Free · 10 lessons · ~25 minutes · No signup
Incentives 101.
The minimum vocabulary you need to read the rest of this site — and the rest of the world. One idea per page, one real example, one quick check, and one interactive practice.
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- 01What is an incentive, really?An incentive is anything that makes a behavior more or less likely.Open →
- 02Show me the incentive, I'll show you the outcome.Whenever behavior surprises you, look at what's being rewarded.Open →
- 03Losses hurt about twice as much as gains feel good.We are not rational about pain. We're loss-averse — roughly 2:1.Open →
- 04When a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure.Once people optimize for the metric, the metric stops measuring what you cared about.Open →
- 05The Principal–Agent Problem.Whenever someone acts on your behalf, their interests are not automatically your interests.Open →
- 06Perverse incentives: the system rewards the opposite of what it wants.A perverse incentive is when the rule, intended to fix a problem, makes it worse.Open →
- 07System 1 and System 2.Most decisions are fast, automatic, and pattern-matched — not deliberate.Open →
- 08Nudges: choice architecture without coercion.A nudge changes how options are presented, not what options exist.Open →
- 09Extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation.Paying people for something they already loved doing can kill the love.Open →
- 10Alignment: making the system want what you want.Alignment is the whole game — for people, organizations, markets, and AI.Open →
After the primer
Get certified in Incentive Intelligence™.
The 12-week Incentives Academy is the deep end — taught by Aaron Bare and Ricardo Rosselló, PhD. Finish 101 and you're ready for it.