Piecework versus merit pay: a Mean Fi eld Game approach to academic behavior

Damien Besancenot (1) , Jean-Michel Courtault (1) , Khaled El Dika (2)

1 CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord
2 LAGA - Laboratoire Analyse, Géométrie et Applications

This paper applies the Mean Fi eld Game approach pioneered by Lasry and Lions (2007) to the analysis of the researchers' academic productivity. It provides a theoretical motivation for the stability of the universaly observed Lotka's law. It shows that a remuneration scheme taking into account the researchers rank with respect to the academic resume can induce a larger number of researchers to overtake a minimal production standard. It thus appears as superior to piecework remuneration.

Mots clés: Lotka's law; Mean Field Game; Academic production; incentives; Lotka's law.

Domaines: Economies et finances; Equations aux dérivées partielles [math.AP]

Damien Besancenot, Jean-Michel Courtault, Khaled El Dika. Piecework versus merit pay: a Mean Fi eld Game approach to academic behavior. 2011. ⟨halshs-00632171⟩