IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v135y2015icp15-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Screening of possibly incompetent agents

Author

Listed:
  • Baranchuk, Nina
  • Dybvig, Philip H.

Abstract

Accepting a contract with a high performance sensitivity is normally interpreted as a signal of high ability. However, a high self-assessment may be an incompetent forecast by an incompetent worker. In a model where optimistic agents have low ability, a low performance sensitivity screens out the incompetent agents. However, when agents are wealthy enough, the principal prefers to select the incompetent agent who covers the downside (as in a vanity press).

Suggested Citation

  • Baranchuk, Nina & Dybvig, Philip H., 2015. "Screening of possibly incompetent agents," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 15-18.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:135:y:2015:i:c:p:15-18
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2015.07.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016517651500289X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2015.07.016?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bhattacharya, Sudipto & Pfleiderer, Paul, 1985. "Delegated portfolio management," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Leland, Hayne E & Pyle, David H, 1977. "Informational Asymmetries, Financial Structure, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 371-387, May.
    3. John G. Riley, 2001. "Silver Signals: Twenty-Five Years of Screening and Signaling," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 432-478, June.
    4. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Helmut Bester & Matthias Lang & Jianpei Li, 2021. "Signaling versus Auditing," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(4), pages 859-883, December.
    2. Guldiken, Orhun & Tupper, Christina & Nair, Anil & Yu, Huizhi, 2017. "The impact of media coverage on IPO stock performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 24-32.
    3. Daley, Brendan & Green, Brett, 2014. "Market signaling with grades," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 114-145.
    4. Attar, Andrea & Mariotti, Thomas & Salanié, François, 2021. "Competitive Nonlinear Pricing under Adverse Selection," TSE Working Papers 21-1201, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Aug 2022.
    5. Mailath, George J. & von Thadden, Ernst-Ludwig, 2013. "Incentive compatibility and differentiability: New results and classic applications," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(5), pages 1841-1861.
    6. Bester, Helmut & Lang, Matthias & Li, Jianpei, 2018. "Signaling versus costly information acquisition," Discussion Papers 2018/11, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    7. Starkov, Egor, 2023. "Only time will tell: Credible dynamic signaling," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    8. Daniel Broxterman & Tingyu Zhou, 2023. "Information Frictions in Real Estate Markets: Recent Evidence and Issues," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 203-298, February.
    9. Mike Burkart & Samuel Lee, 2016. "Smart Buyers," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(2), pages 239-270.
    10. Levine, Carolyn B. & Hughes, John S., 2005. "Management compensation and earnings-based covenants as signaling devices in credit markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 832-850, October.
    11. Mohammadi, Ali & Basir, Nada O. & Beyhaghi, Mehdi, 2015. "Research Intensity and Financial Analysts Earnings Forecast: Signaling Effects of Patents," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 397, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    12. Soeren Johansen & Anders Rygh Swensen, 2021. "Adjustment coefficients and exact rational expectations in cointegrated vector autoregressive models," Discussion Papers 21-07, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    13. Inmaculada Garc�a-Mainar & V�ctor M. Montuenga-G�mez, 2017. "Subjective educational mismatch and signalling in Spain," Documentos de Trabajo dt2017-03, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza.
    14. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:10:y:2004:i:8:p:1-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Michele Dell'Era & Luis Santos-Pinto, 2011. "Entrepreneurial Overconfidence, Self-Financing and Capital Market Efficiency," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 11.06, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie, revised Nov 2012.
    16. Josse Delfgaauw & Robert Dur, 2008. "Incentives and Workers' Motivation in the Public Sector," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(525), pages 171-191, January.
    17. Kim, Sang-Joon & Bae, John & Oh, Hannah, 2019. "Financing strategically: The moderation effect of marketing activities on the bifurcated relationship between debt level and firm valuation of small and medium enterprises," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 663-681.
    18. Kampelmann, Stephan & Rycx, François, 2012. "The impact of educational mismatch on firm productivity: Evidence from linked panel data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 918-931.
    19. Arnold, M., 2017. "The impact of central clearing on banks’ lending discipline," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 91-114.
    20. Bae, John & Kim, Sang-Joon & Oh, Hannah, 2017. "Taming polysemous signals: The role of marketing intensity on the relationship between financial leverage and firm performance," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 29-40.
    21. Jascha-Alexander Koch & Michael Siering, 2019. "The recipe of successful crowdfunding campaigns," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(4), pages 661-679, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Screening; Disagreement; Prior beliefs; Agency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

    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:eee:ecolet:v:135:y:2015:i:c:p:15-18. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    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.