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Applied and bridge studies study record
Contracts, agency & organizationsOwnership, Residual Risk, and Accountability: Answering the Hansmann Objection
STATUS · Manuscript in progressSSRN · Not yet posted
MECHANISM
Identify the incentive structure and the condition that would falsify the claim.
RULE CHANGE
Read the intervention only after the paper shows how the current payoff space fails to support system welfare.
READER USE
Use the summary to see where private gain creates system exposure, then check the study record.
Contribution — what this adds to the conversation
The Hansmann objection assumes a perfect information environment; in reality, the information environment is endogenous to ownership structure. DA Field 17 changes the information environment without changing ownership, making system-welfare consequences visible, auditable, and attributable. Residual control rights are information-dependent: without information about consequences, owners cannot effectively exercise their rights. DA Field 17 shifts the equilibrium from systematic externalization to constrained internalization through reputational, regulatory, and legitimacy mechanisms.
WHAT'S NEW · The Hansmann objection assumes a perfect information environment; in reality, the information environment is endogenous to ownership structure. DA Field 17 changes the information environment without changing ownership, making system-welfare consequences visible, auditable, and attributable. Residual control rights are information-dependent: without information about consequences, owners cannot effectively exercise their rights. DA Field 17 shifts the equilibrium from systematic externalization to constrained internalization through reputational, regulatory, and legitimacy mechanisms.
The paper answers Henry Hansmann's objection that Decision Accounting cannot change accountability because ownership determines residual risk-bearing. It shows that DA Field 17 changes the information environment, making system-welfare consequences visible and attributable, thereby creating accountability without changing ownership. Four formal propositions and a falsification condition are provided.