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Why Parties Enter Into Unfair Deals: The Resentment Factor, Justin Eugene Malbon

Justin Eugene Malbon

Unfair deals are prevalent, which does not serve the interests of the harmed party to a deal nor society more generally. The law tends to focus on providing the harmed party the means for gaining compensation for unfair deals, which distracts attention away from investigating the reasons and motivations for the stronger party offering and entering into unfair deals in the first place. This article seeks to address this deficiency by proposing a theory – here coined “deal theory” – to explain “dealor” behaviors and motivations. The theory builds on insights offered by relational contract theory, the ultimatum bargaining game …