REVISION: Intellectual Property Contracts: Theory and Evidence from Screenplay Sales
Date Posted: Apr 11, 2013
This paper presents a model of intellectual property contracts. We explain why many intellectual property contracts are contingent on eventual production or success, even without moral hazard on the part of risk-averse sellers. The explanation is based on differences of opinion between buyers and sellers, and reputation building through multiple transactions. Our model predicts that more reputable sellers will be offered a very different mix of cash and contingency payments than inexperienced se
REVISION: Rating Agencies in the Face of Regulation
Date Posted: Apr 11, 2013
This paper develops a theoretical framework to shed light on variation in credit rating standards over time and across asset classes. Ratings issued by credit rating agencies serve a dual role: they provide information to investors and are used to regulate institutional investors. We show that introducing rating-contingent regulation that favors highly rated securities may increase or decrease rating informativeness, but unambiguously increases the volume of highly rated securities. If the regul
REVISION: How to Get Banks to Take Less Risk and Disclose Bad News
Date Posted: Jan 25, 2013
There is wide agreement that before the recent financial crisis, financial institutions took excessive risk in their investment strategies. At the same time, regulators complained that banks did not reveal the extent of their difficulties in a timely fashion thus reducing the effectiveness of government intervention to prevent or mitigate the deleterious effects of the financial crisis. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how regulators can best use certain tools at their disposal to mot
New: Bank Regulation with Private-Party Risk Assessments
Date Posted: Nov 27, 2012
Credit ratings are an integral part of world-wide regulatory frameworks such as the recently proposed Basel III. Yet regulators' reliance on credit ratings has been criticized, not least because of the poor accuracy of ratings of structured products in the years leading up to the recent financial crises. Consistent with these criticisms the Dodd-Frank Act abolishes regulatory reliance on ratings and mandates that regulators find alternative risk measures to regulate financial institutions. In th
REVISION: Control of Corporate Decisions: Shareholders vs. Management
Date Posted: Sep 25, 2010
Activist shareholders have lately been attempting to assert themselves in a struggle with management and regulators over control of corporate decisions. These efforts have met with mixed success. Meanwhile, shareholders have been pressing for changes in the rules governing access to the corporate proxy process, especially in regard to nominating directors. The key issue which these events have brought to light is whether, in fact, shareholders will be better off with enhanced control over corpor
New: A Theory of Board Control and Size
Date Posted: Feb 20, 2009
This article presents a model of optimal control of corporate boards of directors. We determine when one would expect inside versus outside directors to control the board, when the controlling party will delegate decision-making to the other party, the extent of communication between the parties, and the number of outside directors. We show that shareholders can sometimes be better off with an insider-controlled board. We derive endogenous relationships among profits, board control, and the numb
REVISION: A Theory of Board Control and Size
Date Posted: Jan 15, 2008
We extend the traditional view of corporate boards as monitors to include a role for outside board members as suppliers of expertise or information. Indeed, both outsiders and insiders may have private information relevant to the decision. Because of the agency problem between managers and owners (who are assumed to be represented by the outside directors), neither party will communicate his or her information fully to the other. Outsiders in our model control agency problems by making some deci
Capital Budgeting and Delegation
Date Posted: Apr 17, 2005
As part of our ongoing research into capital budgeting processes as responses to decentralized information and incentive problems, we focus in this paper on when a level of a managerial hierarchy will delegate the allocation of capital across projects and time to the level below it. In our model, delegation is a way to save on costly investigation of proposed projects. Therefore, it is more extensive the larger are the costs of such investigations. This delegation takes advantage of the fact tha
Capital Budgeting and Delegation
Date Posted: Apr 17, 2005
As part of our ongoing research into capital budgeting processes as responses to decentralized information and incentive problems, we focus in this paper on when a level of a managerial hierarchy will delegate the allocation of capital across projects and time to the level below it. In our model, delegation is a way to save on costly investigation of proposed projects. Therefore, it is more extensive the larger are the costs of such investigations. This delegation takes advantage of the fact tha
Organization Design
Date Posted: Apr 15, 2005
This paper attempts to explain organization structure based on optimal coordination of interactions among activities. The main idea is that each manager is capable of detecting and coordinating interactions only within his limited area of expertise. Only the CEO can coordinate company-wide interactions. The optimal design of the organization trades off the costs and benefits of various configurations of managers. Our results consist of classifying the characteristics of activities and manage
Organization Design
Date Posted: Apr 14, 2005
This paper attempts to explain organization structure based on optimal coordination of interactions among activities. The main idea is that each manager is capable of detecting and coordinating interactions only within his limited area of expertise. Only the CEO can coordinate company-wide interactions. The optimal design of the organization trades off the costs and benefits of various configurations of managers. Our results consist of classifying the characteristics of activities and manage
Allocation of Decision-Making Authority
Date Posted: Mar 28, 2005
We present a simple model to analyze the allocation of decision-making authority and use the model to characterize the conditions under which a superior will delegate the decision to her subordinate. The model includes two managers, each of whom has private information regarding the outcome of a decision. Because the preferences of the two managers differ, neither can communicate her information fully to the other. We show that the probability of delegation increases with the importance of th
The Role of Games in Security Design
Date Posted: Aug 29, 1998
We contend that security design should be approached as a problem of game design. That is, contracts should specify the procedures that govern the behavior of contract participants in determining outcomes as well as the allocations resulting from those outcomes. We characterize optimal contracts in two nested classes: all contracts (including those that depend on the state) and state-independent contracts. We demonstrate that in situations in which the dependence of contracts on the state is lim
The Capital Budgeting Process, Incentives and Information
Date Posted: Feb 11, 1998
We study the capital allocation process within firms. Observed budgeting processes are explained as a response to decentralized information and incentive problems. It is shown that these imperfections can result in underinvestment when capital productivity is high and overinvestment when it is low. We also investigate how the budgeting process may be expected to vary with firm or division characteristics such as investment opportunities and the technology for information transfer.
The Capital Budgeting Process, Incentives and Information
Date Posted: Feb 11, 1998
We study the capital allocation process within firms. Observed budgeting processes are explained as a response to decentralized information and incentive problems. It is shown that these imperfections can result in underinvestment when capital productivity is high and overinvestment when it is low. We also investigate how the budgeting process may be expected to vary with firm or division characteristics such as investment opportunities and the technology for information transfer.