Contract Renegotiation and Organizational Design

This paper studies the implications of non-commitment for organizational design. An organizational form must trade-off between the coordination benefits associated with the centralization of information and its associated costs in terms of renegotiation. This analysis makes precise what these benefits and costs are. First, I characterize renegotiation-proof allocations for organizational forms that differ in the amount of decentralization that they support. Second, I compare these different organizational forms. The analysis shows that a complete decentralization of decision-making is always weakly dominated by more centralized structures when information is dispersed in the organization. Decision-making should always be in the hand of the player with the most important or relevant information. Ce papier étudie les implications pour la structure organisationnelle des problèmes de non-engagement. Une structure organisationnelle adéquate permet l'arbitrage entre les bénéfices et les coûts associés à la centralisation de la prise de décision. Parmi les bénéfices, on retrouve une meilleure coordination des informations des membres de l'organisation; parmi les coûts, on retrouve les inefficacités reliées aux difficultés d'engagement et à la renégociation. L'analyse démontre qu'une décentralisation complète est toujours faiblement dominée par une structure plus centralisée. Finalement, la prise de décision doit être conférée aux agents ayant l'information la plus cruciale pour la performance de l'organisation.Asymmetric information; Contract renegotiation; Organizational form; Decentralization, Information assymétrique ; Renégociation de contrats ; Structure organisationnelle ; Décentralisation

Organizational Design of R&D activities

This paper addresses the question of whether R&D should be carried out by an independent research unit or be produced in-house by the firm marketing the innovation. We define two organizational structures. In an integrated structure, the firm that markets the innovation also carries out and finances research leading to the innovation. In an independent structure, the firm that markets the innovation buys it from an independent research unit which is financed externally. We compare the two structures under the assumption that the research unit has some private information about the real cost of developing the new product. When development costs are negatively correlated with revenues from the innovation, the integrated structure dominates. The independent structure dominates in the opposite case.

Disclosure of Information in Regulatory Proceedings

This paper examines how different rules for presentation of evidence affect verdicts in regulatory hearings and the welfare and efficiency properties these procedures exhibit. The hearing is modeled as a game of imperfect information in which the respondent is privately informed about validity of his case. The respondent may present evidence to support his case. The commission observes whether the respondent presents evidence, and the nature of the evidence presented to update its beliefs about the validity of the case. Based on these beliefs and the standard of proof for conviction, the commission decides whether the respondent's application should be accepted or rejected. The sequential equilibria of this game are examined for their implications regarding (i) the desirability of making disclosure of evidence mandatory rather than voluntary, (ii) the burden of proof undertaken by the respondent to prove his case, and (iii) the impact of information accuracy and disclosure costs on the outcome of the hearing and the welfare of the respondents. Ce papier étudie comment différentes règles pour la production de preuves peuvent influencer la prise de décision d'une agence de réglementation ainsi que les propriétés de bien-être de ces règles. Une firme réglementée possède une information privée quant à la validité de sa requête et peut produire des éléments de preuve pour la soutenir. Une agence de réglementation observe la preuve présentée par la firme et se forme alors une opinion sur la validité de la requête. Les équilibres de ce jeu sont caractérisés et les points suivants sont étudiés : (i) la production de certains éléments doit-elle être obligatoire ou volontaire ? (ii) quelles sont les conséquences du fardeau de la preuve que la firme doit supporter ? (iii) quel est l'impact de la précision de la preuve et des coûts associés à sa produciton sur la décision de l'agence et le bien-être de la firme ?Regulation; Imperfect information; Disclosure of evidence, Réglementation ; Information imparfaite ; Production de preuves

Information et marchés financiers : une revue de littérature

Cette revue de littérature étudie les problèmes d’information dans les marchés financiers. La première section établit un modèle de base qui étudie les effets des asymétries d’information sur le comportement des agents économiques et sur la nature de l’équilibre des marchés financiers. Dans la deuxième section, divers mécanismes incitatifs pouvant éliminer partiellement ou complètement les problèmes d’information sont ajoutés au modèle de base. Finalement, le rôle stratégique de la structure financière est étudiée dans la dernière section

Environmental Risks : Should Banks Be Liable?

This paper studies the impact of banks' liability for environmental damages caused by their borrowers. Laws or court decisions that declare banks liable for environmental damages have two objectives : (1) finding someone to pay for the damages and (2) exerting a pressure on a firm's stakeholders to incite them to invest in environmental risk prevention. We study the effect that such legal decisions can have on financing relationships and especially on the incentives to reduce environmental risk in an environment where banks cannot commit to refinance the firm in all circumstances. Following an environmental accident, liable banks more readily agree to refinance the firm. We then show that bank liability effectively makes refinancing more attractive to banks, therefore improving the firm's risk-sharing possibilities. Consequently, the firm's incentives to invest in environmental risk reduction are weakened compared to the (bank) no-liability case. We also show that, when banks are liable, the firm invests at the full-commitment optimal level of risk reduction investment. If there are some externalities such that some damages cannot be accounted for, the socially efficient level of investment is greater than the privately optimal one. in that case, making banks non-liable can be socially desirable

Non-Commitment and Savings in Dynamic Risk-Sharing Contracts

We characterize the solution to a model of consumption smoothing using financing under non-commitment and savings. We show that, under certain conditions, these two different instruments complement each other perfectly. If the rate of time preference is equal to the interest rate on savings, perfect smoothing can be achieved in finite time. We also show that, when random revenues are generated by periodic investments in capital through a concave production function, the level of smoothing achieved through financial contracts can influence the productive investment efficiency. As long as financial contracts cannot achieve perfect smoothing, productive investment will be used as a complementary smoothing device.Nous caractérisons la solution d'un modèle de lissage de la consommation avec financement externe sujet à des contraintes d'engagement et épargne. Nous démontrons que, sous certaines conditions, l'épargne et le financement externe se complètent parfaitement. Si le taux d'escompte est égal au taux d'intérêt, on obtient en temps fini un lissage parfait. Nous démontrons également que le lissage obtenu sur les marchés financiers affecte l'investissement en capital physique. Lorsque le lissage est imparfait, l'investissement est utilisé pour des fins de lissage