# kaal:claim:3782192-022

**Claim.** Even where corruption is avoided, rigidity still leads centralized organizations to catastrophic ends, because failures push members to cling more faithfully to the rules that saved them in the past, making the system still more rigid and brittle.

**Type.** failure  **Support.** argued

**Holds when.**

- centralized organizations under repeated external shocks

**Source quote.**

> Even if corruption can be avoided in the beginning, the rigidity still leads centralized organizations to cata- strophic ends, as failures naturally push members to cling ever more faithfully to the rules that have saved them in the past, making the system even more rigid and brit- tle.

**From.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, *Introduction to Decentralization* (2021), Basic idea, page 6

**Cite as.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Introduction to Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782192

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `e7eafd56cb8a8bd15b64cf58216bb655f939bdcc296387e362fd9191976d67ae` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Calcaterra%20and%20Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20Introduction%20to%20Decentralization.pdf

**Failure mode.** Self-reinforcing rigidity spiral  (family: rule-obsolescence-and-ossification)

**Topics.** institutional-design

**Keywords.** rigidity, brittleness, organizational-failure, feedback-loop

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