Skip to main content

Agency Problems

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
  • 130 Accesses

Abstract

We illustrate agency problems with the aid of heavily stripped-down models which can be explicitly solved. Variations on a principal–agent model with both actors risk-neutral allow us to illustrate a canonical benchmark case, multi-tasking problems and informed-principal ones. We illustrate intertemporal agency problems using a two-period model with a risk-averse agent, which yields linear incentives. We conclude by briefly looking at more recent developments of the field such as present-biased preferences and motivated agents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 6,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 8,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Anderlini, L., and L. Felli. 1998. Describability and agency problems. European Economic Review 42: 35–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arrow, K. 1963. Uncertainty and the welfare economics of medical care. American Economic Review 53: 941–973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Besley, T., and M. Ghatak. 2005. Competition and incentives with motivated agents. American Economic Review 95: 616–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolton, P., and M. Dewatripont. 2005. Contract theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eliaz, K., and R. Spiegler. 2006. Contracting with diversely naive agents. Review of Economic Studies 73: 689–714.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fudenberg, D., B. Holmström, and P. Milgrom. 1990. Short-term contracts and long-term agency relationships. Journal of Economic Theory 51: 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, S., and O. Hart. 1983. An analysis of the principal–agent problem. Econometrica 51: 7–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hellwig, M., and K. Schmidt. 2002. Discrete-time approximations of the Holmström–Milgrom Brownian-motion model of intertemporal incentive provision. Econometrica 70: 2225–2264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmström, B. 1979. Moral hazard and observability. Bell Journal of Economics 10: 74–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmström, B., and P. Milgrom. 1987. Aggregation and linearity in provision of intertemporal incentives. Econometrica 55: 303–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmström, B., and P. Milgrom. 1991. Multitask principal–agent analyses: Incentive contracts, asset ownership, and job design. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 7: 24–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmström, B., and P. Milgrom. 1994. The firm as an incentive system. American Economic Review 84: 972–991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jewitt, I. 1988. Justifying the first-order approach to principal–agent problems. Econometrica 56: 1177–1190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laffont, J.-J., and D. Martimort. 2002. The theory of incentives. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malcomson, J., and F. Spinnewyn. 1988. The multiperiod principal–agent problem. Review of Economic Studies 55: 391–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marschak, J. 1955. Elements for a theory of teams. Management Science 1: 127–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maskin, E., and J. Tirole. 1990. The principal–agent relationship with an informed principal: The case of private values. Econometrica 58: 379–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maskin, E., and J. Tirole. 1992. The principal-agent relationship with an informed principal II: Common values. Econometrica 60: 1–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mirrlees, J. 1975/1999. The theory of moral hazard and unobservable behavior: Part I. Mimeo, Nuffield College, Oxford University. Published in Review of Economic Studies 66, 3–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myerson, R. 1983. Mechanism design by an informed principal. Econometrica 51: 1767–1798.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donoghue, T., and M. Rabin. 2005. Incentives and self control. Mimeo: University of California, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pauly, M. 1968. The economics of moral hazard. American Economic Review 58: 531–537.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rey, P., and B. Salanié. 1990. Long-term, short-term and renegotiation: On the value of commitment in contracting. Econometrica 58: 597–619.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogerson, W. 1985. The first-order approach to principal–agent problems. Econometrica 53: 1357–1367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salanié, B. 2000. The economics of contracts. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shavell, S. 1979. On moral hazard and insurance. Quarterly Journal of Economics 93: 541–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Copyright information

© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Anderlini, L., Felli, L. (2018). Agency Problems. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2773

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics