• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Yale Law School Faculty Scholarship
    • Faculty Scholarship Series
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Yale Law School Faculty Scholarship
    • Faculty Scholarship Series
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of openYLSCommunitiesPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    Display statistics

    Bounded Institutions

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    b.336.Listokin.395_ns5664pc.pdf
    Size:
    1.301Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Download
    Author
    Listokin, Yair
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13051/4439
    Abstract
    This Essay examines two alternative designs for hierarchical institutions: “bounded” and “unbounded.” In a bounded structure, a principal decides on a bounded aggregate numerical allocation, and then an agent makes the allocation to an underlying subject population while complying with the bound. In an unbounded structure, the principal provides no aggregate numerical cap, but instead provides some other form of guidance to the agent regarding allocation. An example of a bounded institution is grading to a pre-arranged curve (“X students receive As”), while an example of an unbounded institution is granting a particular grade to each student who meets a particular threshold (“each student who displays mastery of the material receives an A”). Bounded and unbounded institutions are common in many legal contexts and differ in their strengths and weaknesses. From the principal’s perspective, bounded institutions are increasingly desirable to the extent that (a) there is a homogeneous and large subject population, (b) the agent is likely to be biased or to make systematic errors, and (c) it is difficult to devise other rules to guide the agent’s decision. If agents are biased but otherwise share preferences with the principal—and the principal knows the underlying subject population’s traits—then bounded institutions can produce the precise outcome that the principal wants even though neither the principal nor the agent is fully informed or free of error. The Essay applies these insights to government appropriations, environmental law, and administrative law (among other areas). Consider, for example, funding scientific research through the National Science Foundation (NSF). Congress should give the NSF a fixed (bounded) budget if it thinks the NSF is biased in favor of funding scientific research and the distribution of quality of scientific research proposals is relatively predictable from year to year. If the NSF always wants to fund the same projects that Congress would, by contrast, then Congress should tell the NSF to fund all research projects the NSF deems worthy, thereby giving the NSF an unbounded source of funding.
    Collections
    Faculty Scholarship Series

    entitlement

     
    DSpace software (copyright © 2002 - 2023)  DuraSpace
    Quick Guide | Contact Us
    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.