Idioms, Fallacies, and Paradoxes

Broken Window Fallacy

Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas.

Illustrates why destruction, and the money spent to recover from destruction, is not actually a net benefit to society. The parable seeks to show how opportunity costs, as well as the law of unintended consequences, affect economic activity in ways that are unseen or ignored.

An argument that disregards lost opportunity costs (typically non-obvious, difficult to determine, or otherwise hidden) associated with destroying property of others, or other ways of externalizing costs onto others. 

For example, an argument states that breaking a window generates income for a window fitter, but disregards the fact that the money spent on the new window cannot now be spent on new shoes. Therefore, the broken window doesn't benefit the economy.