The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism

Details

Photo

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Name

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Authors

George A. Akerlof

Year

1970

Field

Economics

Why it stuck

Explains how bad products can push out good ones when buyers can’t tell the difference; I think about it every time I see a flashy but useless dashboard beat a solid, boring one.

My take

Sometimes I wonder if I’m the lemon or the market; either way, this is my go-to reminder that incentives matter more than my beautifully tuned model.