Legal Definitions - disincentivize

Disincentivize

To disincentivize means to discourage someone from doing something by taking away a reward or creating a punishment.

• A company may disincentivize employees from being late to work by implementing a policy of deducting pay for every minute they are late.
• A government may disincentivize smoking by increasing taxes on cigarettes, making them more expensive to buy.

These examples show how disincentivizing works. In the first example, the company takes away the incentive of receiving full pay by deducting money for being late. This is meant to discourage employees from being late. In the second example, the government creates a punishment of higher taxes to make smoking less appealing.