Incomplete Contracts, Self-Investments, Asymmetric Information, Breach of Contract and the Legal Remedies

Incomplete Contracts, Self-Investments, Asymmetric Information, Breach of Contract and the Legal Remedies PDF Author: Sugata Bag
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
In the early models of incomplete contract neither party used to invest in the subject matter of the contract; those models primarily kept their focus on analyzing the effect of legal rules on parties' incentives to trade or to breach. The modern models stretched beyond that to include value enhancing investments into its purview and establish an important result: (legal) penalties often are necessary to induce efficient investment; otherwise 'hold-up' (underinvestment) a general phenomenon when contracts are incomplete. But most of these models' findings are limited to typically symmetric or complete information scenario. In reality, the contracting parties usually possess some non-contractible private information either on their reliance or on their out side trading options or both (since either it is costly to describe or non-verifiable) and there may be ex-ante uncertainty associated with their valuations. So far asymmetric information has played a very limited role in the analysis of hold up problem. Therefore, in light of new and asymmetric information that the parties expected to realize subsequent to a binding contract, a systematic analysis has been attempted to see - first, how the legal remedies can solve hold up problem when parties also bear ex ante private information; secondly, how the courts of law can play a greater role than that has been realized. Focus remains on the ex-ante design of the contract, which would serve as an implicit substitute to complete contracts. Under asymmetric participation to contract, one of our main results shows that although the expectation damage remedy maximizes the social surplus for the parties across different dimensions of asymmetry (uncertainty) but induces excessive reliance. It is also found that party designed liquidated damage remedy is superior to all other court imposed remedies when one-sided asymmetry is concern. Finally we show that when dual asymmetry (uncertainty) is present in a contracting situation a high damage measure (even higher that expectation damage) induces efficient reliance by the parties. These results bear serious implications for various contract doctrines and debates.

Incomplete Contracts, Self-Investments, Asymmetric Information, Breach of Contract and the Legal Remedies

Incomplete Contracts, Self-Investments, Asymmetric Information, Breach of Contract and the Legal Remedies PDF Author: Sugata Bag
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
In the early models of incomplete contract neither party used to invest in the subject matter of the contract; those models primarily kept their focus on analyzing the effect of legal rules on parties' incentives to trade or to breach. The modern models stretched beyond that to include value enhancing investments into its purview and establish an important result: (legal) penalties often are necessary to induce efficient investment; otherwise 'hold-up' (underinvestment) a general phenomenon when contracts are incomplete. But most of these models' findings are limited to typically symmetric or complete information scenario. In reality, the contracting parties usually possess some non-contractible private information either on their reliance or on their out side trading options or both (since either it is costly to describe or non-verifiable) and there may be ex-ante uncertainty associated with their valuations. So far asymmetric information has played a very limited role in the analysis of hold up problem. Therefore, in light of new and asymmetric information that the parties expected to realize subsequent to a binding contract, a systematic analysis has been attempted to see - first, how the legal remedies can solve hold up problem when parties also bear ex ante private information; secondly, how the courts of law can play a greater role than that has been realized. Focus remains on the ex-ante design of the contract, which would serve as an implicit substitute to complete contracts. Under asymmetric participation to contract, one of our main results shows that although the expectation damage remedy maximizes the social surplus for the parties across different dimensions of asymmetry (uncertainty) but induces excessive reliance. It is also found that party designed liquidated damage remedy is superior to all other court imposed remedies when one-sided asymmetry is concern. Finally we show that when dual asymmetry (uncertainty) is present in a contracting situation a high damage measure (even higher that expectation damage) induces efficient reliance by the parties. These results bear serious implications for various contract doctrines and debates.

Two-Sided Informational Asymmetry, Bilateral Selfish Investment, Simple Incomplete Contract and the Legal Remedies

Two-Sided Informational Asymmetry, Bilateral Selfish Investment, Simple Incomplete Contract and the Legal Remedies PDF Author: Sugata Bag
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this paper, a setting of bilateral selfish reliance investments and post contractual two-sided asymmetric information is explored. Since the pioneering work of Rogerson (1992) and Hermalin-Katz (1993), it is by now well known that the comprehensive contracts can implement the first best even if the parties' valuations are private information and reliance investments are of selfish types (with quasi-linear utilities). However, surprisingly real world contracts seem to be rather simple. Most often parties come up with fixed-price incomplete contracts which are generally renegotiated later (if not prohibited by court). Hence, it is an interesting to analyse whether breach remedies can introduce the first best in this set-up. Some interestingly results are obtained: Both the parties tend to over-invest both under Reliance damage and Restitution (i.e. no-damage) damage remedies. Courts usually adopt two disctinct methods - subjective and objective valuation - to establish breach - victim's expectation interest under asymmetric information. I conclude that the performance of expectation damages falls short of what party-designed liquidated damage could achieve; however, first best is generally not achievable.

