{
 "@context": "https://schema.org",
 "@type": "DefinedTerm",
 "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/principal-agent-problem",
 "identifier": "kaal:entity:principal-agent-problem",
 "name": "Principal agent problem",
 "termCode": "principal-agent-problem",
 "inDefinedTermSet": {
  "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/index.json"
 },
 "author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Wulf A. Kaal",
  "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0757-275X"
 },
 "dateModified": "2026-07-29",
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   "name": "claim_count",
   "value": 3
  },
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   "value": [
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    "2021"
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 "subjectOf": [
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3652481-004",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3652481-004",
   "text": "A DAO realigns the otherwise disparate interests of principals and agents because all participants in the DAO share the same goal, which reduces behavior contrary to the interests of the organization.",
   "abstract": "Incentives are realigned between otherwise disparate interests of principals and agents because all participants in a DAO share the same goal, which reduces behavior that is contrary to the interests of the organization.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations – Internal Governance and External Legal Design (2020). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3652481",
   "datePublished": "2020",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "530b3a40c244aeca2eb4c53f4c9b4d6b2962bd6be9f92b4ebe17139c17f4c0e0",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782193-030",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782193-030",
   "text": "The strong trust that sustained Maghribi trade, in which embezzlement was rare despite extreme information asymmetry, cannot be explained by a strong centralized government, since the Maghribis could not form a centralized legal or political hierarchy and the official legal channels were slow and unreliable.",
   "abstract": "In point of fact, the records show that such embezzlement was rare. Instead, a strong sense of trust pervaded. So what mechanism protected the principals from their agents' asymmetric information? The answer was not a strong centralized gov- ernment.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782193",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "empirical",
   "confidence": "evidenced",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "Maghribi Jewish traders around 1000 AD under the Fatimid caliphate"
   ],
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  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782193-031",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782193-031",
   "text": "Honesty would be the wrong strategy for an agent if the contract were anonymous and its resolution did not affect future contracts, because that situation is a single-stage zero-sum game in which stealing all the entrusted wealth is optimal.",
   "abstract": "Honesty would be a bad strategy for the agent if the contract was anonymous and the resolution didn't affect future contracts.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782193",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "failure",
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   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "anonymous contracting",
    "no effect of the outcome on future business"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "74df9cc9a19a098bdacd0424a4174795f6e184f7a31c8ee7541195186701ebd2",
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  }
 ],
 "description": "3 claims in the published works of Wulf A. Kaal carry the concept tag 'principal-agent-problem'. Derived node: a roster, not an adjudicated definition."
}