incentive.

a reason, reward, or condition that encourages a particular action

Use it for

Words that belong together

• financial incentive
• incentive to invest
• perverse incentive

On the page

The subsidy created an incentive to conserve water.

A poorly designed target can produce a perverse incentive.

The model ignores nonfinancial incentives to cooperate.

Usage notes

Primary curation section: Academic. An incentive influences behavior without necessarily determining it. Can be financial or nonfinancial. Plural: incentives.