A private forum can incentivize information-gathering by tying appeals to prior queries.
Evidence
The LM institution encourages queries by making them a condition for appealing to the LM. and, as we have seen, querying deters Cheating. At equilibrium, traders who fail to query are constantly Cheated by their trading partners. — PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE OF…, 120
Categorization
- XREF: This is the ‘pay to play’ information mechanism — connects to Milgrom’s private judges, and to how the Godfather demands fealty before arbitrating; also parallels how reputation systems today (eBay feedback) require participation. — connects to: A private judge can solve collective punishment problems by centralizing information and adjudication. — PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE OF…, 79
- QUESTION: Worth chasing: is this query-before-appeal condition reflected in real historical Law Merchant courts, or is it purely a modeling convenience?