Understanding Nth Order Effects: How Legalising Gay Marriage May Help Straight Men

Charlie Munger, billionaire investor and vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, was a large proponent of 2nd (and beyond) order thinking about the consequences of our decisions and the consequences of those consequences and so on as a good process for effective decision making. In this episode I highlight how the December 2017 changes to Australia's marriage act to legalise same-sex marriage may inadvertently help straight men in the future as the result of nth order effects as a means to demonstrate the principle. I also discuss the dangers of failing to consider nth order effects when we make decisions and evaluate the policies we support in jurisdictions where we have voting rights.