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Ratchet effect

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165:. He explains that the sharedness of human culture means that it is cumulative in character. Once a certain invention has been made, it can jump from one mind to another (by means of imitation) and thus a whole population can acquire a new trait (and so the ratchet has gone "up" one tooth). Comparative psychologist Claudio Tennie, Tomasello, and Josep Call call this the "cultural ratchet" and they describe it, amongst primates, as being unique to human culture. 137:. The producers observe that since incentive is readjusted based on their production, any increase in production confers only a temporary increase in incentive while requiring a permanently greater expenditure of work. They therefore decide not to reveal hidden production capacity unless forced to do so. 235:
Rollback is the liberalisation process by which the reduction and eventual elimination of nonconforming measures to the MAI would take place. It is a dynamic element linked with standstill, which provides its starting point. Combined with standstill, it would produce a "ratchet effect", where any new
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that become ever harder to terminate. Successive generations of home appliances gradually acquire more features; new editions of software acquire more features; and so on. With all of these goods, there is ongoing debate as to whether the added features truly improve usability, or simply increase the
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Receptors which initiate cell fate transduction cascades, in early embryo development, exhibit a ratchet effect in response to morphogen concentrations. The low receptor occupancy permits increases in receptor occupancy which alter the cell fate, but the high receptor affinity does not allow ligand
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which resist reform or dismantling. In workplaces, "ratchet effects refer to the tendency for central controllers to base next year's targets on last year's performance, meaning that managers who expect still to be in place in the next target period have a perverse incentive not to exceed targets
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The ratchet effect can be seen in long-term trends in the production of many consumer goods. Year by year, automobiles gradually acquire more features. Competitive pressures make it hard for manufacturers to cut back on the features unless forced by a true scarcity of raw materials (e.g., an oil
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Jean Tirole used the concept in his pioneering work on regulation and monopolies. The ratchet effect can denote an economic strategy arising in an environment where incentive depends on both current and past production, such as in a competitive industry employing
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In software development, products which compete often will use specification lists of competitive products to add features, presuming that they must provide all of the features of the competitive product, plus add additional functionality. This can lead to
77:'s 1961 report "The Growth of Public Expenditure in the United Kingdom." Peacock and Wiseman found that public spending increases like a ratchet following periods of crisis. 49:
that allows movement in one direction and seizes or tightens in the opposite. The concept has been applied to multiple fields of study and is related to the phenomena of
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shortage that drives costs up radically). University textbook publishers gradually get "stuck" in producing books that have excess content and features.
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huge bureaucratic organizations created initially for temporary needs, such as wartime measures, natural disasters, or economic crises.
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illustrating the difficulty with reversing a course of action once a specific thing has occurred, analogous with the mechanical
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highlighting Peacock and Wiseman's research as it relates to governments experiencing difficulty in
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liberalisation measures would be "locked in" so they could not be rescinded or nullified over time.
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Negotiating Group in the 1990s as the essence of a device to enforce legislative progress toward "
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Mechanisms for standstill, rollback and listing of country specific reservations
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O'Reilly, Colin; Powell, Benjamin (2015). "War and the growth of government".
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with the compulsory assent of governments as a condition of participation.
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The effect may likewise afflict large businesses with myriad layers of
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dissociation leading to a cell fate of a lower concentration.
