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A Theory of Advice Based on Information Search Incentives

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  • Marcoul, Philippe

Abstract

This paper investigates whether recourse to a consultant always enhances decision making. Advice given by a consultant changes the manager’s belief about his own decision-making ability. This change in belief alters the manager’s incentives to make a decision. Taking into account this effect, we characterize the contracts that the firm must offer to the manager when a consultant with a given expertise is hired. Surprisingly, we find that the benefit curve of the firm may decrease as the consultant expertise increases, even if there is no consulting fee. Moreover, we show that the value of advice depends on the “good fit” between the informativeness of the consultant and the manager’s incentives to reach the right decision.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcoul, Philippe, 2003. "A Theory of Advice Based on Information Search Incentives," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10357, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genres:10357
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    File URL: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/papers/p3822-2003-04-29.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Steven D. Levitt & Christopher M. Snyder, 1997. "Is No. News Bad News? Information Transmission and the Role of "Early Warning" in the Principal-Agent Model," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(4), pages 641-661, Winter.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bourjade, Sylvain & Jullien, Bruno, 2004. "Expertise and Bias in Decision Making," MPRA Paper 7251, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jan 2007.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    advice; value of information; information search; incentives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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