Incomplete Contracts with Asymmetric Information

Incomplete Contracts with Asymmetric Information PDF Author: Ronen Avraham
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Scholars have been debating for years the comparative advantage of damages and specific performance. Yet, most work has compared a single remedy contract to another single remedy contract. But contract law provides the non-breaching party with a variety of optional remedies to choose from in case of a breach, and parties themselves regularly write contracts which provide such options. In this article, we start filling this gap by studying multi-remedy contracts. Specifically, we compare a contract that grants the non-breaching party an option to choose between liquidated damages and specific performance with an exclusive remedy contract, which restricts the non-breaching party's remedy to liquidated damages only.

Economic Analysis of Contract Law

Economic Analysis of Contract Law PDF Author: Sugata Bag
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319652680
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
This book examines the main issues arising in economic analysis of contract law with special attention given to the incomplete contracts. It discusses both the main features of contract law as they relate to the problem of economic exchange, and how the relevant legal rules and the institutions can be analysed from an economic perspective. Evaluate the welfare impacts, analyses the effects and the desirability of different breach remedies and examines the optimal incentive structure of party-designed liquidated damages under the different dimensions of informational asymmetry. Overall the book aims to contribute to the legal debate over the adoption of the specific breach remedies when the breach victim’s expectation interest is difficult to assess, and to the debate over courts' reluctance to implement large penalties in the event of breach of contracts.

The Nature of the Firm

The Nature of the Firm PDF Author: Oliver E. Williamson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195083569
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This volume features a series of essays which arose from a conference on economics, addressing the question: what is the nature of the firm in economic analysis? This paperback edition includes the Nobel Lecture of R.N. Case.

The Costs and Benefits of Ownership

The Costs and Benefits of Ownership PDF Author: Sanford J. Grossman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business enterprises
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description


Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure

Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure PDF Author: Oliver Hart
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191521728
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
This book provides a framework for thinking about economic instiutions such as firms. The basic idea is that institutions arise in situations where people write incomplete contracts and where the allocation of power or control is therefore important. Power and control are not standard concepts in economic theory. The book begins by pointing out that traditional approaches cannot explain on the one hand why all transactions do not take place in one huge firm and on the other hand why firms matter at all. An incomplete contracting or property rights approach is then developed. It is argued that this approach can throw light on the boundaries of firms and on the meaning of asset ownership. In the remainder of the book, incomplete contacting ideas are applied to understand firms' financial decisions, in particular, the nature of debt and equity (why equity has votes and creditors have foreclosure rights); the capital structure decisions of public companies; optimal bankruptcy procedure; and the allocation of voting rights across a company's shares. The book is written in a fairly non-technical style and includes many examples. It is aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students, academic and business economists, and lawyers as well as those with an interest in corporate finance, privatization and regulation, and transitional issues in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and China. Little background knowledge is required, since the concepts are developed as the book progresses and the existing literature is fully reviewed.

Can Blockchain Solve the Hold-up Problem in Contracts?

Can Blockchain Solve the Hold-up Problem in Contracts? PDF Author: Richard Holden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 100902017X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description
A vexing problem in contract law is modification. Two parties sign a contract but before they fully perform, they modify the contract. Should courts enforce the modified agreement? A private remedy is for the parties to write a contract that is robust to hold-up or that makes the facts relevant to modification verifiable. Provisions accomplishing these ends are renegotiation-design and revelation mechanisms. But implementing them requires commitment power. Conventional contract technologies to ensure commitment – liquidated damages – are disfavored by courts and themselves subject to renegotiation. Smart contracts written on blockchain ledgers offer a solution. We explain the basic economics and legal relevance of these technologies, and we argue that they can implement liquidated damages without courts. We address the hurdles courts may impose to use of smart contracts on blockchain and show that sophisticated parties' ex ante commitment to them may lead courts to allow their use as pre-commitment devices.

The Economics of Contracts

The Economics of Contracts PDF Author: Eric Brousseau
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521893138
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 604

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Book Description
A 2002 survey of economics of contracts appealing to scholars in economics, management and law.

Contract Law Minimalism

Contract Law Minimalism PDF Author: Jonathan Morgan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110747020X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Commercial contract law is in every sense optional given the choice between legal systems and law and arbitration. Its 'doctrines' are in fact virtually all default rules. Contract Law Minimalism advances the thesis that commercial parties prefer a minimalist law that sets out to enforce what they have decided - but does nothing else. The limited capacity of the legal process is the key to this 'minimalist' stance. This book considers evidence that such minimalism is indeed what commercial parties choose to govern their transactions. It critically engages with alternative schools of thought, that call for active regulation of contracts to promote either economic efficiency or the trust and co-operation necessary for 'relational contracting'. The book also necessarily argues against the view that private law should be understood non-instrumentally (whether through promissory morality, corrective justice, taxonomic rationality, or otherwise). It sketches a restatement of English contract law in line with the thesis.