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Self | History
How Vietnam’s Rat Removal Program Backfired — Bigtime
A lesson in the power of perverse incentives.
We are all a product of incentives. Some kids were paid $10 to mow their parent's lawn. I mowed my lawn — or else.
Incentives.
History’s most fascinating case of broken incentives originates in early 1900s Vietnam. It can teach you the power of engineering your own motivation — and others’.
The beginnings of trouble
Paul Doumer landed in Vietnam with hopes of reviving his career.
He’d failed miserably as Finance Minister of France. His tax policy went terribly and he resigned after one year. This was his second chance. He arrived in 1897 when Vietnam was still a French Colony.
Doumer’s job was very simple: make Vietnam profitable.
He found initial success enacting taxes and exports. His other mission was to industrialize Hanoi, both to make it inviting to tourists and to signal to the world just how successful this colony was.
