DP4022 Real-Time Hierarchical Resource Allocation with Quadratic Costs

Author(s):	Timothy Van Zandt
Publication Date:	August 2003
Keyword(s):	bounded rationality, decentralization, hierarchies, real-time computation, resource allocation
JEL(s):	D23, D83
Programme Areas:	Industrial Organization
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=4022

This Paper presents a model in which boundedly rational members of an administrative staff calculate resource allocations in real time. We consider a class of hierarchical procedures in which information about payoff functions flows up and is aggregated by a hierarchy, while allocations flow down and are disaggregated by the hierarchy with decentralized decision making. We assume that the payoff functions are quadratic and that the payoff parameters follow first-order autoregressive processes. We define a team statistical optimality condition that formalizes the notion of decentralized decision making. We derive a reduced form that can be used to address specific questions about organizational structure and returns to scale.