The ex-post behavior of firms offering optimal employment contracts

The influential papers of Azariadas (1975) and Baily (1974) have clearly demonstrated that with imperfect labor mobility expected profit maximizing firms will offer employment contracts that will not result in profit maximizing behavior once the ‘state of nature’ is disclosed. This Letter shows that such firms will behave as if their objective were to maximize the expected utility of each individual worker subject to a profit target. The rule that emerges when there is unemployment will be shown to be formally equivalent to Meade's Rule for optimal population [Meade (1955, ch. 6)].