Economics seems counterintuitive because nobody accounts for human nature

The big thing I notice that people miss when discussing economic policy is that it is human nature to change behavior based on changing circumstances. You would think that this is a simple concept, and yet most people never account for it when making projections

For example: if you double your price, you should double your revenue, right? Wrong! Consumer will buy less of your product, find alternatives or just go without. Revenue will actually decrease

It might seem counterintuitive. “Raising prices drops revenue? That’s crazy!” But in reality it is a perfectly rational result because people change their behavior based on their own self interest

Once you realize that, everything else really falls into place and you start to understand economics. Because economics at the end of the day is just the study of human behavior in the context of mutually beneficial transactions

That’s why socialism is doomed to fail. They need humans to act against their own self interests. You need incentives to get people to do the right thing. It has to be in people own self interest to work and produce. That’s just the way it is.

This is also the reason why government programs do the opposite of what they try to do. They don’t take into account the changing incentives of their new policy.

What other examples do you have of “counterintuitive economic policy?” Cutting taxes raises tax revenue. Eliminating rent controls reduces rent prices. Deregulation improves safety. Subsidies raise prices. Minimum wage reduces employment. Etc

Also: welfare payments keep people poor. Foreign aid destroys local economies. Licenses reduce quality, etc