Lewis Tappan established the Mercantile Agency in 1841, selling information about business customers to New York City suppliers who extended trade credit
Ratings, scores, and numerical indicators undergird the modern US credit economy. With little regulatory oversight, they depend on a pervasive informational infrastructure that gathers, collates, and stores vast quantities of information about debtors, operating on a scale that Lewis Tappan could not have imagined
topRatings, scores, and numerical indicators undergird the modern US credit economy. With little regulatory oversight, they depend on a pervasive informational infrastructure that gathers, collates, and stores...
topLewis Tappan established the Mercantile Agency in 1841, selling information about business customers to New York City suppliers who extended trade credit.
topLewis Tappan established the Mercantile Agency in 1841, selling information about business customers to New York City suppliers who extended trade credit
topRatings, scores, and numerical indicators undergird the modern US credit economy. With little regulatory oversight, they depend on a pervasive informational infrastructure that gathers, collates, and stores vast quantities of information about debtors, operating...
top... regulatory oversight, they depend on a pervasive informational infrastructure that gathers, collates, and stores vast quantities of information about debtors, operating on a scale that Lewis Tappan could not have imagined.
topRatings, scores, and numerical indicators undergird the modern US credit economy. With little regulatory oversight, they depend on a pervasive informational infrastructure that gathers,...
topAnd yet, we should recognize that beneath the political contention, Twitter rages, hyperbolic rhetoric and angry posturing, a big part of American society routinely finds many individuals and organizations to be very trustworthy
topAnd yet, we should recognize that beneath the political contention, Twitter rages, hyperbolic rhetoric and angry posturing, a big part of American society routinely finds many individuals and organizations to be very trustworthy
topAnd yet, we should recognize that beneath the political contention, Twitter rages, hyperbolic rhetoric and angry posturing, a big part of American society routinely finds many individuals and organizations to be very trustworthy
topAnd yet, we should recognize that beneath the political contention, Twitter rages, hyperbolic rhetoric and angry posturing, a big part of American society routinely finds many individuals and organizations...
top... recognize that beneath the political contention, Twitter rages, hyperbolic rhetoric and angry posturing, a big part of American society routinely finds many individuals and organizations to be very trustworthy. Despite serious imperfections, the economy depends critically on the credit system and on the systematic ability...
top... rhetoric and angry posturing, a big part of American society routinely finds many individuals and organizations to be very trustworthy. Despite serious imperfections, the economy depends critically on the credit system and on the systematic ability of lenders to answer the question: whom to trust
topAnd yet, we should recognize that beneath the political contention, Twitter rages, hyperbolic rhetoric and angry posturing, a big part of American society routinely finds many individuals and organizations to be very trustworthy
top. Ratings, scores, and numerical indicators undergird the modern US credit economy. With little regulatory oversight, they depend on a pervasive informational infrastructure that gathers, collates, and stores...
top... the country outside the reach of personal networks or acquaintanceship, and to extend credit on a much greater scale. This new system emerged first in short-term trade credit (from suppliers to their business customers), but it created a template that eventually spread around the world
top... established the Mercantile Agency in 1841, selling information about business customers to New York City suppliers who extended trade credit. The idea was to provide useful information about potential customers so that suppliers could know who was most likely to pay their bills
topBut starting in the middle of the nineteenth century, a new system developed that made it possible to lend to strangers, to deal with people in parts of the country outside the reach of personal networks or acquaintanceship, and to extend credit on...
topBut starting in the middle of the nineteenth century, a new system developed that made it possible to lend to strangers, to deal with people in parts of the country outside the reach of personal...
topLewis Tappan established the Mercantile Agency in 1841, selling information about business customers to New York City suppliers who extended trade credit. The idea was to provide useful information about potential customers so that suppliers could know who was most likely...
topNonetheless, it was turned into credit reports and scores that Tappan sold to his subscribers. Such was the demand for systematic credit information that rival rating agencies, like Bradstreet's, soon appeared, and Tappan's own firm grew...
topLewis Tappan established the Mercantile Agency in 1841, selling information about business customers to New York City suppliers who extended trade credit.
topLewis Tappan established the Mercantile Agency in 1841, selling information about business customers to New York City suppliers who extended trade credit
topNonetheless, it was turned into credit reports and scores that Tappan sold to his subscribers. Such was the demand for systematic credit information that rival rating agencies, like Bradstreet's, soon appeared, and Tappan's own firm grew in size and scope...
topSuch was the demand for systematic credit information that rival rating agencies, like Bradstreet's, soon appeared, and Tappan's own firm grew in size and scope (eventually becoming R.G
top... Subscribers included anyone selling to business customers, but also banks, insurance companies, and others concerned with what we today call "risk management." And those whose businesses were rated knew that the ratings mattered and that their access to credit depended on those ratings
top... categorization of its "pecuniary strength" or "general credit." Subscribers included anyone selling to business customers, but also banks, insurance companies, and others concerned with what we today call "risk management." And those whose businesses were rated knew that the ratings mattered...
topNonetheless, it was turned into credit reports and scores that Tappan sold to his subscribers. Such was the demand for systematic credit information that rival rating agencies, like Bradstreet's, soon appeared, and Tappan's own firm grew in size and scope (eventually becoming R.G
topDun's customers could look up a firm and find a precise categorization of its "pecuniary strength" or "general credit." Subscribers included anyone selling to business customers, but also banks, insurance...
top... selling to business customers, but also banks, insurance companies, and others concerned with what we today call "risk management." And those whose businesses were rated knew that the ratings mattered and that their access to credit depended on those ratings
topDun's customers could look up a firm and find a precise categorization of its "pecuniary strength" or "general credit." Subscribers included anyone selling to business customers, but also banks, insurance companies, and others concerned with what we today call "risk management."...
top... score, which summarizes the creditworthiness of an individual consumer in a single number. These are now ubiquitous and routinely govern access to credit, employment, insurance, housing, and other opportunities (including online dating)
topThis new system emerged first in short-term trade credit (from suppliers to their business customers), but it created a template that eventually spread around the world
top... first in short-term trade credit (from suppliers to their business customers), but it created a template that eventually spread around the world.. . Lewis Tappan established the Mercantile Agency in 1841, selling information about business customers to New York City suppliers who extended trade credit
topThis new system emerged first in short-term trade credit (from suppliers to their business customers), but it created a template that eventually spread around the world.
topTappan created a national network of secret correspondents (often attorneys) to supply confidential information about local businesses: who were they, what did they sell, how were they doing, and...
top... in the nineteenth century, people mostly used their social networks, personal connections, and assessments of character to decide whom to trust. They loaned money to their family, friends, neighbors, and business acquaintances
topAnd the extension of credit involves a decision by a lender to trust a borrower. Lenders offer money in exchange for a promise to repay in the future.