IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/41152.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Multi-task Incentive Contract and Performance Measurement with Multidimensional Types

Author

Listed:
  • Tian, Guoqiang
  • Meng, Dawen

Abstract

This paper provides a new explanation for the dominance of the low-powered incentive contract over the high-powered incentive contract using a mixed model of moral hazard and adverse selection. We first show that the power of incentives in the second-best contract is lower than that in the first-best contract in the presence of either unobservable risk aversion or cost. We then consider the case that both risk aversion and cost of the agent are unob- servable to the principal. We solve this multidimensional mechanism design problem under two assumptions with regard to the structures of performance measurement system and wage contract. It is shown that if the deterministic and stochastic components of different per- formance measures vary proportionally, the principal is inclined to provide a low-powered incentive contract. Moreover, it is shown that if the base wage depends only on a quadratic function rather than the direction of the performance wage vector, no incentive is provided for most of the performance measures in an orthogonal performance measurement system.

Suggested Citation

  • Tian, Guoqiang & Meng, Dawen, 2011. "Multi-task Incentive Contract and Performance Measurement with Multidimensional Types," MPRA Paper 41152, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:41152
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/41152/1/MPRA_paper_41152.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lazear, Edward P & Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 841-864, October.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Green, Jerry R & Stokey, Nancy L, 1983. "A Comparison of Tournaments and Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(3), pages 349-364, June.
    5. George Baker, 2002. "Distortion and Risk in Optimal Incentive Contracts," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(4), pages 728-751.
    6. Baker, George P, 1992. "Incentive Contracts and Performance Measurement," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(3), pages 598-614, June.
    7. Picard, Pierre, 1987. "On the design of incentive schemes under moral hazard and adverse selection," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 305-331, August.
    8. B. Caillaud & R. Guesnerie & P. Rey, 1992. "Noisy Observation in Adverse Selection Models," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 59(3), pages 595-615.
    9. Melumad, Nahum D. & Reichelstein, Stefan, 1989. "Value of communication in agencies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 334-368, April.
    10. Peter J. Hammond, 1979. "Straightforward Individual Incentive Compatibility in Large Economies," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 263-282.
    11. Barry J. Nalebuff & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1983. "Prices and Incentives: Towards a General Theory of Compensation and Competition," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 21-43, Spring.
    12. Suren Basov & Peter Bardsley, 2005. "A General Model of Coexisting Hidden Action and Hidden Information," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 958, The University of Melbourne.
    13. Walker, Mark, 1977. "On the informational size of message spaces," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 366-375, August.
    14. Mount, Kenneth & Reiter, Stanley, 1974. "The informational size of message spaces," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 161-192, June.
    15. Baiman, Stanley, 1990. "Agency research in managerial accounting: A second look," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 341-371.
    16. Suren Basov & Svetlana Danilkina, 2010. "Multitasking, Multidimensional Screening, and Moral Hazard with Risk Neutral Agents," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(s1), pages 80-86, September.
    17. Rochet, J. C., 1985. "The taxation principle and multi-time Hamilton-Jacobi equations," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 113-128, April.
    18. Guoqiang Tian, 2006. "The unique informational efficiency of the competitive mechanism in economies with production," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 26(1), pages 155-182, January.
    19. Basov, Suren, 2001. "Hamiltonian approach to multi-dimensional screening," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 77-94, September.
    20. Armstrong, Mark, 1996. "Multiproduct Nonlinear Pricing," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(1), pages 51-75, January.
    21. Thiele, Veikko, 2010. "Task-specific abilities in multi-task principal-agent relationships," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 690-698, August.
    22. Jean-Charles Rochet & Philippe Chone, 1998. "Ironing, Sweeping, and Multidimensional Screening," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(4), pages 783-826, July.
    23. Osana, Hiroaki, 1978. "On the informational size of message spaces for resource allocation processes," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 66-78, February.
