The Dark Side of Reputation

Authors

Emily Kadens, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law

Abstract

This Article seeks to contribute to the literature challenging the role of reputation in disciplining commerce. The historical disputes discussed here, which arose in the supposedly privately-ordered zone of the premodern merchant, add nuance to our understanding of how commerce works in the real world. Part I briefly reviews some of the problems the economic and network theory literature has identified with reputation. Part II turns to the history and demonstrates how trust could be cheaply manufactured due in part to potential partners' failure to look beyond superficial indicia of reputation. Part III then considers why reputation might have been so susceptible to manipulation even in the face-to-face networks of early modern merchants.

Disciplines

Antitrust and Trade Regulation | Banking and Finance Law | Commercial Law | Communications Law | Law | Law and Economics | Legal History

Recommended Citation

Emily Kadens, The Dark Side of Reputation, 40 Cardozo L. Rev. 1995 (2019).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol40/iss5/2