Moral Hazard
In the early 2000's financial regulations were relaxed and financiers created risky financial instruments that caused a financial collapse. This is an example of moral hazard.
If you reduce the risk of a behavior then this could have the paradoxical effect of encouraging people to engage in the behavior.
Here in Vancouver we have a place called In Site where illegal drug users can do their thing under medical supervision so they get care if they overdose. Users are provided with clean needles. There is a strong movement afoot to provide addicts with a safe supply of their drugs. People carrying Narcan kits to reverse fentanyl overdoses are a common sight. All of this is an attempt to reduce the high rate of overdose deaths.
Critics of the approach say that by making illegal drug use safer, society is actually encouraging people to become addicted and actually increasing overdose deaths. A moral hazard.
It's a pretty clear idea. I think in this case the evidence is strong that making drugs safer saves many lives and doesn't encourage anyone to use illegal drugs.
The abortion issue provides another example. Beside the issue of whether a person is created at conception is the issue that abortion encourages recreational sex by making it less dangerous. I've seen recently that the same people who are into forcing birth on women who don't want it are pushing to ban contraceptives too.
Here in Vancouver we have a popular swimming hole in Lynn Canyon. There's a place with a cliff that you can jump down a long way into the water. Very much a yaaaahooooo type experience. Problem was that when you were at the top of the cliff it seemed like it was a straight drop down to the water. It wasn't. You had to jump very hard out to make it to the water. Many kids died.
The authorities put up fences. People didn't like them. Who wants to see barbed wire barriers when walking in a wilderness park? They pointed out that the barriers were a positive incentive for some rebellious kids to get around them. And that's true.
But the number of kids who died went down.
When I was young the sexual revolution was in full swing. Recreational sex - sex just for the pleasure of sex - led to a lot of unwanted pregnancies. Who knew? Contraceptives let people enjoy sex without worrying about babies. Abortions allow women to choose whether to bear a pregnancy to term. This makes sex a lot less dangerous
But do people do more sex because of it?
What do you think?
I present regular philosophy discussions in a virtual reality called Second Life.
I set a topic and people come as avatars and sit around a virtual table to discuss it.
Each week I write a short essay to set the topic.
I show a selection of them here.