Basically Netflix had the incredible epiphany that actions (what people watch) speak louder than words (what people highly rate). Netflix finally got the memo that talk is cheap.
Virtue signalling really isn't a new thing...
In technical terms... star ratings and thumbs up/down ratings are known as contingent valuation (CV) techniques...
If people's Netflix ratings are untrustworthy, then what does that say about democracy? How confident should we be that Trump accurately reflects the true will of the people?
Personally, I don't spend very much time on Netflix watching shows about economics. Instead, I spend far more time watching anime. Anybody else love One Punch Man? So according to my actions I love anime a lot more than I love economics. Actually no. The fact of the matter is that Netflix has a severe scarcity of shows about economics. It's not like I can spend a lot of time watching shows that don't exist! If only there was a system that would allow me to easily, quickly, effectively and accurately communicate my perception of some content's relative scarcity...