cobra effect

The cobra effect is a situation where an intended solution to a problem makes the problem worse. It's named after a story from the 1800s in India when officials tried to get rid of the cobra snakes in cities by offering rewards for dead cobras. People began raising cobras for money, so the officials ended the reward program. But that caused the cobra breeders to set their now-worthless snakes free, which made the cobra population in the cities even bigger! The unintended result was that the cobra problem got worse instead of better!