.jpg)
The Cobra Effect Podcast
Well-meaning plans can easily backfire, leading to revolt, failure, and shocking events. From ancient Mesopotamia to current world events, The Cobra Effect Podcast explores the unintended consequences of government policies, including taxation, wage and price controls, foreign aid, collectivization, subsidies, environmental impacts, and more. Four millennia of history on all continents demonstrate that we repeat the mistakes of the past when judging ideas by intentions rather than results.
Episodes
5 episodes
Episode 05 – Luxury taxes... on the working class?
In this episode, we first travel 2,000 years to the Roman Empire to see how they taxed luxury goods. Then we travel to the United States of the 90s to see how the Luxury Tax, approved by Congress in 1990, backfired. After that, we will check on...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 5
•
30:18
.jpg)
Episode 04 – The death of the ancient Sumerian gods and their revival… in Iceland?
In this episode, we first travel more than 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, mostly modern-day Iraq. I will first describe the slow death of the Sumerian gods, and in the second half of the episode, their revival as an unintended consequence ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 4
•
21:37
Episode 03 – The utopian town of New Harmony… not harmonious?
In this episode, we first travel 2,400 years back to ancient Athens, where the playwright Aristophanes satirizes the notion of communal property leading to reliance on slaves. But the central theme of the episode is the town of New Harmony, in ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 3
•
15:55
Episode 02 – Mansa Musa's kindness… not helpful?
In this episode, we first travel 700 years to the Mali Empire in West Africa. Mansa Musa, the ninth ruler of the Mali Empire, is the protagonist of our episode. In 1324, as a devout Muslim, Mansa Musa embarked on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his w...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 2
•
29:35
Episode 01: What is the Cobra Effect… and a Brazilian polka?
In this episode, we first travel more than 100 years to the city of Delhi, in India. The British colonial government decided to eliminate the overpopulation of cobras slithering around and put a bounty on each of them. The economic ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 1
•
10:09