Pop Quiz: How Do You Stop Sea Captains From Killing Their Passengers?

Back in the 1700s, the British government paid sea captains to take felons to Australia. At first, it didn’t work so well: About a third of the males on one particularly horrific voyage died. The rest arrived beaten, starved, and sick.

Pop Quiz: How Do You Stop Sea Captains From Killing Their Passengers?

Lesson: A good social order aligns self-interest with social interest.

Or: Economics should serve ethics.

great example of incentives matter!