Optimal Incentive Contracts With Bonus Caps.

This article investigates contracts between two risk‐neutral parties with bounded bonus payments. If the available signal about the agent's behavior satisfies a novel condition, the monotone likelihood ratio transformation property, the optimal contract takes a simple form irrespective of whether th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:RAND Journal of Economics (Wiley-Blackwell) Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 55 - 74
Autores principales: Chi, Chang Koo, Olsen, Trond E.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Spring2025
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:This article investigates contracts between two risk‐neutral parties with bounded bonus payments. If the available signal about the agent's behavior satisfies a novel condition, the monotone likelihood ratio transformation property, the optimal contract takes a simple form irrespective of whether the first‐order approach (FOA) is valid or not. The contract rewards the agent the maximum bonus if the signal's likelihood ratio exceeds a threshold, which in contrast to the FOA contract is not necessarily zero. We next derive a condition for a signal to enhance the efficiency of a contract. Applications in relational contracting and law enforcement illustrate our findings.