Regulating Executive Pay: Incentive Contracts and Nonbinding Bonus Caps

This paper analyzes the effects of a regulatory cap on executive pay. We use a principal-agent model with moral hazard in which a firm and a manager bargain over an incentive contract, and we discuss the consequences of a nonbinding cap on bonus payments. We find that the bonus cap negatively affects the manager's effort choice and social welfare, even if the cap is introduced at a nonbinding level.