Empirical Studies of Contract
Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Forthcoming
31 Pages Posted: 6 Feb 2012
There are 2 versions of this paper
Empirical Studies of Contract
Empirical Studies of Contract
Date Written: February 2, 2012
Abstract
Since the mid 2000s, a cottage industry has slowly blossomed of empirical research dedicated to advancing accounts of contracts “on the books” — accounting for what contracts tend to purportedly obligate signers to do, and contracts “in action” — accounting for how contracting parties tend to behave. This article reviews this literature, which spans several disciplines, most notably law, economics, and management, identifying eight categories of empirical questions in common across all disciplines, highlighting key findings, points of consensus, and noting areas most pressingly in need of additional research.
Keywords: contract, empirical, experiment, qualitative, quantitative, survey, overview, meta, review
JEL Classification: C00, C90, D03, D86, K12, Z13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation