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Job matching when employment contracts suffer from moral hazard

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  • Demougin, Dominique
  • Helm, Carsten

Abstract

We consider a job matching model where the relationships between firms and wealth-constrained workers suffer from moral hazard. Specifically, effort on the job is non-contractible so that parties that are matched negotiate a bonus contract. Higher unemployment benefits affect the workers' outside option. The latter is improved for low-skilled workers. Hence they receive a larger share of the surplus, which strengthens their effort incentives and increases productivity. Effects are reversed for high-skilled workers. Moreover, raising benefit payments affects the proportion of successful matches, which induces some firms to exit the economy and causes unemployment to increase.

Suggested Citation

  • Demougin, Dominique & Helm, Carsten, 2011. "Job matching when employment contracts suffer from moral hazard," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 964-979.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:55:y:2011:i:7:p:964-979
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2011.04.002
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    Cited by:

    1. repec:old:wpaper:348 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Dittrich, Marcus & Städter, Silvio, 2015. "Moral hazard and bargaining over incentive contracts," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 75-85.
    3. Andriy Zapechelnyuk & Ro’i Zultan, 2020. "Job search costs and incentives," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 8(2), pages 181-202, October.
    4. Demougin, Dominique & Helm, Carsten, 2023. "Overwhelmed by routine tasks: A multitasking principal agent perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 654-669.
    5. Eguchi, Kyota, 2014. "Employment protection and incentives: Severance pay vs. procedural inconvenience," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 272-290.
    6. Li Sanxi & Xiao Hao & Yao Dongmin, 2013. "Contract Bargaining with a Risk-Averse Agent," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 285-301, November.
    7. Starmans, Jan, 2024. "Contracting and search with heterogeneous principals and agents," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    8. Carsten Helm & Dominique Demougin, 2012. "Incentive Contracts and Efficient Unemployment Benefits in a Globalized World," Working Papers V-348-12, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2012.
    9. repec:zbw:hohpro:348 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job matching; Incentive contracts; Unemployment benefits; Nash bargaining; Moral hazard;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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