Just skimming the list after coming back from vacation... Dan Klein has written a nice book titled "Reputation" which I frequently recommend. Looks at some of these examples in detail from a self- regulatory, free-market perspective. -Declan On Tue, Dec 25, 2001 at 05:51:01PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
I didn't read far enough into BU's piece to see him asking such a silly question, or I would have also offered S&P and D&B as examples. "Foobarcorp's rating has been lowered from AAA to AA." Like it or not, they are in the business of reputation rating.
So is a Notary Public. So is a restaurant reviewer in a newspaper. So are Siskel and Ebert, er, Ebert and That New Guy.
So are the kosher meat dudes who stamp "Kosher" on food approved for consumption by Jews.
So are the "PC Labs" and other reviewers of new PC hardware.
We are swimming in a sea of such reputation services, just as we are swimming in what is basically an anarchic ocean.
--Tim May "Ben Franklin warned us that those who would trade liberty for a little bit of temporary security deserve neither. This is the path we are now racing down, with American flags fluttering."-- Tim May, on events following 9/11/2001