Unintended Consequences

Abstract

Any action to manipulate a system to produce a desired outcome can generate one or more unintended consequences. We all know that a number of powerful and effective drugs that reduce or cure disease also produce harmful side effects. While scarcity and high cost of food led to malnutrition and starvation in many underdeveloped economies, the solving of food problem in those places is leading to obesity and related ailments. With the application of system knowledge, one can reduce or eliminate some of these negative consequences. However, not all unintended consequences are bad, as in the case of aspirin, which was originally used for pain relief was later found to be an anticoagulant that reduces the possibility of heart attack.

The chapter offers many examples of negative and positive unintended consequences of our actions. They range from the war on drugs, Aswan High Dam, and the iron ore mining boom in Australia. The chapter ends with a discussion on how to minimize the occurrence of unintended consequences.