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Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

SSRN

Columbia Law School

Law and Economics

2006

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Law And Economics Of Contracts, Benjamin E. Hermalin, Avery W. Katz, Richard Craswell Jan 2006

The Law And Economics Of Contracts, Benjamin E. Hermalin, Avery W. Katz, Richard Craswell

Faculty Scholarship

This paper, which will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming Handbook of Law and Economics (A.M. Polinsky & S. Shavell, eds.), surveys major issues arising in the economic analysis of contract law. It begins with an introductory discussion of scope and methodology, and then addresses four topic areas that correspond to the major doctrinal divisions of the law of contracts. These areas include freedom of contract (i.e., the scope of private power to create binding obligations), formation of contracts (both the procedural mechanics of exchange, and rules that govern pre-contractual behavior), contract interpretation (what consequences follow when agreements are …


Learning To Learn: Undoing The Gordian Knot Of Development Today, Charles F. Sabel, Sanjay G. Reddy Jan 2006

Learning To Learn: Undoing The Gordian Knot Of Development Today, Charles F. Sabel, Sanjay G. Reddy

Faculty Scholarship

The deep flaw of existing approaches to development is their dirigisme: the assumption, common to nearly all development theory, that there is an expert agent that already sees the future. A common thread connects the emergent alternatives to development orthodoxy: the enhancement of the conditions of individual and collective learning. This approach to development highlights the existence of unresolved problems and the necessity of problem solving in every sphere. The enhancement of the conditions of learning can be the key to improving performance, resolving deadlocks, and overcoming blockages, at every level at which common dilemmas and collective problem solving occur …


Credit Cards, Consumer Credit, And Bankruptcy, Ronald J. Mann Jan 2006

Credit Cards, Consumer Credit, And Bankruptcy, Ronald J. Mann

Faculty Scholarship

This paper analyzes the effects of credit card use on broader economic indicators, specifically consumer credit, and consumer bankruptcy filings. Using aggregate nation-level data from Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, I find that credit card spending, lagged by 1-2 years, has a strong positive effect on consumer credit. Finally, I find a strong relation between credit card debt, lagged by 1-2 years, and bankruptcy, and a weaker relation between consumer credit, lagged by 1-2 years, and bankruptcy. The relations are robust across a variety of different lags and models that account for problems of multicollinearity …