Some committees are made up of experts, persons who care both
about the matter at hand and about coming across as able decision-
makers. We derive two propositions about the way members of such
committees interact with the outside world. First, they would like
to conceal disagreement from the public. That is, once the decision
has been reached, they show a united front to the outside world.
Second, if such committees are required to become transparent, e.g.,
by publishing verbatim transcripts of their meetings, members will
organize pre-meetings away from the public eye. Large part of the
paper is dedicated to a case study of the U.S. Federal Open Market
Committee in the United States. It provides suggestive evidence
supporting the two propositions