We provide a simple but novel model of trade agreements that highlights the role of transaction costs, renegotiation and dispute settlement. The model allows us to characterize the appropriate remedy for breach and whether the agreement should be structured as a system of "property rights" or "liability rules." We then study how the optimal rules depend on the underlying economic and contracting environment. Our model also delivers predictions about the outcome of trade disputes, and in particular about the propensity of countries to settle early versus "fighting it out."
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, and Operations D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations K12 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Contract Law K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law
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Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994.
"Protection for Sale,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 833-50, September.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 1992.
"Protection For Sale,"
NBER Working Papers
4149, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)