Costsis

Costsis is a proposed term in systems theory and economics to describe the distribution of costs in a networked system where costs are not borne equally and can shift across actors over time, generating hidden or cascading expenses that exceed visible expenditures.

Origin: The term has appeared in a small body of interdisciplinary writings since the late 2000s; there is no settled definition. It is used to discuss cost allocation, externalities, and systemic risk.

Mechanisms: Interdependencies cause cost shifting; strategies like outsourcing, vertical integration, and platform governance influence who pays. Information asymmetry and feedback loops can amplify costs, and externalities can cause non-localized costs to emerge in parts of the system that did not incur them initially.

Measurement and metrics: Proposals include a costsis index, distributional metrics of total lifecycle cost among actors, and time-to-cost accrual curves to track when costs materialize.

Applications: Used in supply chains, software engineering, urban and environmental planning, and public policy to assess potential hidden costs and to design mitigations such as better contracts, governance arrangements, and pricing mechanisms.

Examples: In a cloud services environment, adding a feature may reduce maintenance for the service provider but increase integration and interoperability costs for customers; in urban planning, green infrastructure can lower upfront capital costs but shift maintenance costs to the municipality over time.

Criticism: Lacks standardized definition and empirical basis; risk of conflation with existing concepts such as externalities, total cost of ownership, and systemic risk.

See also: Externality, total cost of ownership, systemic risk, cost shifting.