Categorizing incentives
Incentives can be to classified according to the different ways in which they motivate agents to take a particular course of action. One common and useful taxonomy divides incentives into four broad classes:
Class
Definition
Remunerative incentives are said to exist where an agent can expect some form of material reward – especially money – in exchange for acting in a particular way.
Financial incentives
Moral incentives are said to exist where a particular choice is widely regarded as the right thing to do, or as particularly admirable, or where the failure to act in a certain way is condemned as indecent. A person acting on a moral incentive can expect a sense of self-esteem, and approval or even admiration from his community; a person acting against a moral incentive can expect a sense of guilt, and condemnation or even ostracism from the community.
Coercive incentives are said to exist where a person can expect that the failure to act in a particular way will result in physical force being used against them (or their loved ones) by others in the community – for example, by inflicting pain in punishment, or by imprisonment, or by confiscating or destroying their possessions.
Natural Incentives such as curiosity, mental or physical exercise, admiration, fear, anger, pain, joy, or the pursuit of