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Career Concerns and Excessive Risk Taking

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  • Ying Chen

Abstract

In a seminal paper, Holmström () shows that an agent who is unsure of her ability and has a payoff linear in her reputation underinvests in risky projects. I show that if the agent privately knows her ability, then the opposite must happen, that is, she always overinvests in risky projects, no matter what the curvature of her payoff in reputation. Moreover, if project quality is verifiable and the agent is uninformed about her ability, then she reveals project quality and first best is attained; but if she privately knows her ability, first best is not attainable and she still overinvests.

Suggested Citation

  • Ying Chen, 2015. "Career Concerns and Excessive Risk Taking," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 110-130, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:24:y:2015:i:1:p:110-130
    DOI: 10.1111/jems.12085
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Andres Zambrano, 2019. "Motivating informed decisions," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 67(3), pages 645-664, April.
    2. Dimitris Papadimitriou & Konstantinos Tokis & Georgios Vichos & Panos Mourdoukoutas, 2024. "Managing other people's money: An agency theory in financial management industry," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 179-209, March.
    3. Kim, Doyoung, 2017. "Motivating for new changes when agents have reputation concerns," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 37-53.
    4. Andreu, Laura & Puetz, Alexander, 2017. "Choosing two business degrees versus choosing one: What does it tell about mutual fund managers' investment behavior?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 138-146.
    5. Elchanan Ben-Porath & Eddie Dekel & Barton L Lipman, 2018. "Disclosure and Choice," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(3), pages 1471-1501.
    6. Elisabeth Schulte & Mike Felgenhauer, 2017. "Preselection and expert advice," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 46(3), pages 693-714, August.
    7. Andreu, Laura & Pütz, Alexander, 2016. "Choosing two business degrees versus choosing one: What does it tell about mutual fund managers' investment behavior?," CFR Working Papers 12-01 [rev.2], University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    8. Qiang Fu & Ming Li & Xue Qiao, 2022. "On the paradox of mediocracy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 492-521, April.
    9. Colleen M. Boland & Corinna Ewelt-Knauer & Julia Schneider, 2022. "The gift that keeps on giving: corporate giving and excessive risk-taking," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 355-396, April.
    10. Dimitris Papadimitriou & Konstantinos Tokis & Georgios Vichos & Panos Mourdoukoutas, 2024. "Managing other people's money: An agency theory in financial management industry," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 179-209, March.
    11. Tomás Rodríguez Barraquer & Xu Tan, 2023. "A model of competitive signaling with rich message spaces," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 27(1), pages 1-43, February.
    12. Chari, Murali D.R. & David, Parthiban & Duru, Augustine & Zhao, Yijiang, 2019. "Bowman's risk-return paradox: An agency theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 357-375.
    13. Rohan DUTTA & Pierre-Yves YANNI, 2017. "On Inducing Agents with Term Limits to Take Appropriate Risk," Cahiers de recherche 06-2017, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.

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