IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea05/19522.html

Pooling, Separating, and Cream-Skimming In Relative-Performance Contracts

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Yanguo
  • Jaenicke, Edward C.

Abstract

Existing research on tournament-style contests suggests that mechanisms to sort contestants by ability level are unnecessary in the case of linear relative-performance contracts. This paper suggests that this result stems from uniform treatment of workers' marginal returns from effort, marginal disutilities of effort, and reservation wages. Here, we investigate relative-performance contracts with a model that allows these three factors to vary by growers' unobservable ability. Given this framework, we find that it is possible for processors to improve expected profits and total expected welfare by replacing a single contract offering meant to pool all growers with an offering of two contracts meant to separate growers by ability. Under some circumstances, a 'cream-skimming' contract offering designed to attract only workers above a minimum ability level can also improve expected profits.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Yanguo & Jaenicke, Edward C., 2005. "Pooling, Separating, and Cream-Skimming In Relative-Performance Contracts," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19522, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea05:19522
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.19522
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/19522/files/sp05wa01.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.19522?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marchand, Maurice & Sato, Motohiro & Schokkaert, Erik, 2003. "Prior Health Expenditures and Risk Sharing with Insurers Competing on Quality," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(4), pages 647-669, Winter.
    2. Lewis Tracy R. & Sappington David E. M., 1995. "Insurance, Adverse Selection, and Cream-Skimming," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 327-358, April.
    3. Armando Levy & Tomislav Vukina, 2002. "Optimal linear contracts with heterogeneous agents," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 29(2), pages 205-217, June.
    4. Nalebuff, Barry J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1983. "Information, Competition, and Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(2), pages 278-283, May.
    5. Theofanis Tsoulouhas & Tomislav Vukina, 2001. "Regulating Broiler Contracts: Tournaments Versus Fixed Performance Standards," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(4), pages 1062-1073.
    6. 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.
    7. Rachael E. Goodhue, 2000. "Broiler Production Contracts as a Multi-Agent Problem: Common Risk, Incentives and Heterogeneity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(3), pages 606-622.
    8. Barros, Pedro Pita, 2003. "Cream-skimming, incentives for efficiency and payment system," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 419-443, May.
    9. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1979. "Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 972-990, October.
    10. B. Mak Arvin & Richard J. Arnott, 1992. "Wage Profiles and Imperfect Capital Markets: A Positive Analysis," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 25(3), pages 521-537, August.
    11. James M. Malcomson, 1986. "Rank-Order Contracts for a Principal with Many Agents," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(5), pages 807-817.
    12. Armando Levy & Tomislav Vukina, 2004. "The League Composition Effect in Tournaments with Heterogeneous Players: An Empirical Analysis of Broiler Contracts," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 353-378, April.
    13. Ito, Takatoshi, 1988. "Labor Contracts with Voluntary Quits," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(1), pages 100-131, January.
    14. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-444, June.
    15. Kahn, Charles M, 1985. "Optimal Severance Pay with Incomplete Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(3), pages 435-451, June.
    16. Carmichael, Lorne, 1985. "Can Unemployment Be Involuntary? Comment [Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device]," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 1213-1214, December.
    17. Arnott, Richard J & Hosios, Arthur J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1988. "Implicit Contracts, Labor Mobility, and Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1046-1066, December.
    18. Asheim, Geir B. & Nilssen, Tore, 1996. "Non-discriminating renegotiation in a competitive insurance market," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1717-1736, December.
    19. Knoeber, Charles R & Thurman, Walter N, 1994. "Testing the Theory of Tournaments: An Empirical Analysis of Broiler Production," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(2), pages 155-179, April.
    20. Bloemen, Hans G & Stancanelli, Elena G F, 2001. "Individual Wealth, Reservation Wages, and Transitions into Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 400-439, April.
    21. McLaughlin, Kenneth J, 1991. "A Theory of Quits and Layoffs with Efficient Turnover," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 1-29, February.
    22. Carmichael, H Lorne, 1990. "Efficiency Wage Models of Unemployment--One View," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(2), pages 269-295, April.
    23. Bhattacharya, Sudipto & Guasch, J Luis, 1988. "Heterogeneity, Tournaments, and Hierarchies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 867-881, August.
    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. Fares, M'hand & Orozco, Luis, 2014. "Tournament Mechanism in Wine-Grape Contracts: Evidence from a French Wine Cooperative," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 320-345, December.

    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. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Zhen Wang & Tomislav Vukina, 2017. "Welfare effects of payment truncation in piece rate tournaments," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 219-249, April.
    3. Theofanis Tsoulouhas, 2017. "Do tournaments solve the adverse selection problem?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 675-690, September.
    4. Fares, M'hand & Orozco, Luis, 2014. "Tournament Mechanism in Wine-Grape Contracts: Evidence from a French Wine Cooperative," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 320-345, December.
    5. Rachael Goodhue & Leo Simon, 2016. "Agricultural contracts, adverse selection, and multiple inputs," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-33, December.
    6. Marinakis, Kosmas & Tsoulouhas, Theofanis, 2013. "Are tournaments optimal over piece rates under limited liability for the principal?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 223-237.
    7. Theofanis Tsoulouhas, 2015. "A Primer On Cardinal Versus Ordinal Tournaments," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 1224-1235, April.
    8. Zheng, Xiaoyong & Vukina, Tomislav, 2007. "Efficiency gains from organizational innovation: Comparing ordinal and cardinal tournament games in broiler contracts," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 843-859, August.
    9. Porametr Leegomonchai & Tomislav Vukina, 2005. "Dynamic Incentives and Agent Discrimination in Broiler Production Tournaments," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(4), pages 849-877, December.
    10. Edward P. Lazear & Paul Oyer, 2012. "Personnel Economics [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    11. Wang, Yanguo & Jaenicke, Edward C., 2004. "Static And Dynamic Efficiency Of Pooled Broiler Contracts: Relative-Performance Contracts Vs. Fixed-Performance Contracts," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20406, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    12. Tomislav Vukina & Xiaoyong Zheng, 2007. "Structural Estimation of Rank-Order Tournament Games with Private Information," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(3), pages 651-664.
    13. Robert Dur & Heiner Schmittdiel, 2019. "Paid to Quit," De Economist, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 387-406, December.
    14. William J. Carrington & Bruce Fallick, 2014. "Why Do Earnings Fall with Job Displacement?," Working Papers (Old Series) 1405, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    15. Matthias Krakel, 2006. "Tournaments versus Piece Rates under Limited Liability," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 5(3), pages 185-199, December.
    16. Olesen, Henrik Ballebye & Olsen, Rene H., 2001. "Discrimination and Strategic Group Division in Tournaments," Unit of Economics Working Papers 24183, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Food and Resource Economic Institute.
    17. Vandegrift, Donald & Brown, Paul, 2005. "Gender differences in the use of high-variance strategies in tournament competition," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 834-849, December.
    18. Quintero Jaramillo, Jose E., 2004. "Moral hazard in teams with limited punishments and multiple outputs," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb040705, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    19. George A. Akerlof, 2003. "Behavioral Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Behavior," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 47(1), pages 25-47, March.
    20. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2291-2372 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Paul Hek & Daniel Vuuren, 2011. "Are older workers overpaid? A literature review," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(4), pages 436-460, August.
    22. William J. Carrington, 2015. "Do We Know Why Earnings Fall with Job Displacement? Working Paper: 2015-01," Working Papers 49908, Congressional Budget Office.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    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:ags:aaea05:19522. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.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.