[WikiEN-l] Congrats for Jimbo

Tue Apr 25 10:14:12 UTC 2006

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 11:14:30 +0200, Anthere wrote:
> Jimbo did not study and graduate from this university either, so I fail 
> to see how it bring recognition to the quality of the university...
> I hope real previous students appreciate.

There is a current line of research in economics that looks at the effects
of non-monetary rewards. The patterns of "Dr h.c." awards (and similar
awards like the knighting in the UK) indicate that the institutions handing
them out do in fact expect to get some of the reputation of the recipients
by mere association.

The mechanism is akin to showbiz stars endorsing a product in a commercial,
or sponsorship in sports. Except that in the award case, reputation is
often the only currency exchanged.

Roger