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Full-Text Articles in Law
Contracts As Organizations, D. Gordon Smith, Brayden G. King
Contracts As Organizations, D. Gordon Smith, Brayden G. King
Faculty Scholarship
Empirical studies of contracts have become more common over the past decade, but the range of questions addressed by these studies is narrow, inspired primarily by economic theories that focus on the role of contracts in mitigating ex post opportunism. We contend that these economic theories do not adequately explain many commonly observed features of contracts, and we offer four organizational theories to supplement-and in some instances, perhaps, challenge-the dominant economic accounts. The purpose of this Article is threefold: first, to describe how theoretical perspectives on contracting have motivated empirical work on contracts; second, to highlight the dominant role of …
New Business Entities In Evolutionary Perspective, Henry Hansmann, Reiner Kraakman, Richard Squire
New Business Entities In Evolutionary Perspective, Henry Hansmann, Reiner Kraakman, Richard Squire
Faculty Scholarship
The new types of business forms that have developed over the past thirty years all combine the freedom of contracting that is traditional to the partnership with the pattern of creditors' rights that is traditional to the business corporation. Legal scholars differ on the issue of whether these new business forms are more partnership-like or corporation-like. Those taking the partnership-like view argue that the degree of freedom of contract is the essential difference between the traditional corporation and partnership forms, while those adhering to the corporation-like view argue that the pattern of creditors' rights is the essential difference. The authors …