AIM Framework glossary
PM Contagion
Canonical definition
The mechanism by which Mimetic Premium spreads from discretionary goods to A-necessary goods (housing, healthcare, education, food) through Object Parasitism, such that the minimum cost of A-sufficiency rises with PM-escalation rather than with production cost, operating through three architectural channels: direct contagion (the A-good itself acquires Status-association), ownership contagion (the fact of owning the A-good signals Status), and market contagion (PM-pricing in adjacent markets feeds back through comparable-property mechanisms).
Explanation
PM Contagion is the architectural reason that Mimetic Premium is not quarantined to luxury goods. Once M-escalation captures a society's surplus allocation, the same A-necessary goods that should be priced at A-sufficiency cost (housing at shelter-function cost, healthcare at health-function cost, education at competence-development cost) become PM-loaded, because the goods themselves carry Status-association, because the ownership of the goods signals Status, and because adjacent markets feed back through comparable-property pricing. The result is that the minimum cost of A-sufficiency rises with PM-escalation rather than with production cost, which is the formal architectural mechanism of the A-Floor Erosion Principle. Intervention requires addressing all three contagion channels: visibility-suppression of the Status-association (Class 1 intervention targeting direct contagion), tenure-form diversification decoupling ownership from access (targeting ownership contagion), and market-design intervention including blind pricing and sumptuary regimes (targeting market contagion). Three-channel specification. (1) Direct contagion: A-necessary goods acquire M-characteristics through the Status-association of their consumption context. (2) Ownership contagion: the fact of owning A-necessary goods signals wealth, stability, or competence, adding an M-component to the ownership valuation that is distinct from the A-function value. (3) Market contagion: rental and access markets are priced against ownership markets through comparable-property mechanisms, so PM in the ownership tier inflates costs throughout the access structure and forces A-floor rents to track M-escalation rather than A-sufficiency cost.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct; derived from Object Parasitism (Axiom 5) and the A-Floor Erosion Principle.
Derivation
Also in the entry
Source: Chapter 2 (A-Floor Erosion Principle, Object Parasitism, Mimetic Premium (PM), Ownership Signal entries); Chapter 10 (canonical treatment of PM Contagion dynamics).
Related terms
- Object Parasitism (Axiom 5)
- Mimetic Premium (PM)
- A-Floor Erosion Principle
- Ownership Signal
- Portfolio Signal
- Housing Exception Principle
- Class 1 Intervention
- Boundedness Asymmetry Principle
- Surplus Capital
- Opportunity Cost (Decomposed)