PROMISE KEEPING IN THE GREAT SOCIETY: A MODEL OF CREDIT INFORMATION SHARING

Abstract

Reputation is possible in a small community, but in the Smith‐Lippmann‐Hayekian Great Society people are mainly strangers. I model credit reporting as a system of formalized and surgically‐precise gossip. In the Great Society credit reporting makes possible reputations, which make possible credit relationships. But forming a credit reporting system is no simple matter. Historically it has been local gossip in the small community that has made possible credit reporting “gossip” in the Great Society.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1111/j.1468-0343.1992.tb00058.x

Citations and references