Definition
Plain language
Punishments that start small and get bigger the more often someone breaks the rules.
As stated in the literature
An Ostrom design principle: proportionate, escalating penalties applied by the community for rule violations, absent from the simulated conference where threats had no enforcement path.
Also called: graduated sanction
Why it matters: Escalating consequences let a community correct honest slips without driving people out, while still making persistent rule-breaking genuinely costly — and warnings that carry no consequence at all are simply ignored.
For example, a first missed watering shift earns a reminder, a second earns a small fine, and repeated offences eventually cost you your plot.
Heard on the show
“But two other pieces were missing entirely: graduated sanctions, meaning proportionate consequences for violations, and conflict resolution, meaning some process for handling disputes.”Episode 260 — One Line of Lean Faked 34 Proofs, and 99 Agents Copied It