Scientific Definition
Mandatory federal sourcing from prison factories crowds out small business and entrenches inefficient production.
Plain-English Definition
Mandatory federal sourcing from prison factories crowds out small business and entrenches inefficient production.
Feynman Explanation
Captive labor, captive customers, captive margins.
Core Principle
Mandatory federal sourcing from prison factories crowds out small business and entrenches inefficient production.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Mandatory federal sourcing from prison factories crowds out small business and entrenches inefficient production.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Procurement carve-outs distort competitive markets.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Captive labor, captive customers, captive margins.
Examples
- UNICOR mandatory-source carve-outs across federal contracts.
- Procurement carve-outs distort competitive markets.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Open competition. Outcome-based supplier evaluation.
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.
- Open competition. Outcome-based supplier evaluation.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
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Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Per-inmate funding makes incarceration a budgetary asset for jurisdictions and contractors.
Charging by time rewards inefficiency and prolongs disputes.
Police agencies that keep seized assets gain a direct fiscal interest in seizures.
Fixed compliance costs scale punitively for small firms and entrench large ones.
Compliance programs designed to satisfy regulators, not prevent harm.
Stacking fines on low-income defendants creates debt traps and recidivism.
Decisions made to be defensible, not to be right.
Contingency-fee structures shape which cases get filed.
Fixed sentencing rules remove judicial discretion and inflate incarceration without reducing crime.
Trial penalties pressure even innocent defendants to plead guilty to avoid risk.
Caseloads far above professional norms guarantee weak defense for the poor.
Confidential settlements buy silence and prevent precedent that would deter future harm.