Scientific Definition
Federal funds subsidize new lanes while states absorb perpetual maintenance.
Plain-English Definition
Federal funds subsidize new lanes while states absorb perpetual maintenance.
Feynman Explanation
Build the road. Inherit the bill. Repeat.
Core Principle
Federal funds subsidize new lanes while states absorb perpetual maintenance.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Federal funds subsidize new lanes while states absorb perpetual maintenance.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Capital-vs-operating subsidies steer infrastructure portfolios.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Build the road. Inherit the bill. Repeat.
Examples
- Ribbon-cutting expansions outpacing maintenance budgets.
- Capital-vs-operating subsidies steer infrastructure portfolios.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Fix-it-first federal matching.
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.
- Fix-it-first federal matching.
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.
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Candidates dependent on large donors become structurally responsive to donor priorities over voter priorities.
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Generous post-disaster aid lowers the political cost of skipping preventive infrastructure investment.
Aggressive enforcement and complex eligibility turn a safety net into a liability trap.
Politicians optimize for the next election, not the next generation.
Subsidized rural flight frequency forces fuel-burning empty flights to secure annual payouts.
Federal policy forces homeowners to rebuild doomed structures while waiting on mitigation buyouts.