People in Korea now have a new vocation available to them: snitching on other civilians for cash payouts from the government.
posted by reenum on Oct 17, 2011 - 83 comments

Inducement Prizes -- Best known for the Ansari X Prize, the DARPA Grand Challenge and the Clay Mathematics Millennium Problems, inducement prizes have a long history, but their recent successes have led to increased government interest, viz. challenge.gov, and resulted in the development of vaccines, thanks in large part to the work of Michael Kremer.^* [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Jan 6, 2011 - 8 comments

Crime Stoppers (motto: get paid to snitch!) is the Yang to the Stop Snitchin' (motto: stop snitchin!) campaign's Yin. This commercial, which I'm relatively convinced is not a parody, best illustrates the consumer value proposition behind crime stoppers.
posted by jonson on Apr 28, 2007 - 21 comments

New research finds that the human brain registers the avoidance of an anticipated punishment in pretty much the same way as it registers a reward. (See this link for a less technical discussion of the research.) Do these findings suggest that the use of punishment as a deterrent to undesirable behavior in effect actually motivates the undesirable behavior (as opposed to the use of negative reinforcement, or in other words, the withholding of reward)? Do punishment-oriented models of socialization/behaviorial conditioning actually encourage cheating, by in effect selecting for better cheaters?
posted by saulgoodman on Jul 12, 2006 - 28 comments

$1,000 CDN ($880.80 US) reward for exposing anonymous blogger: A Prince Edward Island business owner wants to punish a person by breaking their anonymity. According to the CBC, the targets are PEI Liberal Party (peiliberal.blogspot.com) and The Guardian (theguardianpeca.blogspot.com). More info: Don't Sue
posted by boost ventilator on Apr 23, 2006 - 13 comments

$1000 reward to anyone who can produce a published case of “repressed memory” (in fiction or non-fiction) prior to 1800. I figure this is something someone here on MetaFilter could dig up.
posted by mulligan on Mar 1, 2006 - 21 comments

Osama bin Laden is offering $50,000 to anyone who catches a US soldier alive. An al-Qaeda spokesman also says bin Laden is offering $3,000 for US uniforms and $1,500 for assault rifles.
posted by Niahmas on Oct 12, 2001 - 9 comments

$1 billion bounty on bin Laden "'Now it's time to wipe out the wasp nests of terrorism,' says Edward Lozzi, a West Coast PR agent lined up to handle the fund." It's a free-market justice crusade in the name of the Amurrican People!
posted by Sapphireblue on Sep 17, 2001 - 28 comments

$5 million reward.
posted by dfowler on Sep 13, 2001 - 5 comments