This paper studies the problem of incentivizing an agent in an innovation project when the progress of innovation is known only to the agent. I assume the success of innovation requires an intermediate breakthrough and a final breakthrough, with only the latter being observed by the principal....

In this paper, we examine the effect of increases in health care costs and general inflation on optimal insurance policies and waste in a model of imperfect information with costly auditing. We show that in such a setting, individuals will buy more than full insurance. Moreover, as the cost of...

This prelude introduces the first symposium of this journal devoted to the structure, conduct, and performance of principal-agent models in a broad view. Five papers, exemplifying recent developments and targeting readers of interdisciplinary interest, are summarized.