In the last years, online rating and reputational mechanisms have become increasingly important in the regulation of behavior in the platform economy. Consumers tend to rely on online reviews to distinguish between service providers. The European Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and a strand of legal scholarship have praised these mechanisms for generating valuable information, reducing market failures and consumer risks. However, this position has overlooked evidence suggesting that the additional data provided by online reputation does not address information asymmetries due to the multiple shortcomings of online reputational mechanisms. In this article, I discuss the regulatory potential of online reputation and offer a reflection on the assumption that the availability of more information reduces the need for public regulation.
Our 2020 Annual Conference was scheduled to be held at the University of Wrocław in Poland on July 9-11, 2020.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ICON·S Executive Committee has decided to postpone our 2020 Conference to 2021. Our next Annual Conference will take place from July 8-10, 2021, in Wrocław, Poland.
Procedural details regarding the organization of the 2021 Conference will follow in the months ahead.
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