In 1992, the French governor of Indochina faced a huge problem in the city of Hanoi.

They were suffering from a massive infestation of rats, rats that could carry disease, including

Bubonic plague.

The governor implemented a plan to get rid of the rats.

Thousands of people were recruited in the effort. However, the program had a serious flaw.

Not only didn't it solve the problem, but it made things worse.

Learn more about the great Hanoi Rat Massacre of 1992 and the problem of perverse incentives

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. To set the stage for what happened in Hanoi in 1992, you first need to know that at the time,

Vietnam, along with what is modern day Laos and Cambodia,

were all part of the French colony of Indochina. A failed former finance minister of France called

Paul Dumaire was assigned to be the governor of Indochina in

1897.

His goal as governor was to bring French civilization and infrastructure to the region.

In particular, he wanted to bring this infrastructure to the parts of the colony where French people lived.

In 1992, the capital of French into China was moved from Saigon to Hanoi.

The area where the French colonial administrators lived in Hanoi looked like it could have been in France, minus the climate.

The French neighborhoods had European houses, wide tree-lined European boulevards, and other European amenities.

The one thing they lacked was flush toilets. and other European amenities.

The one thing they lacked was flush toilets.

Flush toilets would help improve sanitation and bring modern luxury to the French people

of Hanoi.

To this effort they installed 14 kilometers or 9 miles of modern sewer pipes in the French

...