The effect of power imbalances on incentives to make non-contractible investments

We use an experiment to study the effect of ex-post sharing rules on relationship-specific investments in an incomplete contracting context. We find that no power structure can induce first-best investments and that equally productive partners reach more efficient outcomes with a balanced power structure (i.e., equal sharing of returns) than with an asymmetric one. In addition, we find evidence for behavioural effects: partners make higher investments and reach higher efficiency levels than own-payoff maximisation would suggest. This behaviour is in line with a model where decision-makers care about social efficiency. It is not consistent with inequity-averse preferences. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.