Verifiable and Nonverifiable Information in a Two-Period Agency Problem

Budde, Jörg (23. October 2013): Verifiable and Nonverifiable Information in a Two-Period Agency Problem. SFB/TR 15 Discussion Paper No. 445

Abstract

I examine how a firm’s opportunity to verify information influences the joint use of verifiable and unverifiable information for incentive contracting. I employ a simple two-period agency model, in which contract frictions arise from limited liability and the potential unverifiability of the principal’s information about the agent’s action. With short-term contract, the principal benefits from both a more informative and a more conservative verification of his private information. With long-term contracts, he may prefer a less informative verification, but his preference for a conservative verification persists.

• Item Type: Paper
• Faculties: Special Research Fields > Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems; Special Research Fields > Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems > B4 - Die Gestaltung von Turnieren im Rahmen der Corporate Governance
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• Language: English