Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

arrow_back_ios_new
MENTAL MODEL · M3858

Perverse Incentive

Perverse Incentive
BusinessHigh supportEconomics
Included
account_tree

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

In economics, a perverse incentive is an incentive structure with undesirable results, particularly one where those effects are unexpected and contrary to the intentions of its designers.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

In economics, a perverse incentive is an incentive structure with undesirable results, particularly one where those effects are unexpected and contrary to the intentions of its designers.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Perverse incentive: a system intended to promote A inadvertently induces harmful behavior B due to misaligned rewards or punishments, resulting from a mismatch between incentives and true goals.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/4

Practice this model in one real situation:

Check to track your progress (stored locally)
Learning progress0%
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more

Source support: Explicit

  • link
    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentiveZH · Explicit
    verified

RELATED MODELS

Related model

Grey Swan

Refers to events that have a very low probability of occurrence, but if they occur, have a huge impact, and to some extent are foreseeable (not completely unpredictable, i.e., not black swans).

arrow_forwardRelated model

I, Pencil

Leonard Read uses the production network behind a pencil to illustrate how knowledge dispersed across people and industries is combined through specialization and exchange.

arrow_forwardRelated model

Fordism

Fordism describes an economic and social system based on industrialized and standardized mass production and mass consumption. This concept, named after Henry Ford, is widely used in sociology, economics, and management studies, particularly concerning production, working conditions, consumption, and other related phenomena in the 20th century.

arrow_forward