{
  "id": "race-to-the-bottom.collective",
  "term": "race to the bottom",
  "sense": "collective",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "domain": "economics",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "a collective drift where each participant lowers their standard to stay in, not because they chose the outcome but because the window for better options closed as others moved first",
  "folk_gloss": "a situation where everyone tries to offer more for less, leading to worse conditions for all",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "collective.group",
      "window.range",
      "parameter.condition",
      "maintenance.upkeep"
    ],
    "interaction": "competitive",
    "novel_properties": [
      "emergent_outcome"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "race to the bottom"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — collective outcome nobody chose"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-race-to-the-bottom.collective"
}