INTENTIONS. DISASTROUS RESULTS.

. Trains now have to move very slowly to make sure they don’t kill any animals.

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