Game 04 · Policy simulation
The Leakage Engine
80 businesses sit somewhere between fully informal and fully formal. Set tax, enforcement, and benefits policy and watch which way the network tips, and how much of it just disappears instead.
80 businesses, one policy mix
Every dot has a hidden breaking point
Push enforcement too hard without offsetting benefits and businesses do not formalize, they close. Watch the network, not just the sliders.
Every closure is permanent for the rest of this run. Six policy moves. Then you find out what you actually built.
It is a real trade-off
Every business has a hidden threshold for formalizing. Push enforcement without offsetting benefits and you don't formalize the economy, you shrink it.
This is the UPI lesson
Digitizing payments left a paper trail, but a paper trail alone doesn't change the incentive to register. Benefits and enforcement both have to move.
Watch the network, not the number
The same 'formal %' can hide very different outcomes depending on how many businesses closed instead of complying.