Blood banks in Sweden try to combat the economic concept of donor fatigue by sending a polite text message to the donor every single time their specific bag of blood is used to save a patient's life in a hospital.

A closer look

Blood banks in Sweden try to combat the economic concept of donor fatigue by sending a polite text message to the donor every single time their specific bag of blood is used to save a patient's life in a hospital. Traditional economic theory suggests that you should financially compensate people to increase the supply of a necessary good, but offering cash for blood often attracts desperate people who might lie about their medical history to get paid. By utilizing psychological rewards and emotional validation instead of direct monetary incentives, the Swedish healthcare system effectively maintains a safe, robust supply of a critical biological resource. It beautifully illustrates that sometimes humanity is not entirely driven by ruthless financial gain, and you can actually hack the economy just by making people feel like highly validated superheroes via a simple automated text notification!