Performance Comparisons and Dynamic Incentives.

It is well known that comparative performance information (CPI) can enhance efficiency in static principal-agent relationships by improving the trade-off between insurance and incentives in the design of explicit contracts. In dynamic settings, however, there may be implicit as well as explicit ince...

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Main Authors: Meyer, M, Vickers, J
Format: Working paper
Language:English
Published: CEPR 1995
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author Meyer, M
Vickers, J
author_facet Meyer, M
Vickers, J
author_sort Meyer, M
collection OXFORD
description It is well known that comparative performance information (CPI) can enhance efficiency in static principal-agent relationships by improving the trade-off between insurance and incentives in the design of explicit contracts. In dynamic settings, however, there may be implicit as well as explicit incentives (e.g. managerial career concerns and the ratchet effect in regulation). We show that the dynamic effects of CPI on implicit incentives can either reinforce or oppose the familiar (static) insurance effect and can in either case be the dominant factor affecting efficiency. The overall welfare effects of CPI are thus ambiguous and can be characterized in terms of the underlying information structure.
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spelling oxford-uuid:ebb593a7-104f-4281-8042-8116920044fe2022-03-27T11:11:47ZPerformance Comparisons and Dynamic Incentives.Working paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:ebb593a7-104f-4281-8042-8116920044feEnglishDepartment of Economics - ePrintsCEPR1995Meyer, MVickers, JIt is well known that comparative performance information (CPI) can enhance efficiency in static principal-agent relationships by improving the trade-off between insurance and incentives in the design of explicit contracts. In dynamic settings, however, there may be implicit as well as explicit incentives (e.g. managerial career concerns and the ratchet effect in regulation). We show that the dynamic effects of CPI on implicit incentives can either reinforce or oppose the familiar (static) insurance effect and can in either case be the dominant factor affecting efficiency. The overall welfare effects of CPI are thus ambiguous and can be characterized in terms of the underlying information structure.
spellingShingle Meyer, M
Vickers, J
Performance Comparisons and Dynamic Incentives.
title Performance Comparisons and Dynamic Incentives.
title_full Performance Comparisons and Dynamic Incentives.
title_fullStr Performance Comparisons and Dynamic Incentives.
title_full_unstemmed Performance Comparisons and Dynamic Incentives.
title_short Performance Comparisons and Dynamic Incentives.
title_sort performance comparisons and dynamic incentives
work_keys_str_mv AT meyerm performancecomparisonsanddynamicincentives
AT vickersj performancecomparisonsanddynamicincentives