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Robust Contracting in General Contract Spaces

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  • Julio Backhoff-Veraguas
  • Patrick Beissner
  • Ulrich Horst

Abstract

We consider a general framework of optimal mechanism design under adverse selection and ambiguity about the type distribution of agents. We prove the existence of optimal mechanisms under minimal assumptions on the contract space and prove that centralized contracting implemented via mechanisms is equivalent to delegated contracting implemented via a contract menu under these assumptions. Our abstract existence results are applied to a series of applications that include models of optimal risk sharing and of optimal portfolio delegation.

Suggested Citation

  • Julio Backhoff-Veraguas & Patrick Beissner & Ulrich Horst, 2019. "Robust Contracting in General Contract Spaces," Papers 1910.12516, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2021.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1910.12516
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    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.12516
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. Julio Backhoff & Ulrich Horst, 2014. "Conditional Analysis and a Principal-Agent problem," Papers 1412.4698, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2016.
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    Cited by:

    1. Shilin Li & Jinqiang Yang & Siqi Zhao, 2022. "Robust leverage dynamics without commitment," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(2), pages 643-679, September.

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