Some disaster relief charities used to let people decide how their donations would be spent. Donors overwhelmingly voted for rebuilding houses, because everybody needs a house, and replacing someone’s house is nice and feels good.
The charities ended up with way too much money earmarked for housing, which they were legally required to spend on new houses. That excess money could have been spent on boring things like sewage, but they were legally barred from doing so. The result was a lot of people with unnecessarily big, fancy homes with no working toilets or running water.
The charities quickly dropped this practice, because donors directed the money to what felt right instead of to where it was actually needed or would do the most good. And that’s why we don’t run the country that way.
Some disaster relief charities used to let people decide how their donations would be spent. Donors overwhelmingly voted for rebuilding houses, because everybody needs a house, and replacing someone’s house is nice and feels good.
The charities ended up with way too much money earmarked for housing, which they were legally required to spend on new houses. That excess money could have been spent on boring things like sewage, but they were legally barred from doing so. The result was a lot of people with unnecessarily big, fancy homes with no working toilets or running water.
The charities quickly dropped this practice, because donors directed the money to what felt right instead of to where it was actually needed or would do the most good. And that’s why we don’t run the country that way.