IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/118023.html

On Principal Agents, Rogue Agencies and Systemic Government Failure: A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Otterson, James

Abstract

This note sums up a US Congress Committee Investigation Report (CIR) on abuses carried out by intelligence agents of the Department of Commerce (DOC) over the last twenty years. We also consider some possible background contexts underlining the issues covered by the CIR along with preventive policy considerations. In terms of economic theory, this is an account of how principal agents built a rogue government agency that potentially triggered a systemic failure of part of the US government. We consider the mechanisms that enabled the underlining principal agent problems and mitigating factors for each given mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Otterson, James, 2023. "On Principal Agents, Rogue Agencies and Systemic Government Failure: A Case Study," MPRA Paper 118023, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:118023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/118023/1/pap_in_bureaucracy.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/119035/1/MPRA_paper_119035.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/120079/8/MPRA_paper_120079.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/121989/15/MPRA_paper_121989.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andreas Lichter & Max Löffler & Sebastian Siegloch, 2021. "The Long-Term Costs of Government Surveillance: Insights from Stasi Spying in East Germany," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(2), pages 741-789.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Goldfayn-Frank, Olga & Wohlfart, Johannes, 2018. "How do consumers adapt to a new environment in their economic forecasting? Evidence from the German reunification," IMFS Working Paper Series 129, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    2. Luis R. Martinez & Jonas Jessen & Guo Xu, 2023. "A Glimpse of Freedom: Allied Occupation and Political Resistance in East Germany," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 68-106, January.
    3. Eder, Christoph & Halla, Martin, 2018. "On the Origin and Composition of the German East-West Population Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 12031, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Mikula, Stepan & Reggiani, Tommaso G. & Sabatini, Fabio, 2025. "The Long-Term Impact of Church Activity on Social Capital: Lessons from Post-War Czechoslovakia," IZA Discussion Papers 17981, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Florian Buhlmann & Benjamin Elsner & Andreas Peichl, 2018. "Tax refunds and income manipulation: evidence from the EITC," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(6), pages 1490-1518, December.
    6. Nikolova, Milena & Popova, Olga, 2024. "Echoes of the past: The enduring impact of communism on contemporary freedom of speech values," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    7. Martins, Armando N.G.L., 2025. "Democratic engagement in the shadow of authoritarian repression: Evidence from Chile (2019–2023)," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Berggren, Niclas & Ljunge, Martin & Nilsson, Therese, 2019. "Roots of tolerance among second-generation immigrants," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(6), pages 999-1016, December.
    9. Eleni Braat, 2018. "Loyalty and Secret Intelligence: Anglo‒Dutch Cooperation during World War II," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 159-167.
    10. Chadi, Cornelia & Jirjahn, Uwe, 2024. "Does society influence the gender gap in risk attitudes? Evidence from East and West Germany," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    11. Deter, Max & Lange, Martin, 2023. "Are the supporters of socialism the losers of capitalism? Conformism in East Germany and transition success," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    12. Ulrike Malmendier & Leslie Sheng Shen, 2024. "Scarred Consumption," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 322-355, January.
    13. Uwe Jirjahn & Cornelia Chadi, 2020. "Out-of-partnership births in East and West Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 853-881, September.
    14. Bischoff, Thore Sören & Hipp, Ann & Runst, Petrik, 2023. "Firm innovation and generalized trust as a regional resource," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    15. Albrecht Glitz & Erik Meyersson, 2020. "Industrial Espionage and Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(4), pages 1055-1103, April.
    16. Barbara Boelmann & Carola Stapper, 2026. "Missing Men and Women´s Demand for Political Representation?," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_740, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    17. Christine Laudenbach & Ulrike Malmendier & Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi, 2020. "The Long-lasting Effects of Living under Communism on Attitudes towards Financial Markets," NBER Working Papers 26818, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Yiming Liu & Yi Han, 2023. "Responsibility-Shifting through Delegation: Evidence from China’s One-Child Policy," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 400, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    19. Arnstein Aassve & Guido Alfani & Francesco Gandolfi & Marco Le Moglie, 2021. "Epidemics and trust: The case of the Spanish Flu," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 840-857, April.
    20. Xue, Melanie Meng & Koyama, Mark, 2018. "Autocratic Rule and Social Capital: Evidence from Imperial China," MPRA Paper 84249, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:118023. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.