Not logged in.

Contribution Details

Type Working Paper
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title The effect of agency problems on optimal operating leverage and social welfare
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Hui Chen
Language
  • English
Institution University of Zurich
Series Name SSRN
Number 2358670
ISSN 1556-5068
Number of Pages 25
Date 2015
Abstract Text In this paper, we examine a firm's choice of operating leverage in a principal-agent setting and find that the degree of operating leverage is strictly lower when the manager's actions are unobservable. Further, the production output is also lower when agency problems are present. The suboptimal operational decisions result in not only decreased shareholder value, but also lower consumer surplus and lower total social welfare. However, accounting information can help mitigate this problem. Specifically, the more precise the accounting information, the less the reduction in the players' payoffs. The results of this paper may provide some insight on how risk affects a firm's stakeholders differently, and what consequences it has in a broader economic sense.
Free access at Official URL
Official URL http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2358670
Digital Object Identifier 10.2139/ssrn.2358670
Other Identification Number merlin-id:11801
PDF File Download from ZORA
Export BibTeX
EP3 XML (ZORA)
Additional Information Forthcoming, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy