Costless Wrongness in Institutions

Many modern organisations permit decision‑makers to be wrong with little or delayed personal cost, creating a structural equilibrium in which status, signalling and bureaucratic shelter replace truth‑seeking incentives. That equilibrium systematically blocks beneficial change (in economies, schools, regulatory agencies) because the harms of being wrong are dispersed, delayed or borne by lower‑status actors. — If widespread, this incentive failure reshapes how we design accountability, regulation, and organizational governance across public and private sectors.