This concept sequence focuses on incentive design in the context of economic behaviour — what kinds of incentives are necessary to drive good outcomes amongst company operators, protocol designers, and firm partners?
A number of elements contribute to incentive design:
Incentives often flow from structure
Social dynamics often have a massive influence on incentive design
The actual economic incentives themselves play a part with engaging with social behaviours
There can be unexpected side effects from a complex mix of systems, environment and incentive structure, especially over time
This sequence of cases will sample from a broad number of topics — companies, firms and protocols. It focuses specifically on instances where the incentives are designed explicitly, by a small group of people.
“I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it. And never a year passes but I get some surprise that pushes my limit a little farther.” — Charlie Munger