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Occupational choice, incentives and wealth distribution

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandro Citanna

    (GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Archishman Chakraborty

Abstract

We consider a model of occupational choice in large economies where individuals differ in their wealth endowment. Individuals can remain self-employed or engage in productive matches with another individual, i.e., form firms. Matches are subject to a moral hazard problem with limited liability. The division of the gains from such matches is determined by competitive forces. When the incentive problem is asymmetric, matches are typically wealth-heterogeneous, with richer individuals choosing the occupation for which incentives are more important. The utilities attained within a match depend on the wealth distribution and changes in the latter give rise to ‘trickle down' effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Citanna & Archishman Chakraborty, 2005. "Occupational choice, incentives and wealth distribution," Post-Print hal-00463229, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00463229
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2003.11.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Ayça Kaya & Galina Vereshchagina, 2015. "Moral hazard and sorting in a market for partnerships," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 60(1), pages 73-121, September.
    2. Sperisen, Benjamin & Wiseman, Thomas, 2020. "Too good to fire: Non-assortative matching to play a dynamic game," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 491-511.
    3. Macho-Stadler, Inés & Pérez-Castrillo, David & Quérou, Nicolas, 2021. "Goal-oriented agents in a market," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Chakraborty, Archishman & Citanna, Alessandro, 2005. "Occupational choice, incentives and wealth distribution," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 206-224, June.
    5. Kanidska Dam, 2015. "Incentives and Income Distribution in Tenancy Relationships," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 171(3), pages 512-543, September.
    6. Mette Ejrnaes & Stefan Hochguertel, 2008. "Entrepreneurial Moral Hazard in Income Insurance," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-065/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 12 Aug 2011.
    7. Maitreesh Ghatak & Alexander Karaivanov, 2011. "Contractual Structure and Endogenous Matching in Partnershipso," STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series 024, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    8. Inés Macho-Stadler & David Pérez-Castrillo, 2021. "Agency theory meets matching theory," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 1-33, March.
    9. Kaniska Dam, 2009. "A General Equilibrium Analysis of the Credit Market," Working Papers DTE 461, CIDE, División de Economía.
    10. Galina Vereshchagina, 2017. "The Impact of Moral Hazard and Budget Balancing on Sorting in Partnerships," 2017 Meeting Papers 1452, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Mette Ejrnæs & Stefan Hochguertel, 2008. "Entrepreneurial Moral Hazard in Income Insurance: Empirical Evidence from a Large Administrative Sample," CAM Working Papers 2008-02, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics.
    12. Vereshchagina, Galina, 2019. "The role of individual financial contributions in the formation of entrepreneurial teams," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 173-193.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Matching; Moral hazard; Wealth distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D50 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - General
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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