This paper develops a novel field experiment to test the implicit prediction of tournament theory that competition increases work time and can therefore contribute to the long work hours required in elite occupations. A majority of workers in the treatment without explicit financial incentives...

We analyze optimal labor contracts when workers are inequity averse towards the employer. Welfare is maximized for an equal sharing rule of surplus between the worker and the firm. That is, profit sharing is optimal even if effort is contractible. If the firm can make a take-it-or leave-it...

We introduce a general single-agent single-period incentive model that is applicable to a broad-spectrum of situations. Agent's hidden actions contribute to the firm's profits, which is not measurable in general. However, there are measurable outcomes, which stochastically depend on the agent's...

Are monetary and non-monetary incentives used as substitutes in motivating effort? I address this question in a laboratory experiment in which the choice of the job characteristics (i.e., the mission) is part of the compensation package that principals can use to influence agents' effort....

I analyze how a firm should elicit advice from an expert on when to terminate a project with a stochastic lifespan. The firm cannot directly observe the project's lifespan, but imperfectly monitors its current state by observing incremental output. The expert directly observes the state of the...

In a field experiment, we test the impact of performance-based incentives for community college instructors. We estimate that instructor incentives improve student performance on objective course exams by 0.2 standard deviations, increase course grades by 0.1 standard deviations, and reduce...

Corporate culture is increasingly important for retention and employee motivation. First, using a new survey tool with PayScale.com, I show that culture is strongly correlated with employee engagement and both firm productivity and occupational skills. Moreover, a value-weighted portfolio of...

Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Entwicklung der Akzeptanz der Empfehlung G.13 Satz 1 des Deutschen Corporate Governance Kodex (in der Fassung vom 16. Dezember 2019, vormals 4.2.3 Abs. 4 Satz 1), die für vorzeitige Vertragsbeendigungen von Vorstandsmitgliedern Abfindungsobergrenzen vorsieht. Die...

We study derivative instruments that corporate insiders use to diversify and hedge their equity ownership. Our evidence suggests that boards might allow use of these instruments in order to mitigate agency costs associated with overvalued equity and high equity-based pay. These instruments are...

This article investigates the motivation of contingent workers in the gig economy of China, particularly focusing on the two Mobile Food Delivery Aggregators (MFDA) - Meituan and Ele.me that controls over 80% of the food delivery market in China. The convenience of one "super-app" on phone,...