Are Two Heads Better Than One?: An Experimental Analysis of Group vs. Individual Decisionmaking

Alan S. Blinder and John Morgan

No 7909, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Two laboratory experiments - one a statistical urn problem, the other a monetary policy experiment - were run to test the commonly-believed hypothesis that groups make decisions more slowly than individuals do. Surprisingly, this turns out not to be true there is no significant difference in average decision lags. Furthermore, and also surprisingly, there is no significant difference in the decision lag when groups decisions are made by majority rule versus when they are made under a unanimity requirement. In addition, group decisions are on average superior to individual decisions. The results are strikingly similar across the two experiments.

JEL-codes: E5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: Written
Note: ME
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Working Paper: Are Two Heads Better Than One?: An Experimental Analysis of Group vs. Individual Decisionmaking (2001)
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