The name for this is a "false proxy", and its confounding effects are pervasive just about anywhere you look. The problem is that any time you use a proxy to ma

The name for this is a "false proxy", and its confounding effects are pervasive just about anywhere you look. The problem is that any time you use a proxy to make decisions, you create an incentive to falsify that proxy. The worst version of the trap is when one manipulates a proxy and honestly believes that they are helping.