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Mediated Audits

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  • Pollrich, Martin

Abstract

I study the optimal audit mechanism when the principal cannot commit to an audit strategy. Invoking a relevation principle, the agent reports her type to a mediator whi assigns contracts and recommends the principla whether to audit. For each reported type the mediator randomizes over a base-contract and the audit contract, accompanied by a recommendation to audit. For large penalties the optimal mechanism uses strictly more contracts than types and cannot be implemented via offering a menu of contracts. The analysis provides a proper benchmark for studying auditing under limited commitment and sheds new light on the usefulness of mediation in contracting and on the design of optimal mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Pollrich, Martin, 2015. "Mediated Audits," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 809, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:trf:wpaper:809
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    19. Kalyan Chatterjee & Sanford Morton & Arijit Mukherji, 2008. "Strategic Audit Policies Without Commitment," Springer Optimization and Its Applications, in: Altannar Chinchuluun & Panos M. Pardalos & Athanasios Migdalas & Leonidas Pitsoulis (ed.), Pareto Optimality, Game Theory And Equilibria, pages 407-436, Springer.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Kosenko, 2020. "Mediated Persuasion," Papers 2012.00098, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2020.
    2. Martin Pollrich, "undated". "The Maximum Punishment Principle and Precision of Audits under Limited Commitment - Preliminary and Incomplete Version -," BDPEMS Working Papers 2015004, Berlin School of Economics.
    3. Fugger, Nicolas & Gretschko, Vitali & Pollrich, Martin, 2019. "Sequential procurement with limited commitment," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-030, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Gretschko, Vitali & Wambach, Achim, 2017. "Contract Design With Limited Commitment," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168269, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Gretschko, Vitali & Wambach, Achim, 2017. "Contract (re-)negotiation with private and common values," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-056, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auditing; limited commitment; mediation; contract theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games

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