Consider team production with two people. Each is characterized by a prior distribution that he will do Right or Wrong. After the outcome of the project is observed, these probabilities are updated. When output depends on the weakest link in production, following project failure the posterior...

We consider a leader and a subordinate he appoints who engage in team production. The public observes the organization’s performance, but is unable to determine the separate contributions of the leader and of the subordinate. The leader may therefore claim credit for the good work of his...

This study investigates under what circumstances there exist a separating equilibrium in which competent leaders choose incompetent co-workers and incompetent leaders choose competent co-workers. The driving force for the competent leader is the insurance motive; if things go wrong he can blame...

A leader of an organization may view a subordinate as threatening or weakening the leader's position. The threat may increase with the subordinate's ability and reduce the rents the leader wins. In particular, a leader who trains his subordinate reduces the cost to the owner of a firm in...

This paper shows that as long as the stock market has perfect foresight, some dividends are distributed, and incentives are paid more than once or are deferred, stock-related compensation packages are strong incentives for managers to support tacit collusive agreements in repeated oligopolies....

A separating equilibrium in which competent (incompetent) leaders choose competent (incompetent) co-workers is investigated. An outside observer rewards the leader at good policy outcomes. The incompetent co-worker can, at bad outcomes, be used as scapegoat. By assumption, the leader may fail in...

The paper addresses the effects of the separation of ownership and control on long-run competition in oligopolies. It finds that when managers have the preference for smooth time-paths of profits revealed by the evidence on "income smoothing," manager-led firms can sustain any collusive...

Two changes happened in 1998 that affect pension planning in a Swedish municipality. In the first place, there were changes in laws that affect accounting for pensions: Accrued pension rights that have been earned from 1998 have to be entered as a liability in the balance sheet. Pension rights...

Relative P/E-ratio valuation apparently still plays an important role among investment research analysts and advisors (cf. Goldman Sachs,1999). In a valuation model of this kind, the value of owners´equity is typically calculated as a function of an observed P/E-ratio for some peer company, or...

In Sweden several associations have since the 1960s been engaged in supporting the development of better management practices in small and medium-sized companies. One pioneering effort was made by the Swedish Employers’ Confederation in designing a comprehensive self-test material called "Look...