Strategic Delegation by Unobservable Incentive Contracts
Abstract
Many strategic interactions in the real world take place among delegates empowered to act on behalf of others. Although there may be a multitude of reasons why delegation arises in reality, one intriguing possibility is that it yields a strategic advantage to the delegating party. In the case where only one party has the option to delegate, we analyse the possibility that strategic delegation arises as an equilibrium outcome under completely unobservable incentive contracts within the class of two-person extensive form games. We show that delegation "may" arise solely due to strategic reasons in quite general economic environments even under unobservable contracts. Furthermore, under some reasonable restrictions on out-of-equilibrium beliefs and actions of the outside party, strategic delegation is shown to be the "only" equilibrium outcome. Copyright The Review of Economic Studies Limited, 2004.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
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Paper provided by C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University in its series Working Papers with number 99-11.Length: 43 pages
Date of creation: 1999
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cvs:starer:99-11
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Postal: C.V. Starr Center, Department of Economics, New York University, 19 W. 4th Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-8936
Fax: (212) 995-3932
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Web page: http://econ.as.nyu.edu/object/econ.cvstarr.html
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Postal: C.V. Starr Center, Department of Economics, New York University, 19 W. 4th Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10012
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Related research
Keywords: STRATEGIC DELEGATION; UNOBSERVABLE CONTRACTS; FORWARD INDUCTION.;Other versions of this item:
- Levent Kockesen & Efe A. Ok, 2004. "Strategic Delegation By Unobservable Incentive Contracts," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 397-424, 04.
- Levent Kockese & Efe A. Ok, 2002. "Strategic delegation by unobservable incentive contracts," Discussion Papers 0102-26, Columbia University, Department of Economics.
- C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
- D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Elisabetta Iossa & Giancarlo Spagnolo, 2009.
"Contracts as Threats: on a Rationale For Rewarding A while Hoping For B,"
CEIS Research Paper
147, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 30 Sep 2009.
- Iossa, Elisabetta & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2011. "Contracts as Threats: on a Rationale For Rewarding A while Hoping For B," CEPR Discussion Papers 8195, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Elisabetta Iossa & Giancarlo Spagnolo, 2008. "Contracts as Threats: on a Rationale For Rewarding A while Hoping For B," EIEF Working Papers Series 1022, Einaudi Institute for Economic and Finance (EIEF), revised Dec 2010.
- Constantine Manasakis & Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Oligopoly," Working Papers 0707, University of Crete, Department of Economics, revised 15 Jan 2007.
- Cesar Martinelli & Raul Escorza, 2004.
"When Are Stabilizations Delayed? Alesina-Drazen Revisited,"
Working Papers
0408, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM.
- Martinelli, Cesar & Escorza, Raul, 2007. "When are stabilizations delayed? Alesina-Drazen revisited," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1223-1245, July.
- César Martinelli & Raúl Escorza, 2005. "When Are Stabilizations Delayed? Alesina-Drazen Revisited," Levine's Bibliography 122247000000000667, UCLA Department of Economics.
- Gea Myoung Lee, 2008.
"Optimal Collusion with Internal Contracting,"
Working Papers
08-2008, Singapore Management University, School of Economics.
- Lee, Gea M., 2010. "Optimal collusion with internal contracting," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 646-669, March.
- Gea M. Lee, 2008. "Optimal Collusion with Internal Contracting," Development Economics Working Papers 22466, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
- Christian Rusche, 2011. "Does Delegation Help to Prevent Spiteful Behavior?," Ruhr Economic Papers 0270, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
- Bernd Theilen, 2007. "Delegation and Information Sharing in Cournot Duopoly," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 21-50, September.
- Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2008. "Do firms' owners delegate both short-run and long-run decisions to their managers in equilibrium?," Working Papers 0815, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
- V. Bhaskar, 2004.
"Games Played in a Contracting Environment,"
Economics Discussion Papers
583, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
- Bhaskar, V., 2009. "Games played in a contracting environment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 389-398, November.
- Ritz, Robert A., 2008. "Strategic incentives for market share," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 586-597, March.
- Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2011. "Organizational structure, strategic delegation and innovation in oligopolistic industries," Working Papers 2011/09, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
- Constantine Manasakis & Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2010.
"Endogenous managerial incentive contracts in a differentiated duopoly, with and without commitment,"
Managerial and Decision Economics,
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 531-543, December.
- Constantine Manasakis & Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2009. "Endogenous managerial incentive contracts in a differentiated duopoly, with and without commitment," Working Papers 0905, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
- Levent Koçkesen & Emanuele Gerratana, 2008. "Delegation with Incomplete and Renegotiable Contracts," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 0803., Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
- Ritz, R.A., 2012. "On welfare losses due to imperfect competition," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1234, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
- Levent Kockesen & Emanuele Gerratana, 2009. "Strategic Effects of Incomplete and Renegotiation-Proof Contracts," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 0908, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
- Robert Ritz, 2005. "Strategic incentives for market share," Economics Series Working Papers 248, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
- Guido Merzoni, 2008. "Observable and Renegotiable Contracts as Commitments to Cooperate," DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo dis0801, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS).
- Constantine Manasakis & Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2007. "Endogenous Strategic Managerial Incentive Contracts," Working Papers 0706, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
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