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Reward Carefully

During the time of French colonialism in Vietnam, the French administration wanted to address the growing rat population within the underground sewer systems of Hanoi. The modern sewer system was meant to civilize things in the northern part of Vietnam. But the idea of increasing sanitation backfired when the rats soon discovered that the drains and sewers were perfect places to live, thrive, and have baby rats. The rat infestation became unbearable until the French administration came up with a brilliant idea. They decided to pay Hanoi residents for dead rats. This sent a rash of rat hunters into the sewers in search of the rodents. They only had to bring the rat tails to prove that they are eligible for the money. The French had no desire to deal with the actual rat bodies, so they decided that each tail turned in would yield a monetary reward. But the clever Vietnamese people saw an opportunity there. They figured out that killing the rats would actually diminish their ability to make money of killing rats in the future. So what was the solution? Simple and brilliant. Cut off the tails, turn them in, collect the money but do not kill the rats. Soon the city was infested with tail-less rats who could still reproduce to have more rats.