Is a firm a firm? A Stackelberg experiment

Artikel

Industrial organization is mainly concerned with the behavior of large firms, especially when it comes to oligopoly theory. Experimental industrial organization, therefore, faces a problem: How can firms be brought into the laboratory? The main approach relies on framing: Call individuals 'firms'! This experimental approach is not in line with modern industrial organization, according to which a firm's market behavior is also determined by its organizational structure. In this paper, a Stackelberg experiment is considered in order to answer the question whether framing individual decision making as firm decision making or implementing an organizational structure is more effective for generating profit-maximizing behavior. Firms are either represented by individuals or by teams. Teams are organized according to a parsimonious version of Alchian and Demsetz's (Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization, 1972) contractual model of the firm. The author finds teams' quantity choices are more in line with the assumption of profit maximization than individuals' choices. Compared to individuals, teams appear to be less inequality averse.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Journal: Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal ; ISSN: 1864-6042 ; Volume: 7 ; Year: 2013 ; Issue: 2013-20 ; Pages: 1-26 ; Kiel: Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Noncooperative Games ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Group Behavior ; Market Structure, Pricing, and Design: Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection ; Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
• Thema: industrial organization ; Stackelberg game ; individual behavior ; team behavior ; framing ; experimental economics ; Industrieökonomik ; Test ; Unternehmenspolitik ; Framing ; Arbeitsgruppe

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Hildenbrand, Andreas
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
• (wo): Kiel
• (wann): 2013

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: doi:10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2013-20
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/73464
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