Successive Incentives

Jens Gudmundsson, Jens Leth Hougaard, Juan Moreno-Ternero and Lars Peter {\O}sterdal

Papers from arXiv.org

Abstract: We study the design of optimal incentives in sequential processes. To do so, we consider a basic and fundamental model in which an agent initiates a value-creating sequential process through costly investment with random success. If unsuccessful, the process stops. If successful, a new agent thereafter faces a similar investment decision, and so forth. For any outcome of the process, the total value is distributed among the agents using a reward rule. Reward rules thus induce a game among the agents. By design, the reward rule may lead to an asymmetric game, yet we are able to show equilibrium existence with optimal symmetric equilibria. We characterize optimal reward rules that yield the highest possible welfare created by the process, and the highest possible expected payoff for the initiator of the process. Our findings show that simple reward rules invoking short-run incentives are sufficient to meet long-run objectives.

Date: 2023-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-des, nep-gth and nep-mic
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.12494 Latest version (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:arx:papers:2311.12494

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Papers from arXiv.org
Bibliographic data for series maintained by arXiv administrators ().