Scientific Definition
Subsidies favoring incumbent technologies distort capital allocation away from emerging options.
Plain-English Definition
Subsidies favoring incumbent technologies distort capital allocation away from emerging options.
Feynman Explanation
We subsidize what we have. Then wonder why we never get something better.
Core Principle
Subsidies favoring incumbent technologies distort capital allocation away from emerging options.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Subsidies favoring incumbent technologies distort capital allocation away from emerging options.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Subsidy stickiness shapes the energy transition.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
We subsidize what we have. Then wonder why we never get something better.
Examples
- Persistent fossil-fuel tax preferences.
- Subsidy stickiness shapes the energy transition.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Sunset clauses. Outcome-tied subsidy review.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Sunset clauses. Outcome-tied subsidy review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Expensive off-range storage cannibalizes funds needed for on-range management.
Cheap, low-quality offsets let buyers claim neutrality without reducing emissions.
Underpriced externalities keep dirty energy artificially competitive.
Voluntary commitments reward PR while deferring real abatement.
Branding recycling as personal duty shifts blame from producers of single-use packaging.
Penalizing landowners for hosting endangered species turns biological assets into liabilities.
Decoupling production risk from financial loss rewards conversion of fragile landscapes.
Use-it-or-lose-it allocations push fleets to fish hard before quotas tighten.
Producers internalize profit while waste, microplastics, and cleanup are public costs.
Money flows after ecosystems collapse, not to protect them in advance.
Zoning, parking minimums, and road funding subsidize low-density car dependence.
Rule of capture rewards extraction before competitors do.