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  3. A true diner would choose a restaurant based on the quality of the menu and the chef’s experience. The discerning investor would

A true diner would choose a restaurant based on the quality of the menu and the chef’s experience. The discerning investor would

admin2014-12-11  5
问题     A true diner would choose a restaurant based on the quality of the menu and the chef’s experience. The discerning investor would decide which company to back after studying the business plan and meeting the founders. In reality, people often copy the choices of others. Diners pick the crowded restaurant over the empty one. Investors go with the company that already has multiple backers.
    Such bandwagon effects are not necessarily irrational. Often, the buyer knows less about a product than the seller; the collective wisdom of the crowd can correct for such "asymmetric information". It can also be a way of coping with a surplus of choice; rather than study 100 models of music player, why not assume the market has already figured out the duds?
    The existence of bandwagon behavior can be hard to prove. A product or an asset usually becomes popular(or unpopular)in the first place because it is genuinely superior(or inferior). But some have tried to isolate the self-fulfilling effects of popularity. One 2004 study by Alan Sorensen, now of the University of Wisconsin, examined accidental omissions from the New York Times bestseller list. By comparing the sales of books that did make the list and unlisted books that should have, the author could isolate the effect of inclusion—a modest boost to first-time authors’ sales. In a 2008 study by Matthew Salganik of Princeton University and Duncan Watts, now at Microsoft Research, participants tricked into believing a song was more popular than it actually was were more likely to download it.
    Although such bandwagon behavior may be rational, it can also be deeply harmful. Two decades ago Abhijit Banerjee, now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, devised a model of "rational herding" in which market participants base their decision on a combination of their own information and the actions of others. Over successive rounds of transactions, participants responded less to their own information and more to the herd.
    That can lead to poor outcomes. Imagine a newly unemployed worker who narrowly misses out on the first job he applies for. That initial failure reduces his odds of landing the second job he applies for, and so on, until he ends up as one of the long-term unemployed. The growth of CV-screening software may exacerbate the trend by reducing the chances that someone in human resources will pull the details of a long-term unemployed worker out of the pile of applications. One near miss can increase the odds of protracted failure.
    Popularity is not destiny, fortunately. Mr Salganik and Mr Watts could turn an unpopular song into a hit by manipulating its perceived popularity, but could not turn a hit into a loser. Even after being falsely labeled the least popular song, the most popular song rose sharply in the rankings once enough people had listened to it. Similarly, Messrs Kroft, Lange and Notowidigdo found that even someone who has been unemployed for several years has a 4% chance of a call-back. But their study suggests that taking some work is better than none for the recently unemployed. Once the bandwagon starts to roll, it is hard to stop.
From the description of the first two paragraphs, which word could best summarize the nature of " bandwagon behavior" ?
选项 A、Collectivism.
B、Peer pressure.
C、Conformity.
D、Imitation.
答案C
解析 根据题干将答案定位到前两段。从第一段的…copy the choices of others，及第二段的…coping with a surplus of choice可推断选项[C]符合。
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