There was a recent podcast (Freakanomics) that went into some depth about this concept, and it focused on a story about a pencil describing how it gets made, and the <i>millions</i> of people who are involved.<p>The moral given in the podcast is to &quot;tread carefully&quot; when attempting to fix something, because there are often many moving parts which can&#x27;t immediately be observed.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;freakonomics.com&#x2F;podcast&#x2F;i-pencil&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;freakonomics.com&#x2F;podcast&#x2F;i-pencil&#x2F;</a>