If an example comes to mind easily, we assume it is common or likely.
More quotesPrestige is a compression algorithm for decisions we cannot be bothered, equipped or paid enough to make from scratch. The famous institution signals that other clever people have already checked. The celebrated employer lends competence to the candidate before they speak. The large supplier receives patience when a stranger would receive procurement’s little red stamp. Often this shortcut contains useful history. Reputation is accumulated evidence.
It is also evidence with a hereditary peerage. Once the name becomes large enough, current work can travel on old achievement. Weakness looks like nuance. Familiarity feels like safety. An outsider must prove everything, including the right to be considered, while the prestigious option merely needs to avoid spilling soup on itself.
The journal experiment is brutal because the labels changed the reading of work that had already been accepted. The scientific content stayed put; merit apparently moved house.
Blind review helps where it is practical. So does scoring the work before discussing pedigree, and asking whether the same flaw would survive beneath an unfamiliar logo. Yet removing all signals would be silly. When time is short and quality hard to judge, reputation deserves weight. Weight is different from immunity. Prestige should buy a hearing, perhaps even a longer one. It should never purchase exemption from the evidence currently on the page. Otherwise reputation stops being a record of quality and becomes its wealthy impersonator.