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Pareto-improving inefficiency

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  • Arup Bose
  • Debashis Pal
  • David E.M. Sappington

Abstract

This paper considers a simple moral hazard setting in which a project owner (or, more generally, a principal) hires a contractor (or, more generally, an agent) to operate her project. We show that a systematic increase in the agent's operating costs can increase either the principal's profit or the agent's profit. The combined profit of the two parties also can increase. Perhaps most surprisingly, the principal's profit and the agent's profit can both increase simultaneously as the agent's costs rise. In this sense, increased inefficiency can be Pareto-improving under plausible conditions. Copyright 2011 Oxford University Press 2010 All rights reserved, Oxford University Press.

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  • Arup Bose & Debashis Pal & David E.M. Sappington, 2011. "Pareto-improving inefficiency," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 63(1), pages 94-110, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:63:y:2011:i:1:p:94-110
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpq009
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    Cited by:

    1. Arup Bose & Debashis Pal & David E. M. Sappington, 2016. "All entrepreneurial productivity increases are not created equal," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(3), pages 952-974, January.
    2. Debashis Pal & David Sappington & Ying Tang, 2012. "Sabotaging cost containment," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 293-314, June.

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