IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cin/ucecwp/2007-05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the Performance of Linear Contracts

Author

Listed:
  • Debashis Pal
  • Arup Bose
  • David Sappington

Abstract

We examine the ability of linear contracts to replicate the performance of optimal unrestricted contracts in the canonical moral hazard setting with a wealth constrained, risk averse agent. We find that in a broad class of environments, the principal can always secure with a linear contract at least 95% of the profit that she secures with an optimal unrestricted contract, provided the productivity of the agent's effort is not too meager.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Debashis Pal & Arup Bose & David Sappington, 2007. "On the Performance of Linear Contracts," University of Cincinnati, Economics Working Papers Series 2007-05, University of Cincinnati, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cin:ucecwp:2007-05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.artsci.uc.edu/collegedepts/economics/research/docs/Wppdf/2007-05.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rogerson, William P, 1985. "The First-Order Approach to Principal-Agent Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(6), pages 1357-1367, November.
    2. Jewitt, Ian, 1988. "Justifying the First-Order Approach to Principal-Agent Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(5), pages 1177-1190, September.
    3. Sugato Bhattacharyya & Francine Lafontaine, 1995. "Double-Sided Moral Hazard and the Nature of Share Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(4), pages 761-781, Winter.
    4. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Tirole, Jean, 1986. "Using Cost Observation to Regulate Firms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 614-641, June.
    5. Guesnerie, Roger & Picard, Pierre & Rey, Patrick, 1989. "Adverse selection and moral hazard with risk neutral agents," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 807-823, April.
    6. Xianming Zhou & Peter L. Swan, 2003. "Performance Thresholds in Managerial Incentive Contracts," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(4), pages 665-696, October.
    7. HOLMSTROM, Bengt, 1979. "Moral hazard and observability," LIDAM Reprints CORE 379, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    8. F. Gasmi & J. J. Laffont & W. W. Sharkey, 1999. "Empirical Evaluation of Regulatory Regimes in Local Telecommunications Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 61-93, March.
    9. Zabojnik, Jan, 1996. "Pay-performance sensitivity and production uncertainty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 291-296, December.
    10. Richard Schmalensee, 1989. "Good Regulatory Regimes," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 417-436, Autumn.
    11. Steven Shavell, 1979. "Risk Sharing and Incentives in the Principal and Agent Relationship," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 55-73, Spring.
    12. William P. Rogerson, 2003. "Simple Menus of Contracts in Cost-Based Procurement and Regulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 919-926, June.
    13. Corbett, Charles J. & DeCroix, Gregory A. & Ha, Albert Y., 2005. "Optimal shared-savings contracts in supply chains: Linear contracts and double moral hazard," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(3), pages 653-667, June.
    14. Gjesdal, Froystein, 1988. " Piecewise Linear Incentive Schemes," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 90(3), pages 305-328.
    15. J. A. Mirrlees, 1999. "The Theory of Moral Hazard and Unobservable Behaviour: Part I," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 66(1), pages 3-21.
    16. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1987. "Aggregation and Linearity in the Provision of Intertemporal Incentives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 303-328, March.
    17. Jaeyoung Sung, 1995. "Linearity with Project Selection and Controllable Diffusion Rate in Continuous-Time Principal-Agent Problems," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(4), pages 720-743, Winter.
    18. Bengt Holmstrom, 1979. "Moral Hazard and Observability," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 74-91, Spring.
    19. Kim, Son Ku & Wang, Susheng, 1998. "Linear Contracts and the Double Moral-Hazard," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 342-378, October.
    20. Leon Yang Chu & David E. M. Sappington, 2007. "Simple Cost-Sharing Contracts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 419-428, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rajiv D. Banker & Masako Darrough & Shaopeng Li & Lucas Threinen, 2019. "The Value of Precontract Information About an Agent's Ability in the Presence of Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 1201-1245, December.
    2. Ramalingam, Abhijit, 2009. ""Endogenous" Relative Concerns: The Impact of Workers' Characteristics on Status and Pro ts in the Firm," MPRA Paper 18759, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Daniel Herold, 2017. "The Impact of Incentive Pay on Corporate Crime," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201752, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    4. Ehsan Bolandifar & Tianjun Feng & Fuqiang Zhang, 2018. "Simple Contracts to Assure Supply Under Noncontractible Capacity and Asymmetric Cost Information," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 217-231, May.
    5. Poblete, Joaquín & Spulber, Daniel, 2017. "Managing innovation: Optimal incentive contracts for delegated R&D with double moral hazard," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 38-61.
    6. Facundo Albornoz & Samuel Berlinski & Antonio Cabrales, 2018. "Motivation, resources, and the organization of the school system," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 199-231.
    7. Leon Yang Chu & David E. M. Sappington, 2015. "Contracting with Private Knowledge of Production Capacity," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 752-785, October.
    8. Facundo Albornoz & Samuel Berlinski & Antonio Cabrales, 2016. "Motivation, Resources and the Organization of the School System," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 94958, Inter-American Development Bank.
    9. Emre M. Demirezen & Subodha Kumar & Bala Shetty, 2020. "Two Is Better Than One: A Dynamic Analysis of Value Co‐Creation," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(9), pages 2057-2076, September.
    10. Escobar, Juan F. & Pulgar, Carlos, 2017. "Motivating with simple contracts," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 192-214.
