We study the impact of reputational incentives in markets characterized by moral hazard problems. Social preferences have been shown to enhance contract enforcement in these markets, while at the same time generating considerable wage and price rigidity. Reputation powerfully amplifies the positive effects of social preferences on contract enforcement by increasing contract efficiency substanti...

The ability to accurately detect violations in social contracts likely helps people to avoid or to withdraw from relationships in which they are at risk of being cheated or harmed. Betrayal trauma theory argues that detecting violations of social contracts may be counter-productive to survival under certain conditions, such as when a victim is dependent on a perpetrator. When dependent on a per...

The employee–employer relationship is said to be affected by extensive workplace transitions, and yet little is known about how employees make sense of these changes while deciding on their responses to them. Our study investigated two factors, social comparison and the nature of the exchanges, as moderators of the effects of psychological contract (i.e., employee beliefs regarding the terms of...

The Effect of Firm-Level Contracts on the Structure of Wages: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data In Spain, as in several other European countries, sectoral bargaining agreements are automatically extended to cover all firms in an industry. Employers and employees can also negotiate firm-specific contracts. We use a large matched employer-employee data set to study the effects of firm-...

We compare aviation markets under conditions of competition, codesharing contracts and anti-trust immune alliances, assuming that demand for flights depends on both fares and the level of frequency offered. Using a hybrid competitive/cooperative game theoretic framework, we show that the stronger the inter-airline agreement, the higher the producer surplus. On the other hand, consumer surplus a...

At the beginning of the twentieth century, exports to Europe had become a typical aspect of the activities of U.S. machine tool fixms. The organization of the fixms' marketing activities was predominantly based on the agency system, as manufacturers a signed representation f their products to independent European distributors. The main advantage of this system was that it harnessed the distribu...

This paper delivers a step toward a naturalistic foundation of the social contract. While mainstream social contract theory is based on an original position model that is defined in an aprioristic way, we endogenize its key elements, i.e., develop them out of the individuals’ moral common sense. Therefore, the biological and social basis of moral intuitions are explored. In this context, a key ...

This paper was prepared within a Special Support Action " Research Collaboration in the Social and Human Sciences between Europe, Russia,other CIS countries and China " – Global SSH. The Action is supported by the European Community under the Sixth Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration (FP6) Thematic Area 'Citizens and governance in a Knowledge-based soci...

Easy access of Internet has revolutionized the concept of electronic commerce. As the bulk of business transactions shifts to electronic media, we have business collaborations being negotiated between previously unknown partners. Thus a Contract is the key to a successful business relationship. We foresee a need for a unified contract management in order to achieve coherent business operations....