Journal ArticleDOI
Decentralization, Duplication, and Delay
Patrick Bolton,Joseph Farrell +1 more
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
In this paper, the authors argue that although decentralization has advantages in finding low-cost solutions, these advantages are accompanied by coordination problems, which lead to delay or duplication of effort or both.Abstract:
We argue that although decentralization has advantages in finding low-cost solutions, these advantages are accompanied by coordination problems, which lead to delay or duplication of effort or both. Consequently, decentralization is desirable when there is little urgency or a great deal of private information, but it is strictly undesirable in urgent problems when private information is less important. We also examine the effect of large numbers and find that coordination problems disappear in the limit if distributions are common knowledge.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Formal and Real Authority in Organizations
Philippe Aghion,Jean Tirole +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a theory of the allocation of formal authority and real authority within organizations, and illustrated how a formally integrated structure can accommodate various degrees of "real" integration.
Book ChapterDOI
Coordination and Lock-In: Competition with Switching Costs and Network Effects
Joseph Farrell,Paul Klemperer +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that even inefficient incompatible competition is often more profitable than compatible competition, especially for dominant firms with installed-base or expectational advantages, and therefore favor thoughtfully pro-compatibility public policy.
MonographDOI
The architecture of government : rethinking political decentralization
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a decentralization approach based on checks, balances, and freedom, where data to the rescue is used to solve the problem of ethnic conflict and secession.
Journal ArticleDOI
Information revelation and strategic delay in a model of investment
Christophe Chamley,Douglas Gale +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors characterize the unique symmetric perfect Bayesian equilibrium and study the robustness of delay, which turns out to be sensitive to the reaction speed and the number of players.
Book ChapterDOI
Recent developments in the theory of regulation
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review recent theoretical work on the design of regulatory policy, focusing on the complications that arise when regulated suppliers have better information about the regulated industry than do regulators.
References
More filters
Book ChapterDOI
The use of knowledge in society
TL;DR: In this paper, it was pointed out that many of the current disputes with regard to both economic theory and economic policy have their common origin, it seems to me, in a misconception about the nature of the economic problem of society.
Book
The Strategy of Conflict
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a theory of interdependent decision based on the Retarded Science of International Strategy (RSIS) for non-cooperative games and a solution concept for "noncooperative" games.
Book
The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business
TL;DR: In this article, the authors defined the visible hand of the modern business enterprise and defined the traditional processes of production and distribution in the United States. But they did not define the management and growth of modern industrial enterprises.
Journal ArticleDOI
Prices vs. Quantities
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the problem of central control in a large economic organization, where the basic operating rules from the centre take the form of quotas, targets, or commands to produce a certain level of output.