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These are the best new articles, videos, podcasts, and other resources we have found to teach the concept of unintended consequences. They bring economics to life by showing students real-life examples and current events.
 

News Articles

(Listed from most recent to oldest)

Russia’s New War Grifters—‘Black Widows’ Duping Soldiers Into Marriage | WSJ, shared by Oxford University (Nov. 6, 2025)
People respond to incentives. That includes marrying soldiers without any true interest in marriage if it’s likely to lead to a payout worth 20x the average salary in Russia.

NYC developers build 99-unit buildings to avoid wage requirements | MSN-Bloomberg (Sept. 9, 2025)
The number of building permits for buildings with exactly 99 units has doubled this year, compared to the last 16 years combined. In an unintended, yet arguably very foreseeable, response to NY law 485-x: Affordable Neighborhoods for New Yorkers, developers are downsizing new apartment construction to avoid hefty increases in wage rates.

Cash for slime: Towns paying for dead slugs | Yle News (June 20, 2025)
Four Finnish cities are offering bounties for dead slugs. It sounds like a great policy to get rid of pests, but let’s hope it doesn’t have a cobra effect.

Would Zohran Mamdani’s free bus plan actually hurt NYC transit? |  Gothamist (June 13, 2025)
Mamdani wants to run free bus routes in the city, but the plan concerns public transit advocates who argue that the program will clog roads, siphon riders away from more efficient subway routes, and massively increase costs for the city’s transit budget.

Australia appoints first rabbit tsar to combat invasive species | Financial Times (Jan. 10, 2025)
Australia’s invasive rabbit problem offers a vivid example of unintended consequences. On Christmas Day 1859, 13 rabbits were released for sport hunting. Over 165 years later, the rabbits cost Australia’s agricultural sector over $125 million a year, thanks to the power of exponential growth. Teachers can sign up for free access to the Financial Times through the FT Schools program.

Weight loss drugs are getting people to the doctor. Now comes the wave of long-ignored diagnoses | Quartz (Dec. 17, 2024)
Rarely are unintended consequences positive. But recent data indicates that GLP-1 drugs may be encouraging patient populations that have hitherto avoided the doctors office to come in, resulting in an increased diagnosis rate for sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and more.

The Perverse Consequences of Tuition-Free Medical School  | The Atlantic (Oct. 21, 2024)
In the latest installment of unintended consequences–tuition-free medical school may not be increasing the number of doctors who go into primary care at all. Instead, it may be perversely making health-care inequality worse.

US Olympic and other teams will bring their own AC units to Paris, undercutting environmental plan | AP News (June 21, 2024)
In the latest installment of unintended consequences, Paris event organizer’s plans for environmentally friendly accommodations may result in higher emissions and advantages for wealthier nations as the US announces it will bring AC units for its athletes to this summer’s games.

Sesame is being newly added to some foods. The FDA says it doesn't violate an allergy law | AP News (July 26, 2023)
One unintended consequence of declaring sesame a major allergen–its addition into more foods.

The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre of 1902 Did Not Go as Planned | Atlas Obscura (June 6, 2017)
An enterprising variation on the Cobra Effect, the residents of Hanoi farmed rats for their tails to receive bounty payments, then released the rats into the city.
 

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