Authors
Anna Maria C Menichini, Peter J Simmons
Publication date
2017/12
Source
Department of Economics, University of York Discussion Papers
Issue
17/19
Description
In a costly state verification model under commitment, the paper shows that jointly financing multiple independent projects reduces the deadweight loss of inefficient audits. This is true for both simultaneous and sequential audit, since each system reveals the same information about the project outcomes at the same cost. Moreover, the audit combination under sequential audit is indeterminate. Audits are decreasing in the reported income and, for sufficiently high projects profitability, deterministic for lower income reports. We explore robustness of the results, including commitment issues. The results are interpreted in the light of observed features of financial contracts.
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