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Determinants of Asset Ownership: A Study of the Carpentry Trade

Author

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  • Duncan I. Simester

    (MIT Sloan School of Management)

  • Birger Wernerfelt

    (MIT Sloan School of Management)

Abstract

We use a data set describing ownership of productive assets in the carpentry trade to evaluate several factors influencing the allocation of asset ownership between an employer and his employees. The findings suggest that the allocation involves a tradeoff between two incentive effects influencing how the employee uses the asset and what the employer decides it should be used for. In particular, the allocation of ownership hinges on whether an asset is easily lost or stolen, which favors employee ownership, and whether the employer's task assignment affects the asset's depreciation, which favors employer ownership. There is also evidence that more expensive assets and assets that are shared by more than one employee are more likely to be owned by the employer. The results suggest that a general theory of asset ownership should be able to take account of at least these effects. © 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Duncan I. Simester & Birger Wernerfelt, 2005. "Determinants of Asset Ownership: A Study of the Carpentry Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 50-58, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:87:y:2005:i:1:p:50-58
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Berger, Allen N. & Miller, Nathan H. & Petersen, Mitchell A. & Rajan, Raghuram G. & Stein, Jeremy C., 2005. "Does function follow organizational form? Evidence from the lending practices of large and small banks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 237-269, May.
    2. Birger Wernerfelt, 2013. "Small forces and large firms: Foundations of the RBV," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(6), pages 635-643, June.
    3. Hu, Y. & Hendrikse, G.W.J., 2007. "Allocation of Decision Rights in Fruit and Vegetable Contracts in China," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-077-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    4. Corts, Kenneth S., 2006. "The interaction of task and asset allocation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 887-906, September.
    5. John, George & Reve, Torger, 2010. "Transaction Cost Analysis in Marketing: Looking Back, Moving Forward," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 248-256.
    6. Wernerfelt, Birger, 2003. "Governance of Adjustments," Working papers 4412-03, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    7. Jason Miller & Keith Skowronski & John Saldanha, 2022. "Asset ownership & incentives to undertake non‐contractible actions: The case of trucking," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 58(1), pages 65-91, January.
    8. Massa, Massimo & Reuter, Jonathan & Zitzewitz, Eric, 2010. "When should firms share credit with employees? Evidence from anonymously managed mutual funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 400-424, March.
    9. Ennio E. Piano, 2021. "Organizing high-end restaurants," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 165-192, June.
    10. Christopher P. Clifford & William C. Gerken, 2021. "Property Rights to Client Relationships and Financial Advisor Incentives," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(5), pages 2409-2445, October.

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