[memetichazard]

"It’s a paradoxical effect that occurs in complex systems," says Helbing. "Surprisingly, delay processes can improve the system altogether. It is a slower-is-faster effect. You can increase the throughput - speed up the whole system - if you delay single processes within the system at the right time, for the right amount of time."

Braess' Paradox! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braess%27_paradox

Alright, so not quite - one is talking about introducing delays and the other is about the availability of options to rational players, but everyone should know a little bit about it.