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Contracting with synergies

Subject

Finance

Publishing details

Social Sciences Research Network

Authors / Editors

Edmans A;Goldstein I;Zhu J

Biographies

Publication Year

2013

Abstract

This paper studies multi-agent optimal contracting with cost synergies. We model synergies as the extent to which effort by one agent reduces his colleague's marginal cost of effort. An agent's pay and effort depend on the synergies he exerts, the synergies his colleagues exert on him and, surprisingly, the synergies his colleagues exert on each other. It may be optimal to "over-work" and "over-incentivize" a synergistic agent, due to the spillover effect on his colleagues. This result can rationalize the high pay differential between CEOs and divisional managers. An increase in the synergy between two particular agents can lead to a third agent being endogenously excluded from the team, even if his own synergy is unchanged. This result has implications for optimal team composition and firm boundaries.

Keywords

Complementarities; Contract theory; Influence; Multiple agents; Principal-agent problem; Synergies; Teams

Series

Social Sciences Research Network

Available on ECCH

No


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