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Agency costs in the process of development

Author

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  • Acemoglu, Daron

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Zilibotti, Fabrizio

    (Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University)

Abstract

We analyze an economy where production is subject to moral hazard. The degree of the incentive (agency) costs introduced by the presence of moral hazard naturally depends on the information structure in the economy; it is cheaper to induce correct incentives in a society which posesses better ex post information. The degree of ex post information depends on the number of projects and entrepreneurs in the economy; the more projects, the better the information. This implies that at the early stages of development, the range of projects and the amount of information are limited and agency costs are high. Since the information created by a project is an externality on others, the decentralized economy is constrained inefficient; in particular, it does not `experiment' enough. The analysis of the role of information also opens the way to an investigation of the development of financial institutions. We contrast the information aggregation role of stock markets and information production role of banks. Because the amount of available information increases with development, our model predicts the pattern of financial development observed in practice; banks first and stock markets later.

Suggested Citation

  • Acemoglu, Daron & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 1997. "Agency costs in the process of development," Seminar Papers 607, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iiessp:0607
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    Cited by:

    1. Mishkin, Frederic S., 1998. "International Experiences With Different Monetary Policy Regimes," Seminar Papers 648, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies.
    2. Sussman, Oren, 1999. "Economic growth with standardized contracts," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1797-1818, October.
    3. Jean-Paul Pollin & Anne-Gaël Vaubourg, 1998. "L'architecture optimale des systèmes financiers dans les pays émergents," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 49(1), pages 223-238.
    4. Lindbeck, Assar, 1998. "Swedish Lessons for Post-Socialist Countries," Working Paper Series 498, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    5. Tressel, Thierry, 2003. "Dual Financial Systems and Inequalities in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 223-257, June.
    6. Acemoglu, Daron & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 1997. "Setting Standards: Information Accumulation in Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 1641, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Taylor, John B., 1999. "The robustness and efficiency of monetary policy rules as guidelines for interest rate setting by the European central bank," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 655-679, June.
    8. de Aghion, Beatriz Armendariz, 1999. "Development banking," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 83-100, February.
    9. Chengze Simon Fan & Herschel I. Grossman, 2001. "Incentives and corruption in chinese economic reform," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 195-206.
    10. Nazmi, Nader, 2005. "Deregulation, financial deepening and economic growth: The case of Latin America," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 447-459, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agency Costs; Development; Information; Financial Institutions; Social Experimentation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General

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