Incentiver

Incentiver is a Portuguese verb commonly understood as to provide incentives or to encourage a person, group, or activity to take a desired action. It is used in contexts such as public policy, economics, business management, and social programs to describe actions that make certain choices more attractive or feasible.

In standard Portuguese, the infinitive form is incentivar. The form incentiver appears as a conjugated variant in certain moods and tenses (not as a separate infinitive) and is generally rare in everyday usage. For most purposes, writers use incentivar, incentive, incentivando, incentives, and related forms. The noun form incentive (incentivo) and the adjective incentivador are common companions in the same semantic field.

Common uses include phrases like incentivar a inovação, incentivar a participação cidadã, or incentivar o investimento. In policy contexts, governments deploy incentives such as fiscal benefits, subsidies, grants, or regulatory relief to steer behavior toward goals like economic growth, job creation, or environmental protection. In corporate settings, incentives are used to align employee performance with organizational objectives, for example through bonus schemes or performance-driven rewards.

Critics of incentives point to potential drawbacks, including costs to the public purse, the risk of gaming the system, distortion of market choices, and inequitable outcomes if incentives disproportionately favor certain groups. Effective design typically requires clear objectives, measurable metrics, cost-benefit analysis, and safeguards to minimize unintended effects.

See also: incentivo, incentivos fiscais, incentivar, desincentivar. English equivalent: to incentivize.