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To: Sam Citron who wrote (100365)	4/13/2000 1:29:00 PM
From: Robert Rose	Respond to of 164684

GST, as Sam suggests, you might have better luck using another school besides Harvard to illustrate 'positional.' For example, I understand MIT's been giving Harvard a run for its money in that regard lately. <g>

To: Sam Citron who wrote (100365)	4/13/2000 3:15:00 PM
From: GST	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Sam: <I have never known anybody who went to Harvard for this reason. The reason I went to Harvard is that I felt it represented the best education that money could buy, not that it conveyed an exclusive positional benefit> Sam -- I don't want to get lost in the example -- but Harvard is a status symbol that would lose value if anybody could have a Harvard education. Your network is also a function of its exclusivity. If the network was 1000 times larger it would become meaningless.

To: Sam Citron who wrote (100365)	4/13/2000 3:40:00 PM
From: Bearded One	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Actually, you've given an example where network effects might be negative: Harvard is a network and as a network its value increases rather than decreases with size, scale, and scope. Suppose Harvard lowered its admissions standards and increased its enrollment by a factor of 50. As there are a limited number of powerful scions in the world, the average wealth and status of the undergraduate population would decrease. It would be harder, not easier, for an undergraduate to meet and befriend a rich or powerful undergraduate. Thus, the value of the network would decrease, not increase.