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Contracting with Repeated Moral Hazard and Private Evaluations

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Author Info
William Fuchs (University of Chicago)

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Abstract

A repeated moral hazard setting in which the Principal privately observes the Agentfs output is studied. It is shown that there is no loss from restricting the analysis to contracts in which the Agent is supposed to exert effort every period, receives a constant efficiency wage and no feedback until he is fired. The optimal contract for a finite horizon is characterized, and shown to require burning of resources. These are only burnt after the worst possible realization sequence and the amount is independent of both the length of the horizon and the discount factor (ƒÂ). For the infinite horizon case a family of fixed interval review contracts is characterized and shown to achieve first best as ƒÂ ¨ 1. The optimal contract when ƒÂ << 1 is partially characterized. Incentives are optimally provided with a combination of efficiency wages and the threat of termination, which will exhibit memory over the whole history of realizations. Finally, Tournaments are shown to provide an alternative solution to the problem.

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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Game Theory and Information with number 0511007.

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Length: 40 pages
Date of creation: 21 Nov 2005
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpga:0511007

Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 40
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Related research
Keywords: Repeated Moral Hazard; Private Monitoring; Efficiency Wages;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory
D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Crémer, Jacques & Khalil, Fahad, 1991. "Gathering Information before Signing a Contract," IDEI Working Papers 5, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Anton Suvorov & Jeroen van de Ven, 2006. "Discretionary Bonuses as a Feedback Mechanism," Working Papers w0088, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR). [Downloadable!]
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