Moral Hazard and Renegotiation in Agency Contracts

The authors modify the standard principal-agent model with oral hazard by allowing the contract to be renegotiated after the agent's choice of action and before the observation of the action's consequences. In equilibrium, the agent randomizes over effort levels. The optimal contract gives the agent a menu of compensation schemes: safe ones intended for low-effort workers and risky ones for those whose effort is high. The optimal contract may give the agent a positive rent, in contrast to the case without renegotiation. Copyright 1990 by The Econometric Society.