This paper analyzes optimal contracting when an agent has private information before contracting and exerts hidden effort that stochastically affects the output. Additionally, the contract is constrained to satisfy the agentʼs ex post participation. We highlight three features of this model....

In a principal–agent model with moral hazard, a signal about the principalʼs technology — the stochastic mapping from the agentʼs action to the outcome — is observed before the contract is offered. The signal is either uninformative (null information), informative and observed only by...