Delegation of Monitoring in a Principal-Agent Relationship

S-Tier
Journal: Review of Economic Studies
Year: 1997
Volume: 64
Issue: 3
Pages: 337-357

Score contribution per author:

8.043 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper studies a principal-agent relationship in which either the principal or a supervisor can monitor the agent's hidden action by the use of identical monitoring technologies. We assume that signals are private information and commitment to monitoring is not possible. We show that delegation of monitoring is profitable. With delegation the principal can better regulate incentives (incentive-effect) and commit to a broader range of wage structures (commitment-effect). We introduce collusion to find an endogenous bound on rewards and show that collusion limits the commitment-effect, but due to the incentive-effect delegation remains profitable.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:restud:v:64:y:1997:i:3:p:337-357.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29