The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre of 1902 is a classic reminder of why we need to be wary about what data we measure and reward.
The French colonial administrators of the time, alarmed by the spread of rodents through the city’s sewers, offered local ratcatchers a bounty for each animal killed. The municipal government paid one cent for every rattail handed over as proof of elimination.
Initially, the data looked promising but, unfortunately, the plan went awry. Crafty Vietnamese entrepreneurs simply chopped the tails off living rats and set up rodent farms to boost their income. Bubonic plague broke out in Hanoi a few years later.
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