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throwaway13337 • today at 2:29 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

Both can be true.

This is a market for lemons.

As a market's trust lowers, buyers are less willing to pay a reasonable price for a square deal because of the probability being higher that it isn't. This, paradoxically, lowers the value of legitimate products from legitimate sellers because there's no way to differentiate. The risk adjusted value of the product lowers. Legitimate sellers leave. Things spiral. Everyone loses.

Trust is the real rare commodity.


Replies

groundzeros2015 • today at 3:18 PM

And the rational response to a low trust environment is to act with low trust. This is so fragile!