Information Processing in Interactive Organizations

大多数经济理论都规定了经济变量之间的均衡关系，并且至少隐含地规定了经济决策者之间的均衡信息流动。然而，将系统移动到平衡位置的调整过程通常没有规定。本研究提出了一种分析此类调整过程的一般类别的方法。这一分析的主要目标是确定实现均衡所需的经济决策者之间的最低限度的沟通和协调。这可以与所研究的经济制度所产生的信息流进行比较。如果后者小于前者，一般就不能实现均衡，均衡关系就不能可靠地近似实际经济行为。这种信息分析被认为是经济模型评价的一种新的学科来源。当趋同均衡需要的信息不容易以持续的方式传达时，建议研究两个方向。首先，附加信息可以从可观察变量的历史行为中推断出来，然后这些信息可以用于调整过程的设计。其次，均衡概念可能会改变，以体现更适度的最优性标准。后一种方法是专门针对公司沟通仅限于会计信息的理论提出的。

Most economic theories specify equilibrium relationships among economic variables, and, at least implicitly, the equilibrium information flows among economic decision-makers. However, the adjustment process which moves the system to an equilibrium position is usually not specified. This research proposes a method for analyzing a general class of such adjustment processes. The principal goal of this analysis is to determine the minimal communication and coordination among economic decision-makers needed to achieve equilibrium. This can be compared with the information flow generated by the economic institutions under study. If the latter is less than the former, equilibrium cannot generally be achieved, and the equilibrium relationships cannot reliably approximate actual economic behavior. This information analysis is proposed as a new source of discipline in the evaluation of economic models. When the convergence to equilibrium requires information which cannot easily be communicated in an ongoing fashion, two directions of research are suggested. First, the additional information might be inferred from the historical behavior of observable variables, and this information might then be used in the design of the adjustment process. Second, the equilibrium concept might be changed to embody more modest optimality criteria. The latter approach is proposed specifically for the theory of the firm when communication is limited to accounting information.