2011RePEc: Research Papers in EconomicsOpen access

Moral hazard with discrete soft information

Guillaume Roger

Open full text 0 citations

Abstract

I study a model of moral hazard with soft information. The risk-averse agent takes an action and she alone observes the stochastic outcome; hence the principal faces a problem of ex post adverse selection as well. With limited instruments, the principal cannot solve these two problems independently. To elicit ex post information revelation, he must use an audit mechanism and distort the transfer schedule, as compared to the standard moral hazard problem. This is socially costly in that these transfer distortions imply effort distortions. These results are robust and suggest high-power contracts may have to be revisited when information is soft.

Open-access reader

About this research paper

What this paper is about

I study a model of moral hazard with soft information. The risk-averse agent takes an action and she alone observes the stochastic outcome; hence the principal faces a problem of ex post adverse selection as well. With limited instruments, the principal cannot solve these two problems independently. To elicit ex post information revelation, he must use an audit mechanism and distort the transfer schedule, as compared to the standard moral hazard problem. This is socially costly in that these transfer distortions imply effort distortions. These results are robust and suggest high-power contracts may have to be revisited when information is soft.

Why it matters

A significance statement is not available in the OpenAlex record.

Key contribution

A contribution statement is not available in the OpenAlex record.

Method / approach

Method details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Main findings

Findings are not separately available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Limitations

Limitations are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Applications

Application details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Available abstract

I study a model of moral hazard with soft information. The risk-averse agent takes an action and she alone observes the stochastic outcome; hence the principal faces a problem of ex post adverse selection as well. With limited instruments, the principal cannot solve these two problems independently. To elicit ex post information revelation, he must use an audit mechanism and distort the transfer schedule, as compared to the standard moral hazard problem. This is socially costly in that these transfer distortions imply effort distortions. These results are robust and suggest high-power contracts may have to be revisited when information is soft.

Key concepts: Moral hazard, Adverse selection, Principal (computer security), Information asymmetry, Schedule, Outcome (game theory), Ex-ante, Set (abstract data type)

Related papers

Back to paper searchBrowse research topicsOriginal source
Moral hazard with discrete soft information — Research Paper | ScholarLens