On the Drawbacks of Large Committees

29 Pages Posted: 23 Apr 2012 Last revised: 24 Feb 2016

Date Written: February 1, 2016

Abstract

This paper aims at identifying possible drawbacks of large committees. I present a model of a committee of experts with career concerns where each expert may observe an argument about the state of the world but be unsure about the argument’s soundness. Experts may remain silent or decide to be the first to announce an argument. In contrast with the existing literature, I focus on the possibility that experts may discover duplicate information. I show that experts become more reluctant to speak in larger committees as a result. This effect can be sufficiently strong to make small groups of experts optimal.

Keywords: experts, committees, career concerns, verifiable information

JEL Classification: D71, D82

Suggested Citation

Hahn, Volker, On the Drawbacks of Large Committees (February 1, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2044840 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2044840

Volker Hahn (Contact Author)

University of Konstanz ( email )

Box 143
Konstanz, 78457
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
139
Abstract Views
1,211
Rank
375,126
PlumX Metrics