Who pays for quality evaluations in the agent era? An open mechanism design problem
Afinetheorem · x · 2026-11-06
Afinetheorem poses a mechanism design question: if my agent goes to Lee Valley Tools to find a good product but price-compares elsewhere, what compensates the store for providing the quality signal? His inspiration is the World's 50 Best restaurant list, which he calls comically bad.
The core issue: in a world where agents drive purchasing decisions, how does the existing reputation/review ecosystem stay incentivized to maintain quality? An open question worth pondering for anyone thinking about the agent economy.
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