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Warranties, Durability, and Maintenance: Two Sided Moral Hazard in a Continuous-Time Model

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We consider the provision of an optimal warranty in a continuous-time model with two-sided moral hazard. The optimal warranty must balance the producer's durability incentive and the buyer's maintenance incentive. Too little warranty protection gives the producer too much incentive to produce low durability, while too much warranty protection gives the consumer too much incentive to neglect maintenance. The derived optimal warranty is a "block warranty" that is high for an initial block of time and zero thereafter. The first-best would be available under a very high warranty for a very short time interval, except for the incentive this would create for the consumer to abuse the product to collect the warranty.

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  • Nancy A. Lutz & Philip H. Dybvig, 1989. "Warranties, Durability, and Maintenance: Two Sided Moral Hazard in a Continuous-Time Model," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 922, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:922
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    Cited by:

    1. Tatyana Chesnokova, 2007. "Return policies, market outcomes, and consumer welfare," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(1), pages 296-316, February.
    2. Nian Yang & Jun Yang & Yu Chen, 2018. "Contracting in a Continuous-Time Model with Three-Sided Moral Hazard and Cost Synergies," Graz Economics Papers 2018-06, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    3. Chen, Xu & Li, Ling & Zhou, Ming, 2012. "Manufacturer's pricing strategy for supply chain with warranty period-dependent demand," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 807-816.
    4. Boom, Anette, 1998. "Product risk sharing by warranties in a monopoly market with risk-averse consumers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 241-257, January.
    5. Lutz, Nancy A. & Padmanabhan, V., 1998. "Warranties, extended warranties, and product quality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 463-493, July.
    6. Heidrun Jander & Robert Kahlenberg & Jürgen Graßhoff, 2006. "Gewährleistungsmanagement im Entstehungszyklus eines Fahrzeugs: Weiterentwicklung des Target Costing-Konzeptes bei BMW Motorrad," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 128-148, February.
    7. Jianhua Ma & Xingzheng Ai & Wen Yang & Yanchun Pan, 2019. "Decentralization versus coordination in competing supply chains under retailers’ extended warranties," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 275(2), pages 485-510, April.
    8. Helmut Bester & Daniel Krähmer, 2008. "Delegation and incentives," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(3), pages 664-682, September.
    9. Eleonora Fichera & James Banks & Matt Sutton, 2014. "Health behaviours and the patient-doctor interaction: The double moral hazard problem," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1415, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    10. Shiou Shieh, 1996. "Price and Money‐Back Guarantees as Signals of Product Quality," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 361-377, September.
    11. Junhong Chu & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2009. "Quantifying the Economic Value of Warranties in the U.S. Server Market," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 99-121, 01-02.
    12. Tsoulouhas, Theofanis, 1999. "Do tournaments solve the two-sided moral hazard problem?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 275-294, November.
    13. D Vandegrift, 2001. "Quality‐Assuring Price And Breach Of Express Or Implied Warranty," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 19(2), pages 186-196, April.
    14. Giorgio Coricelli & Luigi Luini, 1999. "Double Moral Hazard: an Experiment on Warranties," CEEL Working Papers 9901, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    15. Lu, Zhen & Shang, Jennifer, 2019. "Warranty mechanism for pre-owned tech products: Collaboration between E-tailers and online warranty provider," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 119-131.
    16. Li, Kunpeng & Chhajed, Dilip & Mallik, Suman, 2005. "Design of Extended Warranties in Supply Chains," Working Papers 05-0128, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    17. Alena Podaneva & Pierre Picard, 2023. "Facility Management Services in UK Hospitals: in-house or outsourcing," DEM Discussion Paper Series 23-15, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    18. Jun Yang, 2010. "Timing of Effort and Reward: Three-Sided Moral Hazard in a Continuous-Time Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1568-1583, September.
    19. McClure, James & Kumcu, Erdogan, 2008. "Promotions and product pricing: Parsimony versus Veblenesque demand," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 105-117, January.
    20. Aidan Hollis, 1996. "Exclusivity Restrictions in Markets with Adverse Selection: The Case of Extended Warranties," Working Papers ecpap-96-03, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    21. Lutz, Nancy A., 1995. "Ownership rights and incentives in franchising," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 2(1-2), pages 103-131, October.

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