moral hazard

This note last modified March 23, 2021

A protection (such as insurance, welfare, etc.) that incentivizes someone to take risks that they may not have otherwise. Many conservative arguments are moral hazard arguments, such as “if we give out public healthcare, it’ll allow people to smoke a bunch of cigarettes and not care because their cancer treatment will be paid for” (honestly this argument is a bit of a strawman but I do think it’s a good example of a moral hazard)