Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Sales quotas are a fixture of sales compensation plans and are often associated with a significant discrete bonus. This paper shows that, under certain assumptions about salesperson utility and the distribution of sales outcomes, the optimal compensation is a discrete bonus for meeting a sales quota. The results are similar when the assumption of agent risk neutrality is relaxed. The model has implications for many moral hazard problems where the agent has a liability limitation and job-specific skill. Copyright 2000 by University of Chicago Press.