Hey there. It's Stephen Dubner. Before we get to today's episode, I want to ask for your help, for a special series we are just starting to make. It is about mentorship and this is where you come in.

We are looking for some good stories. It could be about a mentorship in business or

academia or in sports. It could be a spiritual mentor or someone who helped you become a better

parent or spouse. Or maybe you are the mentor. Or maybe you have a mentor who doesn't even know they are your mentor.

No relationship is too small or too weird if it matters to you.

Send us an email with some of the particulars. We are at radio at freakonomics.

We look forward to reading your stories and interviewing some of you for this

series. Thanks in advance and now today's episode.

Here's a phrase you have probably heard before.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The sentiment goes back at least to the Bible,

but the way it's used today likely began with the 18th century writer Samuel Johnson.

Since then, versions of the phrase have appeared in the works of Charlotte Brante and Lord Byron,

Soreen Kircagard, and Carl Marx, Ozzy Osbourne and Madonna.

Oh, to hell it pay with good intentions.

Yeah, but how would an economist think about it?

I would say economics is fundamentally about trade-offs,

and there are always trade-offs.

Today, on Freeconomics radio,

three stories about good intentions gone bad in the workplace.

If anything, it made them worse off

by reducing their employment rates.

...