IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jleorg/v30y2014i4p649-682..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Theory of Rule Development

Author

Listed:
  • Glenn Ellison
  • Richard Holden

Abstract

This article develops a model with endogenously coarse rules. A principal hires an agent to take an action. The principal knows the optimal state-contingent action, but cannot communicate it perfectly due to communication constraints. The principal can use previously realized states as examples to define rules of varying breadth. We analyze how rules are chosen under several assumptions about how rules can be amended. We explore the inefficiencies that arise and how they depend on the ability to refine rules, the principal’s time horizon and patience, and other factors. Our model exhibits path dependence in that the efficacy of rule development depends on the sequence of realizations of the state. We interpret this as providing a foundation for persistent performance differences between similar organizations and explore the role of different delegation structures in ameliorating the effects of bounded communication. (JEL D23, K40, D83)

Suggested Citation

  • Glenn Ellison & Richard Holden, 2014. "A Theory of Rule Development," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(4), pages 649-682.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jleorg:v:30:y:2014:i:4:p:649-682.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jleo/ewt016
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yuval Heller & Eyal Winter, 2016. "Rule Rationality," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(3), pages 997-1026, August.
    2. Andreas Blume & April Mitchell Franco & Paul Heidhues, 2021. "Dynamic coordination via organizational routines," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 72(4), pages 1001-1047, November.
    3. Gabriele Gratton & Richard Holden & Barton E Lee, 2022. "Political Capital [“Formal and Real Authority in Organizations]," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 38(3), pages 632-674.
    4. Dain C. Donelson & John Mcinnis & Richard D. Mergenthaler, 2016. "Explaining Rules‐Based Characteristics in U.S. GAAP: Theories and Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 827-861, June.
    5. Marco LiCalzi & Roland Mühlenbernd, 2019. "Categorization and Cooperation across Games," Games, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, January.
    6. Prat, Andrea & Dessein, Wouter, 2019. "Organizational Capital, Corporate Leadership, and Firm Dynamics," CEPR Discussion Papers 13513, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Robert Akerlof & Richard Holden, 2016. "Movers and Shakers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1849-1874.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:jleorg:v:30:y:2014:i:4:p:649-682.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/jleo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.