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2026-04-06T16:47:44-04:00
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2026-04-06 16:47:44

Nirvana Fallacy

The nirvana fallacy also called the "perfect solution fallacy" is the mistake made when a solution proposed to replace one existing is judged against a hypothetical perfect solution rather than the solution in current use.

[!quote] Harold Demsetz "Information and Efficiency: Another Viewpoint" (1969)1 The view that now pervades much public policy economics implicitly presents the relevant choice as between an ideal norm and an existing "imperfect" institutional arrangement. This nirvana approach differs considerably from a comparative institution approach in which the relevant choice is between alternative real institutional arrangements.

The "[[the-failure-of-risk-management#Exsupero Ursus|exsupero ursus]] fallacy" as coined by Douglas Hubbard in hubbard_2020_failure2 describes the same problem.


  1. Harold Demsetz "Information and Efficiency: Another Viewpoint" The Journal of Law and Economics Volume 12, Number 1 (April 1969) doi:10.1086/466657 ↩︎

  2. Or earlier? I can't recall. ↩︎