However, our core contention that institutions sometimes arise to make reputation mechanisms more effective by communicating information seems almost beyond dispute. The Mishipora, described in the Hebrew Talmud, according to which those who failed to keep promises were punished by being publicly denounced; the use of the “hue and cry” to identify cheaters in medieval England; the famed “Scarlet Letter,” described in Hawthorne’s famous story; and the public stocks and pillories of 17th century New England, which were sometimes used to punish errant local merchants, are all examples of institutions and practices in which a principal aim is to convey information to the community about who has violated its norms.

Builds on: "Neither the reputation mechanism nor the institutions can be effective by themselves."

PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE O…, loc. 166