Unintended Consequences of Prohibition - 1537 Words

â€Å"The law of unintended consequences is what happens when a simple system tries to regulate a complex system. The political system is simple; it operates with limited information (rational ignorance), short time horizons, low feedback, and poor and misaligned incentives. Society in contrast is a complex, evolving, high-feedback, incentive-driven system. When a simple system tries to regulate a complex system you often get unintended consequences.† (1) Before the prohibition of alcohol existed in the United States people freely drank alcohol, mainly beer, some responsibly and some irresponsibly. The government was able to collect quite a substantial amount of tax revenue for the manufacture, transportation, sales, and consumption of†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Total federal expenditures on penal institutions increased more than 1,000 percent between 1915 and 1932.† (2) Because of the excessive amount of drug related inmates prisons are also overcrowded. Th e increased cost of law enforcement to combat the smuggling and bootlegging of alcohol, and other alcohol or organized crime related shenanigans was also a tax burden. This was a double negative considering the lost tax revenue from the sales of alcohol and establishments that served alcohol due to prohibition. The court system was also constantly clogged with alcohol related crimes, which takes resources away from more serious crimes. When people can’t have something they tend to amp up the power when they are able to get it. People began drinking harder alcohol and largely gave up on beer when prohibition happened, people figure they have to get more bang for their buck or make it worth the risk. Not only did people begin drinking more powerful drinks, the drinks became more potent overall, the moonshine that bootleggers were making was much more potent than liquor had been before it was proclaimed illegal. Moonshine to this day is still the most powerful thing you can fi nd to drink. Sometimes the people making the illegal liquor didn’t know what they were doing and the substance could sometimes beShow MoreRelatedProhibition, A Film By Ken Burns1050 Words   |  5 PagesAbate Hlth 30 September 30, 2017 Prohibition, A film by Ken Burns – Part 2 Point 1 - Low consensus on an issue (or a law like Prohibition) means ‘enforcement is going to be difficult. To enforce an unpopular law – significant ‘resources need to be committed to the enforcement effort (e.g., regulation surveillance, violation arrests, court enforcement, etc.) How did this play itself out in the case of Alcohol Prohibition? It might be said regarding prohibition that much of America was in favorRead MoreIdentification And Evaluation Of Sources1315 Words   |  6 Pageswill explore the question: What were the causes that lead to Prohibition s failure in the United States? 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