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Contracting under ex post moral hazard and non-commitment

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Abstract

This paper characterizes the optimal insurance contract in an environment where an informed agent can misrepresent the state of the world to a principal who cannot credibly commit to an auditing strategy. Because the principal cannot commit, the optimal strategy of the agent is not to tell the truth all the time. Assuming that there are T > 1 possible losses, and that the agent cannot fake an accident (he is constrained only to misreport the size of the loss when a loss occurs), the optimal contract is such that higher losses are over-compensated while lower losses are on average under-compensated. The amount by which higher losses are over-compensated decreases as the loss increases. The optimal contract may then be represented as a simple combination of a deductible, a lump-sum payment and a coinsurance provision. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2003

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  • M. Boyer, 2003. "Contracting under ex post moral hazard and non-commitment," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 8(1), pages 1-38, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reecde:v:8:y:2003:i:1:p:1-38
    DOI: 10.1007/s10058-003-0086-y
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    1. M. Martin Boyer, 2007. "Resistance (to Fraud) Is Futile," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 74(2), pages 461-492, June.
    2. M. Martin Boyer, 2004. "Overcompensation as a Partial Solution to Commitment and Renegotiation Problems: The Case of Ex Post Moral Hazard," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 71(4), pages 559-582, December.
    3. M. Boyer & Patrick González, 2004. "Optimal audit policies with correlated types," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 24(2), pages 325-334, August.
    4. Schiller, Jörg, 2004. "Versicherungsbetrug als ökonomisches Problem: Eine vertragstheoretische Analyse," Working Papers on Risk and Insurance 13, University of Hamburg, Institute for Risk and Insurance.
    5. Boyer, M. Martin & Schiller, Jörg, 2003. "Merging automobile regulatory bodies: The case of Atlantic Canada," Working Papers on Risk and Insurance 11, University of Hamburg, Institute for Risk and Insurance.
    6. J François Outreville, 2010. "The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review 2009: In Quest of Behavioural Insurance," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 35(3), pages 484-497, July.
    7. Ensar Yilmaz & Burak Ünveren, 2012. "Capital regulation and auditing," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(10), pages 1467-1475, October.
    8. M. Martin Boyer & Richard Peter, 2020. "Insurance Fraud in a Rothschild–Stiglitz World," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(1), pages 117-142, March.
    9. Bénédicte Coestier & Nathalie Fombaron, 2003. "L'audit en assurance," THEMA Working Papers 2003-41, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    10. M. Martin Boyer, 2004. "On the Use of Hierarchies to Complete Contracts when Players Have Limited Abilities," CIRANO Working Papers 2004s-41, CIRANO.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Non-commitment; insurance; ex post moral hazard; contract theory.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games

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