    24. Tian, Guoqiang, 1994. "On informational efficiency and incentive aspects of generalized ratio equilibria," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 323-337, July.
    25. Guoqiang Tian, 2004. "A Unique Informationally Efficient Allocation Mechanism In Economies With Consumption Externalities," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 45(1), pages 79-111, February.
    26. Rochet, Jean-Charles, 1987. "A necessary and sufficient condition for rationalizability in a quasi-linear context," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 191-200, April.
    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. Yuxun Zhou & Mohammad Mafizur Rahman & Rasheda Khanam & Brad R. Taylor, 2023. "Alternative Method to Resolve the Principal–Principal Conflict—A New Perspective Based on Contract Theory and Negotiation," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-30, January.
    2. David Rietzke & Yu Chen, 2020. "Push or pull? Performance‐pay, incentives, and information," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 51(1), pages 301-317, March.
    3. Nuno-Ledesma, Jose G., 2020. "Incentive Alignment and Reward Strength in Pay-for-Performance Contracts," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304302, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    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. Tian, Guoqiang, 2004. "On the Informational Requirements of Decentralized Pareto-Satisfactory Mechanisms in Economies with Increasing Returns," MPRA Paper 41226, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Oct 2006.
    2. Nicolás Hernández Santibáñez & Dylan Possamaï & Chao Zhou, 2017. "Bank monitoring incentives under moral hazard and adverse selection," Working Papers hal-01435460, HAL.
    3. David Rietzke & Yu Chen, 2020. "Push or pull? Performance‐pay, incentives, and information," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 51(1), pages 301-317, March.
    4. 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.
    5. Felipe Balmaceda, 2012. "On the Optimality of One-size-fits-all Contracts: The Limited Liability Case," Documentos de Trabajo 291, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    6. Jay Stewart, 1999. "Adverse Selection and Pay Compression," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(4), pages 885-899, April.
    7. Christian Espinosa & Juan Gorigoitía & Carlos Maquieira, 2012. "Nonlinear behaviour of EMBI index:the case of eastern European countries," Working Papers 37, Facultad de Economía y Empresa, Universidad Diego Portales.
    8. Jean-Jacques Laffont, 1987. "Le risque moral dans la relation de mandat," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 38(1), pages 5-24.
    9. Jay Stewart, 1999. "Adverse Selection and Pay Compression," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 65(4), pages 885-899, April.
    10. Nicolás Hernández Santibáñez & Dylan Possamaï & Chao Zhou, 2020. "Bank monitoring incentives under moral hazard and adverse selection," Post-Print hal-01435460, HAL.
    11. Suren Basov & Svetlana Danilkina, 2010. "Multitasking, Multidimensional Screening, and Moral Hazard with Risk Neutral Agents," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(s1), pages 80-86, September.
    12. Miravete, Eugenio J., 2011. "Convolution and composition of totally positive random variables in economics," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(4-5), pages 479-490.
    13. Suren Basov, 2002. "A Partial Characterization of the Solution of the Multidimensional Screening Problem with Nonlinear Preferences," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 860, The University of Melbourne.
    14. Aditya U. Kulkarni & Christian Wernz, 2020. "Optimal incentives for teams: a multiscale decision theory approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 288(1), pages 307-329, May.
    15. Jakša Cvitanić & Julien Hugonnier, 2022. "Optimal fund menus," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 455-516, April.
    16. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Galina Besstremyannaya & Sergei Golovan, 2019. "Physician’s altruism in incentive contracts: Medicare’s quality race," CINCH Working Paper Series 1903, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health.
    18. Leonard J. Mirman & Thomas D. Jeitschko, 2002. "Information and experimentation in short-term contracting," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 19(2), pages 311-331.
    19. Jay Stewart, 1999. "Adverse Selection and Pay Compression," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(4), pages 885-899, April.
    20. Holmstrom, Bengt R. & Tirole, Jean, 1989. "The theory of the firm," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 61-133, Elsevier.
    21. Roman M. Sheremeta, 2016. "The pros and cons of workplace tournaments," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 302-302, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    multi-task incentive model; multidimensional mechanism design; low-powered incentive; missing incentive;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly

    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:pra:mprapa:41152. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.