Synergy among Seemingly Independent Activities*
证明，即使没有规模经济或共享投入，仅凭激励（控制）原因也能使独立活动产生协同效应，模型基于风险中性参与者、线性技术和逆向选择，协同收益源于活动对生产与租金权衡的凸性影响。
Abstract “Synergy” implies that the value of activities undertaken jointly is greater than the sum of the values of the individual activities. Reasons cited for synergy include economies of scale, benefits due to vertical integration, and efficiency gains from shared inputs and skills. This paper shows that incentive (control) reasons alone can make activities synergistic. The result is derived in a model of adverse selection with risk‐neutral participants and linear technology. The linearity in the setting removes any obvious benefits to undertaking activities in tandem. Synergy gains are attributed to a convexity in the principal's payoff introduced by the activities' impact on the production versus rents trade‐off.