Hi,

This week’s email is about the Shirky principle, which is the adage that “institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution”.

This principle means, for example, that a government agency that’s meant to address a certain societal issue may hinder attempts by others to address the issue, in order to ensure that the agency remains relevant.

It can be expressed more broadly as “every entity tends to prolong the problem it is solving”, since it can involve entities other than institutions (like people), and various patterns of behavior (like unintentionally focusing on an outdated solution versus intentionally interfering with competition). It can also be extended to say that “entities often promote problems that they benefit from”, since entities can also create new problems, exacerbate existing ones, and perpetuate problems that they don’t actually solve.

Accounting for this principle can help understand past and current behavior, predict future behavior, and modify problematic behaviors (for example by removing perverse incentives).

As always, I’m happy to hear your thoughts.

Have a great week,
Itamar