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Free-riding and Fairness in Principal-Multi-Agent Relationships: Experimental Evidence

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Author Info

  • Claude Meidinger

    (TEAM - Théories et Applications en Microéconomie et Macroéconomie - CNRS : UMR8059 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne)

  • Jean-Louis Rullière

    () (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines)

  • Marie-Claire Villeval

    (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines)

Abstract

How do intrinsic motivations such as fairness and reciprocity influence the efficiency of a principal - multi-agent relationship when joint production in a team is considered? Focusing on moral hazard in teams (Holmström, 1982), this paper reports the results of an experiment designed to determine whether principal's fairness helps in reducing free-riding amongst team members. Two treatments were run, with reshuffling (stranger treatment) and without reshuffling (partner treatment). Experimental evidence shows that i) offers of fair contracts favor team cooperation in the stranger treatment, whereas ii) repeated interactions do not necessarily improve team cooperation. All the results of the partner treatment point to the difficulty of establishing a fruitful cooperation between principals and team members unequally motivated by genuine fairness considerations.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by HAL in its series Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) with number halshs-00151509.

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Date of creation: 2001
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Handle: RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00151509

Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00151509
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Web page: http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/

Related research

Keywords: experimental economics; fairness; principal-agent relationship; team production;

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Cited by:
  1. Sandra Maximiano & Randolph Sloof & Joep Sonnemans, 2004. "Gift Exchange in a Multi-worker Firm," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-100/1, Tinbergen Institute.

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