It is argued that a change in the prevailing theory of production is also influencing how contracts, especially in construction, are being conceived. It is contended that the theoretical shift in question, both in production and contracting, concerns the metaphysical presuppositions of respective theories. This claim is further justified through a critical analysis of how risks and collaboratio...

Ex ante contractual agreements between parties must necessarily be enforced by an enforcing authority ex post. If the enforcing authority turns out to be opportunistic, the initial contract de...nes an ex post rent dissipation game that the contracting parties will play in trying to bribe him. When parties foresee this possibility, they may rationally refrain from contracting in the ...rst plac...

This Article studies the relationship between formal and informal contract enforcement. The theoretical literature treats the two strategies as separate phenomena. By contrast, a rich experimental literature considers whether the introduction of formal contracting and state enforcement “crowds out” the operation of informal contracting. Both literatures focus too narrowly on how formal contract...

Why do competing platforms or networks exist? This paper focuses on instances where the value of a platform depends on the adoption decisions of a small number of firms, and analyzes the strategic competition among platforms to get this oligopolistic side on-board. I study a bilateral contracting game among platforms and firms that allows for general externalities across both contracting and no...

In business-to-business relations, contracts serve both as a protection mechanism of trading partners, as well as a prescription document for activities to be executed by the parties. The processes of contract establishment and its enactment are often expensive and time consuming. E-contracting aims at automation of these processes, making them faster and cheaper. For the design of an informati...

A successful marriage requires for both parties to make investments in their relationship and marital assets. How such assets would be divided if and when the parties divorce is an important factor determining each party’s (exante) investment incentives. Using the “incomplete contracting” approach, we characterize the optimal asset division rule, one that provides the parties with the best inve...

Inter-organizational business processes often involve contracting. ICT solutions for contracting processes must offer high flexibility in changing the structure of the contracting process. This can be achieved by ‘process-aware’ software components which are configured by an explicit model of the contracting process: the contracting workflow. However, the design of a contracting workflow from s...

s from the Energy Charter Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects (PEEREA) Article 3 Basic Principles Contracting Parties shall be guided by the following principles: (1) Contracting Parties shall co-operate and, as appropriate, assist each other in developing and implementing energy efficiency policies, laws and regulations. (2) Contracting Parties shall establish energ...

We study the relationship between ambiguity (which comes into the picture since contracts have to be written in natural language), and contractual incompleteness. The contracting process is modelled as a signalling game between the parties and the judge, with the contract as the signal. The judge is assumed to be bound by the content of the contract (in as far as it can be ascertained unambiguo...

In numerous economic scenarios, contracting parties may not have a clear picture of all the relevant aspects. A contracting party may be unaware of what she and/or others are entitled to determine. Therefore, she may reject a contract that is too good to be true. Further, a contracting party may actively exert cognitive effort before signing a contract, so as to avoid being trapped into the con...