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We study the optimal contract problem in the \emph{combinatorial actions} framework of D\"utting et al.~[FOCS'21], where a principal delegates a project to an agent who chooses a subset of hidden, costly actions, and the resulting reward is…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-03-17 Michal Feldman , Liat Yashin

We consider moral hazard problems where a principal has access to rich monitoring data about an agent's action. Rather than focusing on optimal contracts (which are known to in general be complicated), we characterize the optimal rate at…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2024-07-04 Mira Frick , Ryota Iijima , Yuhta Ishii

We study the problem of dynamically trading a futures contract and its underlying asset under a stochastic basis model. The basis evolution is modeled by a stopped scaled Brownian bridge to account for non-convergence of the basis at…

Portfolio Management · Quantitative Finance 2019-05-28 Bahman Angoshtari , Tim Leung

Bernard et al. (2015) study an optimal insurance design problem where an individual's preference is of the rank-dependent utility (RDU) type, and show that in general an optimal contract covers both large and small losses. However, their…

Mathematical Finance · Quantitative Finance 2022-01-07 Xu Zuo Quan , Zhou Xun Yu , Zhuang Sheng Chao

We investigate the impact of Knightian uncertainty on the optimal timing policy of an ambiguity averse decision maker in the case where the underlying factor dynamics follow a multidimensional Brownian motion and the exercise payoff depends…

Probability · Mathematics 2019-07-10 Luis H. R. Alvarez E. , Sören Christensen

I introduce novel preference formulations which capture aversion to ambiguity about unknown and potentially time-varying volatility. I compare these preferences with Gilboa and Schmeidler's maxmin expected utility as well as variational…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2021-09-21 Peter G. Hansen

We consider a general class of dynamic resource allocation problems within a stochastic optimal control framework. This class of problems arises in a wide variety of applications, each of which intrinsically involves resources of different…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-01-08 Xuefeng Gao , Yingdong Lu , Mayank Sharma , Mark S. Squillante , Joost W. Bosman

We study a principal-agent problem with adverse selection, where the principal does not know the agent's true cost but must design a contract to optimize a specific criterion. Unlike standard screening frameworks that allow for…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-05-19 Guillermo Alonso Alvarez , Ibrahim Ekren , Liwei Huang

We consider the standard moral hazard problem with limited liability. The first-order approach (FOA) is the main tool for its solution, but existing sufficient conditions for its validity are restrictive. Our main result shows that the FOA…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-02-06 Eduardo Azevedo , Ilan Wolff

We study a general contracting problem between the principal and a finite set of competitive agents, who perform equivalent changes of measure by controlling the drift of the output process and the compensator of its associated jump…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-08-25 Nicolás Hernández Santibáñez

I revisit the standard moral-hazard model, in which an agent's preference over contracts is rooted in costly effort choice. I characterise the behavioural content of the model in terms of empirically testable axioms, and show that the…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-11-26 Ludvig Sinander

We establish explicit socially optimal rules for an irreversible investment deci- sion with time-to-build and uncertainty. Assuming a price sensitive demand function with a random intercept, we provide comparative statics and economic…

Mathematical Finance · Quantitative Finance 2014-06-03 René Aid , Salvatore Federico , Huyên Pham , Bertrand Villeneuve

We study the problem of demand response contracts in electricity markets by quantifying the impact of considering a mean-field of consumers, whose consumption is impacted by a common noise. We formulate the problem as a Principal-Agent…

Probability · Mathematics 2020-03-25 Romuald Elie , Emma Hubert , Thibaut Mastrolia , Dylan Possamaï

Can a principal still offer optimal dynamic contracts that are linear in end-of-period outcomes when the agent controls a process that exhibits memory? We provide a positive answer by considering a general Gaussian setting where the output…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-09-23 Eduardo Abi Jaber , Stéphane Villeneuve

Firms have access to abundant data on market participants. They use these data to target contracts to agents with specific characteristics, and describe these contracts in opaque terms. In response to such practices, recent proposed…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2023-02-01 Andreas Haupt , Zoe Hitzig

Recent technology advances have enabled firms to flexibly process and analyze sophisticated employee performance data at a reduced and yet significant cost. We develop a theory of optimal incentive contracting where the monitoring…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2019-11-22 Anqi Li , Ming Yang

We model learning in a continuous-time Brownian setting where there is prior ambiguity. The associated model of preference values robustness and is time-consistent. It is applied to study optimal learning when the choice between actions can…

Economics · Quantitative Finance 2019-03-06 Larry G. Epstein , Shaolin Ji

We study the classic principal-agent model when the signal observed by the principal is chosen by the agent. We fully characterize the optimal information structure from an agent's perspective in a general moral hazard setting with limited…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2023-07-25 Majid Mahzoon , Ali Shourideh , Ariel Zetlin-Jones

An employer contracts with a worker to incentivize efforts whose productivity depends on ability; the worker then enters a market that pays him contingent on ability evaluation. With non-additive monitoring technology, the interdependence…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-07-31 Tan Gan , Hongcheng Li

We consider a general framework of optimal mechanism design under adverse selection and ambiguity about the type distribution of agents. We prove the existence of optimal mechanisms under minimal assumptions on the contract space and prove…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-03-18 Julio Backhoff-Veraguas , Patrick Beissner , Ulrich Horst