IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-04164688.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Risk-sharing and optimal contracts with large exogenous risks

Author

Listed:
  • Jessica Martin

    (IMT - Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse UMR5219 - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - INSA Toulouse - Institut National des Sciences Appliquées - Toulouse - INSA - Institut National des Sciences Appliquées - UT - Université de Toulouse - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - UT - Université de Toulouse - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Stéphane Villeneuve

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

What type of delegation contract should be offered when facing a risk of the magnitude of the pandemic we are currently experiencing and how does the likelihood of an exogenous early termination of the relationship modify the terms of a full-commitment contract? We study these questions by considering a dynamic principal-agent model that naturally extends the classical Holmström-Milgrom setting to include a risk of shutdown before the maturity of the contract. We obtain an explicit characterization of the optimal wage along with the optimal action provided by the agent when the shutdown risk is independent of the inherent agency problem. The optimal contract is linear by offering both a fixed share of the output which is similar to the standard shutdown-free Holmström Milgrom model and a linear prevention mechanism that is proportional to the random lifetime of the contract. We then extend the model in two directions. We first allow the agent to control the intensity of the shutdown risk. We also consider a structural agency model where the shutdown risk materializes when the state process hits zero.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica Martin & Stéphane Villeneuve, 2023. "Risk-sharing and optimal contracts with large exogenous risks," Post-Print hal-04164688, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04164688
    DOI: 10.1007/s10203-023-00386-1
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04164688
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-04164688/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10203-023-00386-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henri Pages & Dylan Possamaï, 2014. "A mathematical treatment of bank monitoring incentives," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 39-73, January.
    2. Jessica Martin, 2021. "A BSDE with default jump and unbounded terminal value arising in a Principal-Agent context," Working Papers hal-03106006, HAL.
    3. Martin F. Hellwig & Klaus M. Schmidt, 2002. "Discrete-Time Approximations of the Holmstrom-Milgrom Brownian-Motion Model of Intertemporal Incentive Provision," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(6), pages 2225-2264, November.
    4. Yuliy Sannikov, 2008. "A Continuous-Time Version of the Principal-Agent Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(3), pages 957-984.
    5. Noah Williams, 2011. "Persistent Private Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(4), pages 1233-1275, July.
    6. Jakša Cvitanić & Dylan Possamaï & Nizar Touzi, 2018. "Dynamic programming approach to principal–agent problems," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-37, January.
    7. Bruno Biais & Thomas Mariotti & Jean-Charles Rochet & StÈphane Villeneuve, 2010. "Large Risks, Limited Liability, and Dynamic Moral Hazard," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(1), pages 73-118, January.
    8. repec:dau:papers:123456789/9697 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1987. "Aggregation and Linearity in the Provision of Intertemporal Incentives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 303-328, March.
    10. Monique Jeanblanc & Thibaut Mastrolia & Dylan Possamaï & Anthony Réveillac, 2015. "Utility Maximization With Random Horizon: A Bsde Approach," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(07), pages 1-43, November.
    11. Ying Hu & Peter Imkeller & Matthias Muller, 2005. "Utility maximization in incomplete markets," Papers math/0508448, arXiv.org.
    12. Richard Rouge & Nicole El Karoui, 2000. "Pricing Via Utility Maximization and Entropy," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 259-276, April.
    13. Schattler, Heinz & Sung, Jaeyoung, 1997. "On optimal sharing rules in discrete-and continuous-time principal-agent problems with exponential utility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 551-574.
    14. Stephen E. Spear & Sanjay Srivastava, 1987. "On Repeated Moral Hazard with Discounting," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(4), pages 599-617.
    15. Sung, Jaeyoung, 1997. "Corporate Insurance and Managerial Incentives," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 297-332, June.
    16. 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.
    17. Jakša Cvitanić & Xuhu Wan & Jianfeng Zhang, 2006. "Optimal contracts in continuous-time models," International Journal of Stochastic Analysis, Hindawi, vol. 2006, pages 1-27, July.
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12313 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jessica Martin & Stéphane Villeneuve, 2023. "Risk-sharing and optimal contracts with large exogenous risks," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 46(1), pages 1-43, June.
    2. Dylan Possamai & Nizar Touzi, 2020. "Is there a Golden Parachute in Sannikov's principal-agent problem?," Papers 2007.05529, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    3. Thibaut Mastrolia & Dylan Possamaï, 2018. "Moral Hazard Under Ambiguity," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 452-500, November.
    4. Emma Hubert, 2020. "Continuous-time incentives in hierarchies," Papers 2007.10758, arXiv.org.
    5. Jessica Martin & Stéphane Villeneuve, 2021. "A Class of Explicit optimal contracts in the face of shutdown," Working Papers hal-03124102, HAL.
    6. Martin, Jessica & Villeneuve, Stéphane, 2021. "A Class of Explicit optimal contracts in the face of shutdown," TSE Working Papers 21-1183, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Apr 2022.
    7. Villeneuve, Stéphane & Abi Jaber, Eduardo, 2022. "Gaussian Agency problems with memory and Linear Contracts," TSE Working Papers 22-1363, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    8. Jessica Martin & St'ephane Villeneuve, 2021. "A Class of Explicit optimal contracts in the face of shutdown," Papers 2102.00001, arXiv.org.
    9. Eduardo Abi Jaber & Stéphane Villeneuve, 2022. "Gaussian Agency problems with memory and Linear Contracts," Post-Print hal-03783062, HAL.
    10. Eduardo Abi Jaber & St'ephane Villeneuve, 2022. "Gaussian Agency problems with memory and Linear Contracts," Papers 2209.10878, arXiv.org.
    11. Eduardo Abi Jaber & Stéphane Villeneuve, 2022. "Gaussian Agency problems with memory and Linear Contracts," Working Papers hal-03783062, HAL.
    12. Jakša Cvitanić & Dylan Possamaï & Nizar Touzi, 2018. "Dynamic programming approach to principal–agent problems," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-37, January.
    13. Thibaut Mastrolia & Dylan Possamai, 2015. "Moral hazard under ambiguity," Papers 1511.03616, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2016.
    14. Jakša Cvitanić & Xuhu Wan & Huali Yang, 2013. "Dynamics of Contract Design with Screening," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1229-1244, May.
    15. Jakv{s}a Cvitani'c & Dylan Possamai & Nizar Touzi, 2015. "Dynamic programming approach to principal-agent problems," Papers 1510.07111, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2017.
    16. Thibaut Mastrolia & Zhenjie Ren, 2018. "Principal-Agent Problem with Common Agency without Communication," Working Papers hal-01534611, HAL.
    17. Camilo Hern'andez & Dylan Possamai, 2023. "Time-inconsistent contract theory," Papers 2303.01601, arXiv.org.
    18. Romuald Elie & Dylan Possamai, 2016. "Contracting theory with competitive interacting agents," Papers 1605.08099, arXiv.org.
    19. Kerem Ugurlu, 2018. "Dynamic optimal contract under parameter uncertainty with risk averse agent and principal," Papers 1806.01495, arXiv.org.
    20. Thibaut Mastrolia & Zhenjie Ren, 2017. "Principal-Agent Problem with Common Agency without Communication," Papers 1706.02936, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2018.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Principal-Agent problems; Shutdown risk; Hamilton-Jacobi Bellman equations;
    All these keywords.

    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:hal:journl:hal-04164688. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.