Performance-contingent pay raises productivity, yet in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) only about 16% of workers report receiving performance pay, with the incidence being roughly seven percentage points higher among university graduates than among non-graduates. This coexistence of low...

Using firm-level data on 7,000 suppliers transacting with 26 major South Korean retailers, this study analyzes how contract types, referring to direct purchase, special contract, consignment, and store lease types, are determined and how they affect supplier performance. Contract choice varies...

When a technology provider (entrant) enters an emerging end market, he may outsource critical components from a competing conventional manufacturer (incumbent) or insource critical components. Under the outsourcing strategy, brand reputation spills over from the incumbent to the entrant-a...

This paper investigates the efficiency effects of governing vertical relationships by analyzing the incentives of firms to engage in exclusive contracts. In particular, the analysis focuses on the subcontracting context. When a downstream firm possesses a superior bargaining position, upstream...

How best to incentivise disclosure? We study this question in a general model in which a technological breakthrough occurs at an uncertain time and is privately observed by an agent, and a principal must incentivise disclosure via her control of a payoff-relevant physical allocation. We uncover...

This paper studies a large class of multi-agent contracting models with the property that agents' payoffs constitute a weighted potential game. Multiple equilibria arise due to agents' strategic interactions. I fully characterize a contracting scheme that is optimal for the principal for all...

Sellers face a critical choice: run competitive auctions or strike exclusive deals with preferred buyers. Contrary to conventional wisdom that sellers should rely on open competition, we show that a powerful seller optimally commits to a sequential `flexclusivity' arrangement - a strategic mix...

We examine the impact of the war in Ukraine on long-term contracts in energy markets. We find that traded contract volumes fall by 65 percent in the first months of the war. A collapse in bilateral trading contributes most to this decline. To protect themselves from price shocks, firms...

This supplement contains auxiliary technical results and proofs omitted from Bloedel, Krishna, and Leukhina (2025) (henceforth BKL) and its Supplemental Appendix (henceforth SA). First, Section I proves parts (a)–(c) and (e)–(f) of Theorem 3 from Appendix B.1 of BKL. (Part (d) of Theorem 3...

How do different characteristics of pay-for-performance schemes affect fairness perceptions? In two studies, we systematically consider three major classes of incentive schemes: continuous piece rate incentives, discrete bonus schemes, and tournament incentives. We find that pay inequality has a...

In this study, we examine two adjudication methods designed to resolve disputes between principals and agents concerning bonus payments in relationships characterized by moral hazard and where the parties have been forced to use soft, imprecise, and subjective information to align incentives....

Venture capital ("VC") has built a solid reputation for spurring innovation and economic growth, thus emerging as a crown jewel of the U.S. economy since the 1980s. The development of the U.S. VC market has benefited from the enabling nature of U.S. (Delaware) corporate law, which allows parties...

Venture capital ("VC") has built a solid reputation for spurring innovation and economic growth, thus emerging as a crown jewel of the U.S. economy since the 1980s. The development of the U.S. VC market has benefited from the enabling nature of U.S. (Delaware) corporate law, which allows parties...