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moving in its "forward" direction and unable to move backward.
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The term was later expanded upon by American historian
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used the ratchet effect metaphor to shed light on the
525:", Page 3 of note by MAI Negotiating Group chairman, 423: 304: 145:The ratchet effect is central to the mathematical 352:Bevan, Gwyn; Hood, Christopher (15 August 2006). 546: 120:keeps people alive who would otherwise die in a 424:Tennie, C.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M. (2009). 16:Restrained ability of human process reversal 472: 414:. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 69:The ratchet effect first came to light in 490: 449: 351: 177: 168: 152: 20: 412:The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition 182:The ratchet effect is reflected in the 547: 389: 211:tendency for people to buy the goods. 127: 307:European Journal of Political Economy 383: 214: 189: 473:Dyson, Steven; Gurdon, J.B (1998). 13: 100:even if they could easily do so." 14: 566: 536: 157:In 1999 comparative psychologist 370:10.1111/j.1467-9299.2006.00600.x 108: 103: 515: 466: 417: 404: 397:. Vol. 8. pp. 38–43. 345: 325: 319:10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2015.10.001 298: 285:Alan Peacock and Jack Wiseman 279: 140: 1: 492:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81185-X 272: 219:The term was included by the 64: 227:" by preventing legislative 7: 240: 10: 571: 208:frequent-flyer programs 442:10.1098/rstb.2009.0052 430:Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 257:Tragedy of the commons 247:Argument to moderation 238: 30: 358:Public Administration 233: 178:Technology regulation 169:Developmental biology 153:Cultural anthropology 86:Crisis and Leviathan, 24: 410:Tomasello, M. 1999. 333:Crisis and Leviathan 262:Collingridge dilemma 184:Collingridge dilemma 163:evolution of culture 436:(1528): 2405–2415. 128:Production strategy 529:, 15 February 1996 206:Airlines initiate 147:Parrondo's paradox 31: 27:mechanical ratchet 215:Trade legislation 190:Consumer products 159:Michael Tomasello 84:in the 1987 book 562: 530: 519: 513: 512: 494: 470: 464: 463: 453: 421: 415: 408: 402: 398: 395:Psychology Today 387: 381: 380: 378: 376: 349: 343: 329: 323: 322: 302: 296: 283: 252:Muller's ratchet 37:is a concept in 570: 569: 565: 564: 563: 561: 560: 559: 545: 544: 539: 534: 533: 520: 516: 471: 467: 422: 418: 409: 405: 391:Hardin, Garrett 388: 384: 374: 372: 350: 346: 330: 326: 303: 299: 284: 280: 275: 243: 217: 192: 180: 171: 155: 143: 130: 111: 106: 67: 17: 12: 11: 5: 568: 558: 557: 543: 542: 538: 537:External links 535: 532: 531: 514: 485:(4): 557–568. 465: 416: 403: 382: 364:(3): 517–538. 344: 324: 297: 277: 276: 274: 271: 270: 269: 264: 259: 254: 249: 242: 239: 216: 213: 191: 188: 179: 176: 170: 167: 154: 151: 142: 139: 129: 126: 114:Garrett Hardin 110: 107: 105: 102: 66: 63: 35:ratchet effect 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 567: 556: 553: 552: 550: 541: 540: 528: 524: 518: 510: 506: 502: 498: 493: 488: 484: 480: 476: 469: 461: 457: 452: 447: 443: 439: 435: 431: 427: 420: 413: 407: 401: 396: 392: 386: 371: 367: 363: 359: 355: 348: 342: 341:0-19-505900-X 338: 335:, OUP, 1987, 334: 331:Robert Higgs 328: 320: 316: 312: 308: 301: 295: 294:0-87014-071-X 291: 287: 282: 278: 268: 265: 263: 260: 258: 255: 253: 250: 248: 245: 244: 237: 232: 230: 226: 222: 212: 209: 204: 202: 201:feature creep 196: 187: 185: 175: 166: 164: 160: 150: 148: 138: 136: 125: 123: 119: 115: 101: 98: 93: 91: 87: 83: 78: 76: 72: 62: 60: 59:feature creep 56: 55:mission creep 52: 48: 44: 40: 36: 28: 23: 19: 517: 482: 478: 468: 433: 429: 419: 411: 406: 394: 385: 373:. Retrieved 361: 357: 347: 327: 310: 306: 300: 281: 234: 218: 205: 197: 193: 181: 172: 156: 144: 131: 112: 109:Famine cycle 104:Applications 94: 90:rolling back 85: 82:Robert Higgs 79: 75:Jack Wiseman 71:Alan Peacock 68: 34: 32: 18: 555:Game theory 141:Game theory 135:piece rates 97:bureaucracy 51:scope creep 273:References 225:free trade 65:Background 313:: 31–41. 288:, 1961, 43:economics 39:sociology 549:Category 460:19620111 241:See also 229:rollback 118:food aid 509:2326620 501:9604931 451:2865079 400:reprint 267:Entropy 47:ratchet 507:  499:  458:  448:  375:18 May 339:  292:  122:famine 57:, and 505:S2CID 527:OECD 497:PMID 479:Cell 456:PMID 377:2021 337:ISBN 290:ISBN 73:and 41:and 33:The 487:doi 446:PMC 438:doi 434:364 366:doi 315:doi 221:MAI 551:: 503:. 495:. 483:93 481:. 477:. 454:. 444:. 432:. 428:. 362:84 360:. 356:. 311:40 309:. 186:. 149:. 61:. 53:, 25:A 521:" 511:. 489:: 462:. 440:: 379:. 368:: 321:. 317:: 199:"

Index


mechanical ratchet
sociology
economics
ratchet
scope creep
mission creep
feature creep
Alan Peacock
Jack Wiseman
Robert Higgs
rolling back
bureaucracy
Garrett Hardin
food aid
famine
piece rates
Parrondo's paradox
Michael Tomasello
evolution of culture
Collingridge dilemma
feature creep
frequent-flyer programs
MAI
free trade
rollback
Argument to moderation
Muller's ratchet
Tragedy of the commons
Collingridge dilemma

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