{
  "id": "perverse-incentive.trap",
  "term": "perverse incentive",
  "sense": "trap",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 19,
  "domain": "emergence",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "a benefit that pays for staying beyond the wall of a parameter, causing the parameter to drift further into the undesirable side because no maintenance is applied to bring it back inside its window",
  "folk_gloss": "a reward that encourages staying in a bad situation",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "window.range",
      "wall.range-end",
      "parameter.condition",
      "drift.aimless",
      "benefits.advantage",
      "keep.maintenance"
    ],
    "interaction": "the benefit attaches to the side of the parameter beyond the wall, so the drift pushes the parameter farther past the wall and the lack of maintenance leaves it there",
    "novel_properties": [
      "benefit for staying"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "perverse incentive"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — the trap that pays to stay in"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-perverse-incentive.trap"
}