Implicit Contracts, Incentive Compatibility, and Involuntary Unemployment: Thirty Years on

MacLeod, W. Bentley; Malcomson, James M.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4331407

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Implicit Contracts, Incentive Compatibility, and Involuntary Unemployment: Thirty Years on

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15881

41 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2023

See all articles by W. Bentley MacLeod

W. Bentley MacLeod

Princeton University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Columbia University - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

James M. Malcomson

University of Oxford - Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Abstract

"Implicit Contracts, incentive compatibility, and involuntary unemployment" (MacLeod and Malcomson, 1989) remains our most highly cited work. We briefly review the development of this paper and of our subsequent related work, and conclude with reflections on the future of relational contract theory and practice.

Keywords: relational contracts, informal enforcement, legal enforcement, incentives, private information

JEL Classification: D21, D23, D82, D86, L14, L22, L23, L24

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

MacLeod, William Bentley and Malcomson, James M., Implicit Contracts, Incentive Compatibility, and Involuntary Unemployment: Thirty Years on. IZA Discussion Paper No. 15881, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4331407 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4331407