Interactions across Multiple Games: Cooperation, Corruption, and Organizational Design

Abstract

Teams face a variety of strategic situations. It is socially beneficial for teams to cooperate in productive but not in corrupt ones. However, cooperation in one situation may depend on expectations of cooperation in others. We identify when it is that sustaining socially desirable cooperation necessitates undesirable cooperation. We characterize how cooperation is shaped by the absolute and relative payoffs to cooperation across various tasks, as well as the frequency with which people are reshuffled across teams and whether teams can be specialized in the tasks they face.

Keywords: Teams, Organizational Design, Corruption, Cooperation, Police, Bureaucracy, Muli-Games

JEL Classification: C73, D23, D73, L20