Incentives and Influence: Exploring the Forces Shaping Organizational Behavior

Our project is structured into three parts that collectively aim to improve the understanding of organizational dynamics and propose methodologies to improve their operations across various settings. The first part explores the design and implications of contests within organizations, especially focusing on their use in promotions and public procurement. We examine how tournaments, as an alternative to fixed standards, can effectively be used to select best participants and to stimulate efforts. This includes the design of the dynamic promotion contests and the disclosure policy of the evaluators biases. A significant part of this investigation is the design of contests that identify the most able workers when some of them come from disadvantaged backgrounds combining the considerations of fairness and efficiency. Additionally, it explores public procurement in Russia, analyzing a natural experiment from the 2017 contract standardization reform to assess its impact on market efficiency and legal disputes. The second part of our research focuses on the influence of the Italian-American mafia on American labor unions. This section traces the historical roots of mafia involvement in unions, assessing how this relationship has influenced union governance, competition, and labor market outcomes. By understanding the evolution of this influence, we aim to shed light on the broader implications for labor movements, employment outcomes, deregulation and competition. Furthermore, we explore the effectiveness of law enforcement exploiting the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, in curbing mafia influence and enhancing market efficiency. The third part explores the interplay between geopolitics and corporate strategies in the energy sector, particularly focusing on multinational companies operating in conflict-prone regions. This includes studying how geopolitical actions, such as CIA interventions in foreign oil markets, impact contract enforcement and market dynamics. We also investigate how multinational companies manage investment risks in regions with weak institutions, where the threat of expropriation is high. This involves analyzing strategies like contractual backloading and geopolitical coercion to secure investments. Additionally, we assess the implications of multinational presence in the mining sector on local conflicts, aiming to understand how these interactions can either exacerbate or mitigate conflicts, and explore the economic and distributional effects of cross-border electricity market integration, focusing on how these dynamics affect energy sustainability, affordability, and security.