This paper analyzes how organizations can minimize the costs of processing and communicating information. Communication is costly because it takes time for an agent to absorb new information sent by others. Agents can reduce this time by specializing in the processing of particular types of...

This paper analyzes the issue of commitment in S. Grossman and O. Hart's model of optimal labor contracts under asymmetric information about firm profitability. The author extends his framework by allowing employment to vary over time, at equidistant intervals. When both parties can precommit ex...

This paper shows how the optimal financial structure of a firm complements incentive schemes to discipline managers, and how the securities' return streams determine the claimholders' incentives to intervene in management. The theory rationalizes (1) the multiplicity of securities, (2) the...