Affective death spiral sounds like something to do with depression, praise locked loop may give a more accurate impression of the idea.

In cases of delayed effects, linking pensions to outcomes years later might provide incentives.

For instance, teachers pensions could depend on the eventual earnings of their pupils, or elections could have tickboxes for evaluating the last politician.

(which doesn't help the problem of credit being due to many people)

Job applications are another example of this effect.

For funding agencies that are all under the control of (e.g.) the US government, rationing the total number of applications any researcher (or group) can put in could be a solution.