Legislative bargaining with teams

Abstract

We study legislative bargaining with two person teams versus individuals. Teams come closer to the predictions of the stationary subgame perfect equilibrium, passing minimum winning coalitions (MWCs) more often and having significantly more proposer power. The increase in proposer power results from increased numbers of MWCs, along with increased proposer power within an MWC. We investigate the driving forces behind teams coming closer to the theoretical predictions. The results favor their greater insightfulness as opposed to being more aggressive or more selfish.