We examine the incentives that owners of competing firms give their managers. We show that, in equilibrium, each manager will be paid in excess of his decision's marginal profit in a Cournot-quantity game, but paid less than the marginal profit in a price game. In the Cournot case, deviations from profit maximization are reduced by ex ante cost uncertainty and increased by correlation in the firms' costs.
The American Economic Review is a general-interest economics journal. Established in 1911, the AER is among the nation's oldest and most respected scholarly journals in the economics profession and is celebrating over 100 years of publishing. The journal publishes 11 issues containing articles on a broad range of topics.
Once composed primarily of college and university professors in economics, the American Economic Association (AEA) now attracts 20,000+ members from academe, business, government, and consulting groups within diverse disciplines from multi-cultural backgrounds. All are professionals or graduate-level students dedicated to economics research and teaching.
This item is part of a JSTOR Collection.
For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions
The American Economic Review
© 1987 American Economic Association
Request Permissions
