We study optimal incentives in a principal-agent problem in which the agent's outside option is determined endogenously … obtaining this raise gives the agent an incentive to exert effort, which reduces the need for standard incentives, like bonuses … eliminates the need for standard incentives. …

in Germany. We document that firms in relationships with banks that were more exposed to negative monetary policy rates …-paid workers more likely to be fired and initially higher-paid workers more likely to receive wage cuts. At the same time, wages …

unique sample of workers from seven European countries, the results suggest that (a) the primary determinant of the level of … employee effort is the amount of discretion offered at work; (b) pay incentives and ‘gift exchanges’ are the most important … motivators; (c) the use of monitoring and Taylor-type assembly lines are the least effective incentives; and (d) the optimal …