Purpose: This paper examines the effects of limiting the number of loans a bank can issue, reflecting a policy recently implemented by the US Federal Reserve. Design/methodology/approach: This paper does so in a streamlined model of the banking sector. Findings: This paper finds that a binding...

We characterize the optimal piece-rate contract in the canonical moral hazard setting with a wealth-constrained, risk averse agent. The contract is shown to have a simple, intuitive characterization in a structured, but broad, class of settings.

We show that a lender often experiences increasing marginal returns to screening in a standard setting where the lender decides how intensively to screen the projects of prospective borrowers. The increasing marginal returns imply that even small changes in industry parameters can produce large...

We investigate when identical agents will be treated asymmetrically in a simple team setting. Asymmetric treatment is optimal when the agents' individual contributions to team performance are strategic complements. Symmetric treatment of identical agents is optimal when the agents' contributions...

This paper considers a simple moral hazard setting in which a project owner (or, more generally, a principal) hires a contractor (or, more generally, an agent) to operate her project. We show that a systematic increase in the agent's operating costs can increase either the principal's profit or...