Reputation concerns can discipline agents to take costly effort and generate good outcomes. But what if outcomes are … not always observed? We consider a model of reputation with shifting observability, and ask how this affects agents … reputation incentives and encourage effort. If an agent anticipates that outcomes may not be observed in the future, the benefits …

Credit-rating agencies have an incentive to maintain a public reputation for credibility among investors but also have … an incentive to develop a second, private reputation for leniency among issuers. We show that in markets with few issuers … form a “double reputation.” The model extends the existing literature on “cheap-talk” reputation to the case of two …

signaling that arises when beliefs are public. Applications to models of leadership, reputation, and trading are examined …