Access, Veto and Ownership in the Theory of the Firm

In an incomplete contract setup, past literature has separately emphasized the role of ownership and the role of access in providing incentives. Here, we de-bundle ownership into the right to access (or use) an asset and the right to veto (exclude) others from using it, and define control over an asset as access, provided that no one else has veto. Open access is shown to be optimal in some environments, rationalizing certain arrangements with intangible assets. In more general contexts, access and veto can be used independently to provide incentives: hybrid governance structures, outside ownership, joint ownership, partnerships can all be optimal