Transparency and Pre-meetings
2006-05-29
Research Paper
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Some committees are made up of experts, persons interested in both the (subject) matter at hand and in coming across as able decision-makers. Such committees would like to conceal disagreement from the public. We present a theory that describes the reaction of experts to the requirement to publish verbatim transcripts of their meetings: the emergence of an informal ‘premeeting’; the move of the real debate from the formal meeting to the premeeting; and the drop in disagreement in the formal meeting. We analyse what the effect is on accountability and quality of decision-making. Finally, we present evidence suggesting that our model describes the way members of the Federal Open Market Committee in the United States responded to the publication of verbatim transcripts of their meetings.
- D71 : Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
- D72 : Economic Models of Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D81 : Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
- member
- k f b
- meeting
- decision
- committee
- decision-making process
- governor
- committee members
- process
- pre-meeting
- 1 6=
- decision-making
- rate change
- change
- transparency
- voting
- signal
- information
- reputational concerns
- president