    11. Lacetera, Nicola & Zirulia, Lorenzo, 2012. "Individual preferences, organization, and competition in a model of R&D incentive provision," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 550-570.
    12. Mehmet Ugur & Eshref Trushin, 2023. "Information asymmetry, risk aversion and R&D subsidies: effect-size heterogeneity and policy conundrums," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(8), pages 1190-1215, November.
    13. Ramalingam, Abhijit, 2014. "On the value of relative comparisons in firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 446-448.
    14. Oliver Dürr & Markus Nisch & Anna Rohlfing-Bastian, 2020. "Incentives in optimally sized teams for projects with uncertain returns," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 313-341, March.
    15. Martínez, Catalina & Parlane, Sarah, 2023. "Academic scientists in corporate R&D: A theoretical model," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(5).
    16. Christelle Viauroux & Barnali Gupta, 2009. "Is Tax sharing Optimal? An Analysis in a Principal-Agent Framework," UMBC Economics Department Working Papers 09-105, UMBC Department of Economics.
    17. Michael T. Rauh, 2014. "Incentives, wages, employment, and the division of labor in teams," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(3), pages 533-552, September.
    18. Alonso-Paulí, Eduard & André, Francisco J., 2015. "Standardized environmental management systems as an internal management tool," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 85-106.
    19. Yasuhiro Arai & Noriaki Matsushima, 2023. "The impacts of suppliers and mutual outsourcing on organizational forms," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(1), pages 114-132, February.
    20. Choe, Chongwoo & Lien, Donald & Yu, Chia-Feng (Jeffrey), 2015. "Optimal managerial hedging and contracting with self-esteem concerns," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 354-367.
    21. Boğaçhan Çelen & Saltuk Özertürk, 2012. "Acquisition Of Information To Diversify Contractual Risk," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(1), pages 133-156, February.
    22. Garrett, Daniel F., 2014. "Robustness of simple menus of contracts in cost-based procurement," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 631-641.
    23. Emre M. Demirezen & Subodha Kumar & Bala Shetty, 2016. "Managing Co-Creation in Information Technology Projects: A Differential Games Approach," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 517-537.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kim, Son Ku & Wang, Susheng, 1998. "Linear Contracts and the Double Moral-Hazard," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 342-378, October.
    2. Gutiérrez Arnaiz, Óscar & Salas-Fumás, Vicente, 2008. "Performance standards and optimal incentives," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 139-152, March.
    3. Inés Macho-Stadler & David Pérez-Castrillo, 2018. "Moral hazard: Base models and two extensions," Chapters, in: Luis C. Corchón & Marco A. Marini (ed.), Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization, Volume I, chapter 16, pages 453-485, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Jiong Gong & Ping Jiang & Xiaochuan Xing, 2018. "Compensation Convexity without Utility Restriction," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 238-249, September.
    5. Leon Yang Chu & David E.M. Sappington, 2009. "Implementing high‐powered contracts to motivate intertemporal effort supply," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(2), pages 296-316, June.
    6. Christopher S. Armstrong & David F. Larcker & Che-Lin Su, 2010. "Endogenous Selection and Moral Hazard in Compensation Contracts," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 58(4-part-2), pages 1090-1106, August.
    7. Bartsch, Elga, 1996. "Enforcement of environmental liability in the case of uncertain causality and asymmetric information," Kiel Working Papers 755, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    8. Jaeyoung Sung, 2005. "Optimal Contracts Under Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard: A Continuous-Time Approach," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 1021-1073.
    9. Armstrong, Mark & Sappington, David E.M., 2007. "Recent Developments in the Theory of Regulation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1557-1700, Elsevier.
    10. Danielsson, Jon & Jorgensen, Bjorn N. & de Vries, Casper G., 2002. "Incentives for effective risk management," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 1407-1425, July.
    11. Santos, Joao C., 1997. "Debt and equity as optimal contracts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 355-366, December.
    12. Tarkka, Juha, 1994. "Risk sharing in the pricing of payment services by banks," Research Discussion Papers 18/1994, Bank of Finland.
    13. Hugo Hopenhayn & Arantxa Jarque, 2010. "Unobservable Persistent Productivity and Long Term Contracts," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 13(2), pages 333-349, April.
    14. Nadide Banu Olcay, 2016. "Dynamic incentive contracts with termination threats," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 20(4), pages 255-288, December.
    15. Nicol'as Hern'andez Santib'a~nez & Dylan Possamai & Chao Zhou, 2017. "Bank monitoring incentives under moral hazard and adverse selection," Papers 1701.05864, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2019.
    16. Damien S Eldridge, 2007. "A Shirking Theory of Referrals," Working Papers 2007.05, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    17. Tarkka, Juha, 1994. "Risk sharing in the pricing of payment services by banks," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 18/1994, Bank of Finland.
    18. Quintero Jaramillo, Jose E., 2004. "Moral hazard in teams with limited punishments and multiple outputs," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb040705, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    19. Hooper, Louise, 2008. "Paying for performance: Uncertainty, asymmetric information and the payment model," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 157-163, January.
    20. Keith J. Crocker & Joel Slemrod, 2007. "The economics of earnings manipulation and managerial compensation," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(3), pages 698-713, September.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cin:ucecwp:2007-05. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sourushe Zandvakili (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decucus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.