The paper proposes a mechanism that may implement first-best effort in simultaneous teams. Within the framework of this mechanism, each team members is obliged to make a fixed, non-contingent payment, and chooses his individual effort. After the output is produced, each team member receives a...

We analyze the legal reform concerning employees? inventions in Germany. Using a simple principal-agent model, we derive a unique efficient payment scheme: a bonus which is contingent on the project value. We demonstrate that the old German law creates inefficient incentives. However, the new...

Zusammenfassung Die empirische Prüfung theoretischer Forschungsergebnisse wirft in der Ökonomie - wie bei jeder Sozialwissenschaft - Probleme auf. Anders als in den Naturwissenschaften können volkswirtschaftliche Problemstellungen kaum in Labors nachgebildet werden. Seit einigen Jahren nutzen...

This paper analyzes the competitive effects of the Basel II Standard Approach capital requirement regulation on an oligopolistic credit market. We define the general goal of the capital regulation to be the improvement of the banking system's soundness. As in the standard literature, we assume...

Bargainers can increase their outcome by delegation. This paper analyzes delegation contracts consisting of two components: First, a percentage of the outcome if the delegate concludes an agreement. Second, a bonus payment if the delegate fails to do so. This paper derives the effects of these...

The Condorcet Jury Theorem is derived from the implicit assumption that jury members only commit one type of error. If the probability of this error is smaller than 0.5, then group decisions are better than those of individual members. In binary decision situations, however, two types of error...

The paper examines the impact of the mandatory warranty intrudced by the EU (1999) both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. In lemons markets, mandatory warranty may reduce the ability to signal quality by offering a contractual warranty and, therefore, induce market failure....