Managerial Incentives and Capital Management

S-Tier
Journal: Quarterly Journal of Economics
Year: 1986
Volume: 101
Issue: 4
Pages: 835-860

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

The paper shows how career concerns rather than effort aversion can induce a natural incongruity in risk preferences between managers and superiors. A model, based on learning about managerial talent, is developed to study second-best contractual remedies. We show that the optimal wage contract is an option of the value of the manager's human capital for insurance reasons and that consequently rationing of capital is often required to counterbalance the manager's resulting incentive to overinvest. Rationing is strictly superior to price decentralization, offering one reason for the prevalence of centralized capital budgeting procedures.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:qjecon:v:101:y:1986:i:4:p:835-860.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-02-02