IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jogath/v49y2020i1d10.1007_s00182-019-00674-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A note on optimal contracting with public ex post information under limited liability

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Danau

    (Université de Caen Normandie)

  • Annalisa Vinella

    (Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”)

Abstract

Riordan and Sappington (J Econ Theory 45:189–199, 1988) show that in an agency relationship in which the agent’s type is correlated with a public ex post signal, the principal may attain first best (full surplus extraction and efficient output levels) if the agent is faced with a lottery such that each type is rewarded for one signal realization and punished equally for all the others. Gary-Bobo and Spiegel (RAND J Econ 37:431–448, 2006) show that there exist locally incentive compatible lotteries such that limited liability constraints are satisfied, only if these constraints are satisfied when that kind of lottery is used. We explore how lotteries should be designed to attain not only local but also global incentive compatibility when the agent is protected by limited liability. The main issue with global incentive compatibility rests with intermediate types being potentially attractive reports to both lower and higher types. A lottery including three levels of profit (rather than only two) is found to be optimal under limited liability, in that it is most likely to be globally incentive compatible, if local incentive constraints are strictly satisfied. Conditions for first-best implementation are identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Danau & Annalisa Vinella, 2020. "A note on optimal contracting with public ex post information under limited liability," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 49(1), pages 47-74, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jogath:v:49:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s00182-019-00674-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s00182-019-00674-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00182-019-00674-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00182-019-00674-4?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dominique M. Demougin & Devon A. Garvie, 1991. "Contractual Design with Correlated Information under Limited Liability," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(4), pages 477-489, Winter.
    2. Robert Gary‐Bobo & Yossi Spiegel, 2006. "Optimal state‐contingent regulation under limited liability," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 431-448, June.
    3. Armstrong, Mark & Sappington, David E.M., 2007. "Recent Developments in the Theory of Regulation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1557-1700, Elsevier.
    4. Richard Schmalensee, 1978. "A Note on Economies of Scale and Natural Monopoly in the Distribution of Public Utility Services," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(1), pages 270-276, Spring.
    5. A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell (ed.), 2007. "Handbook of Law and Economics," Handbook of Law and Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2.
    6. Anke S. Kessler & Christoph Lülfesmann & Patrick W. Schmitz, 2005. "Endogenous Punishments In Agency With Verifiable Ex Post Information ," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1207-1231, November.
    7. Fraas, Arthur G. & Munley, Vincent G., 1984. "Municipal wastewater treatment cost," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 28-38, March.
    8. Bose, Subir & Zhao, Jinhua, 2007. "Optimal use of correlated information in mechanism design when full surplus extraction may be impossible," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 357-381, July.
    9. Thomas Greve & Hans Keiding, 2016. "Regulated Competition under Increasing Returns to Scale," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 18(3), pages 327-345, June.
    10. Lewis, Tracy R. & Sappington, David E. M., 1989. "Countervailing incentives in agency problems," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 294-313, December.
    11. Riordan, Michael H. & Sappington, David E. M., 1988. "Optimal contracts with public ex post information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 189-199, June.
    12. Maggi G. & Rodriguez-Clare A., 1995. "On Countervailing Incentives," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 238-263, June.
    13. Roger B. Myerson, 1981. "Optimal Auction Design," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 58-73, February.
    14. A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell (ed.), 2007. "Handbook of Law and Economics," Handbook of Law and Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    15. Cremer, Jacques & McLean, Richard P, 1988. "Full Extraction of the Surplus in Bayesian and Dominant Strategy Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1247-1257, November.
    16. McAfee, R Preston & Reny, Philip J, 1992. "Correlated Information and Mechanism Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 395-421, March.
    17. Decker,Christopher, 2014. "Modern Economic Regulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107024236, February.
    18. Robert Gary-Bobo & Yossi Spiegel, 2006. "Optimal State-Contingent Regulation Under Limited Liability," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 431-448, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chillemi, Ottorino & Galavotti, Stefano & Gui, Benedetto, 2020. "Optimal contracts with contingent allocation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).

    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. Daniel Danau & Analisa Vinella, 2016. "On the optimal use of correlated information in contractual design under limited liability," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 2016-05, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.
    2. Chillemi, Ottorino & Galavotti, Stefano & Gui, Benedetto, 2020. "Optimal contracts with contingent allocation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    3. Daniel Danau & Annalisa Vinella, 2017. "Contractual design in agency problems with non-monotonic cost and correlated information," SERIES 02-2017, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Mar 2017.
    4. Danau, Daniel & Vinella, Annalisa, 2010. "Multi-agent contracting with countervailing incentives and limited liability," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-13, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    5. Roland Strausz, 2006. "Interim Information in Long‐Term Contracts," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(4), pages 1041-1067, December.
    6. Mikhail Drugov, 2010. "Information and delay in an agency model," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(3), pages 598-615, September.
    7. Krähmer, Daniel, 2012. "Auction design with endogenously correlated buyer types," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(1), pages 118-141.
    8. Kessler, Anke & Lülfesmann, Christoph & Schmitz, Patrick W., 2002. "Optimal Contracting in Agency with Verifiable Ex Post Information," CEPR Discussion Papers 3428, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Ottorino Chillemi & Stefano Galavotti & Benefetto Gui, 2017. "Inefficient Rationing With Post-Contractual Information," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0214, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    10. Armstrong, Mark & Sappington, David E.M., 2007. "Recent Developments in the Theory of Regulation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1557-1700, Elsevier.
    11. Robert Gary‐Bobo & Yossi Spiegel, 2006. "Optimal state‐contingent regulation under limited liability," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 431-448, June.
    12. Gick, Wolfgang, 2015. "A Theory of Delegated Contracting," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113069, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Brown, David P. & Sappington, David E.M., 2020. "Motivating the optimal procurement and deployment of electric storage as a transmission asset," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    14. Lewis A. Kornhauser & W. Bentley MacLeod, 2012. "Contracts between Legal Persons [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    15. Dawen Meng & Guoqiang Tian & Zhe Yang, 2017. "Two-agent collusion-proof implementation with correlation and arbitrage," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 21(3), pages 177-229, September.
    16. Carrillo, Juan D., 1998. "Coordination and Externalities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 103-129, January.
    17. Bose, Subir & Zhao, Jinhua, 2007. "Optimal use of correlated information in mechanism design when full surplus extraction may be impossible," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 357-381, July.
    18. Krähmer, Daniel, 2020. "Information disclosure and full surplus extraction in mechanism design," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    19. Pereyra, Juan Sebastián & Silva, Francisco, 2023. "Optimal assignment mechanisms with imperfect verification," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 18(2), May.
    20. Marina Halac & Pierre Yared, 2022. "Instrument-Based versus Target-Based Rules," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(1), pages 312-345.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informative signals; Limited liability; Incentive compatibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

    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:spr:jogath:v:49:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s00182-019-00674-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.