Optimal Delay in Committees

We consider a committee problem in which efficient information aggregation is hindered by differences in preferences. Sufficiently large delays could foster information aggregation but would require commitment. In a dynamic delay mechanism with limited commitment, successive rounds of decision-making are punctuated by delays that are uniformly bounded from above. Any optimal sequence of delays is finite, inducing in equilibrium both a “deadline play,” in which a period of no activity before the deadline is followed by full concession at the end to reach the efficient decision, and “stopand-start” in the beginning, in which the maximum concession feasible alternates with no concession. Stop-and-start is achieved by binding and slackening the bound on delay in turn. JEL classification. C72, D7, D82