Cost Transfer

The second boundary concerns the movement of costs. Every benefit has a corresponding cost; costs do not disappear, they move. When costs, risks, and losses are systematically transferred toward those least able to refuse them, while benefits concentrate elsewhere, a boundary is approached.

A structure crosses this boundary when costs, risks, or losses are systematically transferred downward while benefits remain concentrated upward. The transfer is often invisible precisely because it is distributed — no single act of transfer appears decisive, yet the cumulative direction is unmistakable.