American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Cooperative Investments and the Value of Contracting
American Economic Review
vol. 89,
no. 1, March 1999
(pp. 125–147)
Abstract
Recent articles have shown that contracts can support the efficient outcome for bilateral trade even in the face of specific investments and incomplete contracting. These studies typically considered 'selfish' investments that benefit the investor (e.g., the seller's investment reduces her production costs). The authors find very different results for 'cooperative' investments that directly benefit the investor's partner (e.g., the seller's investment improves the buyer's value of the good). Most importantly, if committing not to renegotiate the contract is impossible, then contracting has no value, i.e., the parties cannot do better than to abandon contracting altogether in favor of ex post negotiation.Citation
Che, Yeon-Koo, and Donald B. Hausch. 1999. "Cooperative Investments and the Value of Contracting." American Economic Review, 89 (1): 125–147. DOI: 10.1257/aer.89.1.125JEL Classification
- L14 Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation; Networks
- C70 Game Theory and Bargaining Theory: General
- J41 Labor Contracts
- L22 Firm Organization and Market Structure