Agency Theory

Biological Parallel

Worker honeybees police each other's reproduction, destroying eggs laid by workers to maintain the queen's monopoly—a biological solution to the principal-agent problem studied by Jensen & Meckling. The queen (principal) cannot directly prevent workers (agents) from laying male eggs, so the colony evolved a costly enforcement mechanism: workers inspect cells and eliminate non-queen eggs. This policing costs energy and time but prevents the 3-10% productivity loss that occurs when workers pursue reproductive self-interest instead of colony tasks.