The hold-up problem has played a central role in the study of firm boundaries, which is a fundamental element of the economic study of organizations. We study a previously unexplored mechanism by which integration between two parties could mitigate the problem. Based on the social identity...

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...