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Agreeing Now to Agree Later: Contracts that Rule Out but do not Rule In

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  • Oliver Hart
  • John Moore

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Abstract

We view a contract as a list of outcomes. Ex ante, the parties commit not to consider outcomes not on the list, i.e., these are “ruled out”. Ex post, they freely bargain over outcomes on the list, i.e., the contract specifies no mechanism to structure their choice; in this sense outcomes on the list are not “ruled in”. A “loose” contract (long list) maximizes flexibility but may interfere with ex ante investment incentives. When these incentives are important enough, the parties may write a “tight” contract (short list), even though this leads to ex post inefficiency.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh in its series ESE Discussion Papers with number 109.

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Length: 55
Date of creation: Mar 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:edn:esedps:109

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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Shin, Dongsoo, 2008. "Information acquisition and optimal project management," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 1032-1043, July.
  2. Bhattacharya, Sudipto & Guriev, Sergei, 2008. "Control Rights over Intellectual Property: Corporate Venturing and Bankruptcy Regimes," CEPR Discussion Papers 6927, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  3. Sophie Bade & Guillaume Haeringer & Ludovic Renou, 2008. "Bilateral Commitment," Discussion Papers in Economics 08/20, Department of Economics, University of Leicester.
  4. Garrouste, Pierre & Saussier, Stephane, 2005. "Looking for a theory of the firm: Future challenges," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 178-199, October.
  5. Surajeet Chakravarty, 2005. "Resolving Contractual Disputes: Arbitration vs Mediation," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 05/117, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
  6. Bhattacharya, Sudipto & Guriev, Sergei, 2004. "Knowledge Disclosure, Patents and Optimal Organization of Research and Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 4513, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  7. Oliver Hart & John Moore, 2007. "Contracts as Reference Points," ESE Discussion Papers 170, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
  8. Ricard Gil & Jordi Mondria, 2011. "Introducing managerial attention allocation in incentive contracts," SERIEs, Spanish Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 335-358, September.

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