Delegated Expertise, Authority, and Communication

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2019
Volume: 109
Issue: 4
Pages: 1349-74

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

A decision maker needs to reach a decision and relies on an expert to acquire information. Ideal actions of expert and decision maker are partially aligned and the expert chooses what to learn about each. The decision maker can either get advice from the expert or delegate decision making to him. Under delegation, the expert learns his privately optimal action and chooses it. Under communication, advice based on such information is discounted, resulting in losses from strategic communication. We characterize the communication problems that make the expert acquire information of equal use to expert and decision maker. In these problems, communication outperforms delegation.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:109:y:2019:i:4:p:1349-74
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25