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Occupational Choice, incentives and wealth distribution

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  • CITANNA, Alessandro
  • CHAKRABORTY, Archishman

    (Baruch College, CUNY, New York)

Abstract

We consider a model of endogenous occupational choice in economies with a continuum of individuals who differ in their endowments. Individuals have a choice of remaining self-employed or engaging in productive matches with another individual, i.e., forming firms. Matches are subject to a moral hazard problem with limited liability constraints. We suppose that the division of the gains from such matches is endogenous and determined by competitive market forces. We characterize the equilibrium matching patterns as a function of the nature (symmetry) of the underlying incentive problem within a firm. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for "segregation" (wealth-homogeneous firms) to occur in equilibrium. We show that the equilibrium distributions of occupations, utilities and surplus typically depend on the distribution of wealth in the economy, possibly in nonmonotonic ways. We study the "trickle down" effects of taxation. We show how financial markets imperfections or matching restrictions may restore segregation.

Suggested Citation

  • CITANNA, Alessandro & CHAKRABORTY, Archishman, 2001. "Occupational Choice, incentives and wealth distribution," HEC Research Papers Series 720, HEC Paris.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:heccah:0720
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Mette Ejrnæs & Stefan Hochguertel, 2008. "Entrepreneurial Moral Hazard in Income Insurance: Empirical Evidence from a Large Administrative Sample," CAM Working Papers 2008-02, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics.
    3. Mette Ejrnaes & Stefan Hochguertel, 2008. "Entrepreneurial Moral Hazard in Income Insurance," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-065/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 12 Aug 2011.
    4. Ghatak, Maitreesh & ,, 2011. "Contractual Structure and Endogenous Matching in Partnerships," CEPR Discussion Papers 8298, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Chakraborty, Archishman & Citanna, Alessandro, 2005. "Occupational choice, incentives and wealth distribution," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 206-224, June.
    6. Macho-Stadler, Inés & Pérez-Castrillo, David & Quérou, Nicolas, 2021. "Goal-oriented agents in a market," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Ayça Kaya & Galina Vereshchagina, 2015. "Moral hazard and sorting in a market for partnerships," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 60(1), pages 73-121, September.
    8. Sperisen, Benjamin & Wiseman, Thomas, 2020. "Too good to fire: Non-assortative matching to play a dynamic game," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 491-511.
    9. Kaniska Dam, 2009. "A General Equilibrium Analysis of the Credit Market," Working Papers DTE 461, CIDE, División de Economía.
    10. Vereshchagina, Galina, 2019. "The role of individual financial contributions in the formation of entrepreneurial teams," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 173-193.
    11. Galina Vereshchagina, 2017. "The Impact of Moral Hazard and Budget Balancing on Sorting in Partnerships," 2017 Meeting Papers 1452, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. Inés Macho-Stadler & David Pérez-Castrillo, 2021. "Agency theory meets matching theory," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 1-33, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    matching; contract theory; club theory; firm formation; incomplete markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D50 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - General
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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