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Procrastination in teams and contract design

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  • Weinschenk, Philipp

Abstract

We study a dynamic model of team production with moral hazard. We show that players might procrastinate to exploit the future externalities of team production. Contract design is shown to be a powerful tool to mitigate the problem of procrastination and enhance efficiency. The team's ability to write discriminatory contracts is therefore central. We also show that deadlines are not beneficial for a team, provided that players can choose efforts frequently and design contracts optimally.

Suggested Citation

  • Weinschenk, Philipp, 2016. "Procrastination in teams and contract design," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 264-283.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:98:y:2016:i:c:p:264-283
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2016.06.014
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    Cited by:

    1. Weinschenk, Philipp, 2021. "On the benefits of time-inconsistent preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 185-195.
    2. Yixuan Shi, 2022. "Dynamic Volunteer’s Dilemma with Procrastinators," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2022-17, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    3. Steffen Altmann & Christian Traxler & Philipp Weinschenk, 2022. "Deadlines and Memory Limitations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 6733-6750, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Moral hazard; Team production; Partnerships; Procrastination; Contract design; Discrimination; Deadlines;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

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