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An agency cost is an economic concept concerning the cost to a "principal" (an organization, person or group of persons), when the principal chooses or hires an "agent" to act on its behalf. Because the two parties have different interests and the agent has more information, the principal cannot directly ensure that its agent is always acting in its (the principal's) best interests.〔''Pay Without Performance'' by Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse Fried, Harvard University Press 2004 ((preface and introduction ))〕 Common examples of this cost include that borne by shareholders (the principal), when corporate management (the agent) buys other companies to expand its power, or spends money on wasteful pet projects, instead of maximizing the value of the corporation's worth; or by the voters of a politician's district (the principal) when the politician (the agent) passes legislation helpful to large contributors to their campaign rather than the voters.〔(Investopedia explains 'Agency Costs' )〕 Though effects of agency cost are present in any agency relationship, the term is most used in business contexts. ==Sources of the costs== The costs consist of two main sources: # The costs inherently associated with using an agent (e.g., the risk that agents will use organizational resource for their own benefit) and # The costs of techniques used to mitigate the problems associated with using an agent—gathering more information on what the agent is doing (e.g., the costs of producing financial statements) or employing mechanisms to align the interests of the agent with those of the principal (e.g. compensating executives with equity payment such as stock options). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Agency cost」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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