The article on the basis of extrapolation of system laws of management of social and economic development illustrates the system reason of the Cobra effect, that is, a situation where, despite the rather attractive goals that managers formulate, the result of the activities of subordinates is opposite to what was intended. The main problem of management is the development of a system of indicators, in which, working on the indicator, employees would change the state in the right direction. The reason for the Cobra effect is the manifestation of systemic patterns of socio-economic development. The main system regularity is the desire of the system for stability and self-preservation. This state of the system is achieved using the least energy-consuming way. It is shown that any worker, realizing system regularities, aspires to stability and self-preservation. Therefore, the employee is always forced to work for achieving the indicator. The article analyzes the manifestation of these laws at the level of enterprises and state. When managers understand these patterns explicitly or covertly, changes in the economic system are moving in the right direction. It is shown that the existing system of target indicators used as indicators to assess the effectiveness of management does not meet the goals and objectives of socio-economic development. At the meso- and macrolevel, absolute, volumetric indicators, such as gross national product and others, reduce the range of benefits to the population. The article defines the vector of change in the system of indicators for assessing the effectiveness of management at the regional and state levels, based on the fact that the key element is the family. At the same time, the targets should be indicators to assess the availability of benefits for households.
