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Abstract:
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Many economically and politically important groups are themselves comprised of
groups. Examples of such multi-level group structures include coalition governments,
labor confederations and research consortia. In this paper, a model of multi-level group
structures and an equilibrium concept are developed. The results establish that individu-
als and groups will make tradeo®s across levels of the overall structure. Therefore, overall
stability and overall instability can both arise from any combination of stable and unsta-
ble levels. The framework and results have applications in many ¯elds, including political
economy, industrial organization, and environmental economics. |