The hold-up problem has played a central role in the study of firm boundaries, which originated with the pathbreaking essay by Coase (1937). This paper studies a previously unexplored mechanism by which integration between two parties could resolve the hold-up problem. Based on Tajfel and...

Groups, companies, and organizations identify themselves via symbols. Symbols have the potential to create group identity and at the same time create group boundaries, thus allowing for achieving the benefits of cooperation by ingroup members. We use a laboratory experiment to study the role of...

Both the law and culture make a central distinction between acts of commission that overturn the status quo and acts of omission that uphold it. In everyday life acts of commission often elicit stronger reciprocal responses than do acts of omission. In this paper we compare reciprocal responses...