This paper analyses the relationship between organizational complexity ( the degree of detail of information necessary to correctly assign agents to positions), robustness (the relative loss of performance due to mis-allocated agents), and performance. More complex structures are not necessarily...

Democracies delegate substantial decision power to politicians. Using a model in which an incumbent can design, examine and implement public policies, we show that examination takes place in spite of, rather than thanks to, elections. Elections are needed as a carrot and a stick to motivate...