# moral hazard (trap)

*Ordinarily means:* the tendency to take more risks because one is insulated from the consequences

a protective guarantee raises the loss wall, allowing the risk-exposure parameter to drift upward; because the cost of leaving the guarantee exceeds the cost of the higher exposure, the actor stays within the enlarged window

- Computed level: L18 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: economics

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless)

**Through:** the guarantee lifts the loss wall, so the risk-exposure parameter drifts upward, making staying inside the protective window cheaper than exiting it

**Novel properties:**
- incentive-driven wall shift
- stay-in-trap payoff

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-moral-hazard.trap*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-moral-hazard.trap.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*