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Conflicts and Common Interests in Committees

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Author Info
Hao Li (SUNY - Buffalo)
Sherwin Rosen (University of Chicago)
Wing Suen (University of Hong Kong)

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Abstract

Committees improve decisions by pooling independent information of members, but promote manipulation, obfuscation, and exaggeration of private evidence when members have conflicting preferences. We study how self-interest mediates these conflicting forces. When members' preferences differ, no person ever submits a report that allows perfect inference of his private information. Instead, equilibrium strategies are many-to-one mappings that transform continuous data into ordered ranks: voting procedures are the equilibrium methods of achieving a consensus in committees. Voting necessarily coarsens the transmission of information among members, but is necessary to control conflicts of interest. The degree of coarseness of the equilibrium voting procedure is determined by the extent of conflicting preferences. Though self-interests necessarily reduce the efficient use of information in committees, real information sharing occurs nonetheless. Committees make better decisions on behalf of the ``average'' (Pareto weighted) member than would any individual on the basis of own information. Committees are viable, though imperfect ways of making decisions when information is dispersed among members.

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Paper provided by Econometric Society in its series Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers with number 0341.

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Date of creation: 01 Aug 2000
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Handle: RePEc:ecm:wc2000:0341

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  22. Martin J. Osborne & Jeffrey S. Rosenthal & Matthew A. Turner, 2000. "Meetings with Costly Participation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 927-943, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Turner, Matthew & Weninger, Quinn, 2004. "Meetings with costly participation: an empirical analysis," Staff General Research Papers 11464, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    Other versions:
  2. CAILLAUD, Bernard & TIROLE, Jean, 2007. "Consensus Building: How to Persuade a Group," IDEI Working Papers 435, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Robin Boadway & Motohiro Sato, 2006. "Bureaucratic Advice and Political Governance," Working Papers 1070, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Ettore Damiano & Hao Li & Wing Suen, 2008. "Delay in Strategic Information Aggregation," Working Papers tecipa-311, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. Quinn Weninger & Matthew tunrer, 2004. "Meetings with costly participation: An empirical," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 411, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
  6. Dezsö Szalay & Ramon Arean, 2005. "Communicating with a Team of Experts," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'Econométrie et d'Economie politique (DEEP) 05.12, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP. [Downloadable!]
  7. Sourav Bhattacharya, 2006. "Preference Monotonicity and Information Aggregation in Elections," Working Papers 325, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2007. [Downloadable!]
  8. Torun Dewan & David P. Myatt, 2007. "The Qualities of Leadership: Direction, Communication, and Obfuscation," Economics Series Working Papers 311, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Cesar Martinelli, 2000. "Convergence Results for Unanimous Voting," Working Papers 0005, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Gunnarsson, Louise Victoria & Orazem, Peter & Sanchez, Mario & Verdisco, Aimee, 2004. "Does Local School Control Raise Student Outcomes?: Theory and Evidence on the Roles of School Autonomy and Community Participation," Staff General Research Papers 11417, Iowa State University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  11. Torun Dewan & David P. Myatt, 2007. "The Qualities of Leadership:Direction, Communication, and Obfuscation," STICERD - Political Economy and Public Policy Paper Series 24, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  12. Otto H. Swank & Bauke Visser, 2007. "Is Transparency to no avail? Committee Decision-making, Pre-meetings, and Credible Deals," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 07-055/1, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  13. Bauke Visser & Otto H. Swank, 2005. "On Committees of Experts," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-028/1, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
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  14. John Duggan & Cesar Martinelli, 1999. "A Bayesian Model of Voting in Juries," Working Papers 9904, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Ruth Ben-Yashar & Igal Milchtaich, 2007. "First and second best voting rules in committees," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 453-486, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Eyal Baharad & Shmuel Nitzan, 2007. "The Costs of Implementing the Majority Principle: The Golden Voting Rule," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 69-84, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Sibert, Anne, 2006. "Central Banking by Committee," CEPR Discussion Papers 5626, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Klaas J. Beniers & Otto H. Swank, 2003. "On the Composition of Committees," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-006/1, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
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  20. Job Swank & Otto Swank & Bauke Visser, 2006. "Transparency and Pre-meetings," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 06-051/1, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  21. Daniel Seidmann, 2006. "A Theory of Voting Patterns and Performance in Private and Public Committees," Discussion Papers 2006-07, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham. [Downloadable!]
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