cobra effect

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˌkəʊbɹə ɪˈfɛkt/
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˌkɒ-/
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• General-American: /ˌkoʊbɹə ɪˈfɛk(t)/
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• General-American: /-əˈfɛk(t)/ weak vowel merger
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• General-American: /-iˈfɛk(t)/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɛkt
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From cobra + effect, a calque of German Kobra-Effekt, coined by the German economist Horst Siebert (1938–2009) in a 2001 book, from an anecdote about an incident during the British rule of colonial India in the 19th century in which the government, concerned about the large number of venomous cobras in Delhi, offered a bounty for each dead cobra turned in, which eventually led to enterprising people breeding more cobras for the income. When the government discontinued the programme the breeders set their cobras free, which led to an increase in the cobra population.

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: kobra-effek — phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse
• Finnish: kobra-ilmiö — phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse
• German: Kobra-Effekt — phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse
• Italian: effetto cobra — phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse
• Japanese: コブラ効果 (kobura kōka) — phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse
• Korean: 코브라 효과 (kobeura hyogwa) — phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse