I’m curious as to why you think it would drop at all. Or that people don’t already know that it’s a status symbol.
There’s an interview I’ve heard with Supreme Court Justice Scalia where he says he only looks at clerks from the big law schools. Paraphrasing him but something to the effect of “I don’t have time to take a chance on looking at other schools” Other places could have perfectly good clerks, but there was too great a chance that they weren’t.
I don’t know that I agree with his thought process, but I understand it. I don’t think he had any illusions about it being a status symbol. Indeed that was exactly why he was using it.
I think what you mean is what would happen if people knew it was “incorrectly” a status symbol. The answer to that would depend on, not only, why they made that determination *and* what the alternatives are. For example, if people think Harvard grads are 5 times better than other grads, but some bad publicity happens and now people only think Harvard grads are 3 times better than other grads....they’ll be OK. :)
hummmm, I guess I was implicitly thinking that it was an inefficient signaling tool. An SAT test, a Bitcoin address, your Facebook friend list, and a portfolio seem more time-efficient for example (simplifying a bit)
If you think you can “Moneyball” status and hire Harvard caliber people without paying Harvard caliber wages, then the “Moneyball” story suggests people will follow that model pretty quickly.
I’m curious as to why you think it would drop at all. Or that people don’t already know that it’s a status symbol.
There’s an interview I’ve heard with Supreme Court Justice Scalia where he says he only looks at clerks from the big law schools. Paraphrasing him but something to the effect of “I don’t have time to take a chance on looking at other schools” Other places could have perfectly good clerks, but there was too great a chance that they weren’t.
I don’t know that I agree with his thought process, but I understand it. I don’t think he had any illusions about it being a status symbol. Indeed that was exactly why he was using it.
I think what you mean is what would happen if people knew it was “incorrectly” a status symbol. The answer to that would depend on, not only, why they made that determination *and* what the alternatives are. For example, if people think Harvard grads are 5 times better than other grads, but some bad publicity happens and now people only think Harvard grads are 3 times better than other grads....they’ll be OK. :)
hummmm, I guess I was implicitly thinking that it was an inefficient signaling tool. An SAT test, a Bitcoin address, your Facebook friend list, and a portfolio seem more time-efficient for example (simplifying a bit)
Being costly (and inefficient) is part of what makes something a good signal for status.
I’m not sure if this reference will work,but...
If you think you can “Moneyball” status and hire Harvard caliber people without paying Harvard caliber wages, then the “Moneyball” story suggests people will follow that model pretty quickly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyball