Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T23:48:47.059Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Performance Incentive Fees: An Agency Theoretic Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Abstract

This paper employs recent developments in agency theory to study the impact that compensation contracts have on portfolio management investment decisions in a restricted mean-variance world. Two types of incentive contracts for mutual fund managers are analyzed and compared. The results show that the “symmetric” contract, while not necessarily eliminating agency costs, dominates the “bonus” contract in aligning the manager's interests with those of the investor.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © School of Business Administration, University of Washington 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1]Fama, E., and Miller, M.. The Theory of Finance. Hinsdale, IL: Dryden Press (1972).Google Scholar
[2]Farrar, D. E.The Investment Decision under Uncertainty. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall (1962).Google Scholar
[3]Harris, M., and Raviv, A.. “Some Results on Incentive Contracts with Applications to Education and Employment, Health Insurance, and Law Enforcement.” American Economic Review, 68 (03 1978), 2030.Google Scholar
[4]Holstrom, B.Moral Hazard and Observability.” Bell Journal of Economics, 10 (Spring 1979), 7491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5]Jensen, M., and Meckling, W.. “Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs, and Ownership Structure.” Journal of Financial Economics, 3 (10 1976), 305360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6]Leland, H.Optimal Risk Sharing and the Leasing of Natural Resources with Application to Oil and Gas Leasing on the OCS.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 92 (08 1978), 413437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7]Margrabe, W.Alternative Investment Performance Fee Arrangements and Implications for SEC Regulatory Policy: Comment.” Bell Journal of Economics, 7 (Autumn 1976), 716718.Google Scholar
[8]Modigliani, F., and Pogue, G.. “Alternative Investment Performance Fee Arranagements and Implications for SEC Regulatory Policy.” Bell Journal of Economics, 6 (Spring 1975), 127160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[9]Mossin, J.Theory of Financial Markets. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall (1973).Google Scholar
[10]Roll, R.A Critique of the Asset Pricing Theory's Tests; Part I: On Past and Potential Testability of the Theory.” Journal of Financial Economics, 4 (03 1977), 129176.Google Scholar
[11]Shavell, S.Risk Sharing and Incentives in the Principal and Agent Relationship.” Bell Journal of Economics, 10 (Spring 1979), 5573.Google Scholar
[12]Spence, M., and Zeckhauser, R.. “Insurance, Information, and Individual Action.” American Economic Review, 61 (05 1971), 308387.Google Scholar
[13]Stiglitz, J.Incentives, Risk and Information: Notes toward a Theory of Hierarchy.” Bell Journal of Economics, 6 (Autumn 1975), 552579.Google Scholar
[14]Stiglitz, J.Risk Sharing and Incentives in Sharecropping.” Review of Economic Studies, 61 (04 1974), 219256.Google Scholar
[15]Zeckhauser, R.Medical Insurance: A Case Study of the Tradeoff between Risk Spreading and Appropriate Incentives.” Journal of Economic Theory, 2 (03 1979), 1026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar