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COURTS OF LAW AND UNFORESEEN CONTINGENCIES
Category: Economic Theory
Law and Economics II Tuesday 27th August 2002, 09:30 - 11:00, Room: 2.2
Session Chair(s):
James Anderson, Boston College, UNITED STATES
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Abstract:
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We study a contracting model with unforeseen contingencies in which the
court is an active player. Ex-ante, the contracting parties cannot include
the risky unforeseen contingencies in the contract they draw up. Ex-post the
court observes whether an unforeseen contingency occurred, and decides
whether to \textit{void} or \textit{uphold} the contract. If the contract is
voided by the court, the parties can renegotiate a new agreement ex-post.
There are two effects of a court that voids more contracts. The parties'
incentives to undertake relationship-specific investment are reduced, while
the parties enjoy greater insurance against the unforeseen contingencies
which the ex-ante contract cannot take into account.
In this context, we are able to characterize fully the optimal decision rule
for the court. The behavior of the optimal court is determined by the
tradeoff between the need for incentives and the gains from insurance that
voiding in some circumstances offers to the agents.
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Find this file in the \Papers\1245\ folder of this CD-ROM.
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