You Have an Appointment With the Devil: Debt Collection Agencies and the Processing of Business Disputes

Posted: 23 Oct 2007 Last revised: 30 Apr 2015

See all articles by Manuel A. Gomez

Manuel A. Gomez

Florida International University College of Law

Date Written: October 23, 2007

Abstract

This article describes the use of debt collection agencies that employ shaming techniques as a way to enforce contractual obligations. It attempts to explain the incentives that business disputants have for choosing non-institutionalized mechanisms to channel their conflicts, in spite of their tension with the formal legal system. This article focuses on business disputes and disputants in Venezuela, a developing economy, and belongs to a larger research agenda geared to understand what social conditions shape individual preferences for different dispute processing systems.

Keywords: debt collection, dispute resolution, social networks, enforcement, private ordering

JEL Classification: K42

Suggested Citation

Gómez, Manuel A., You Have an Appointment With the Devil: Debt Collection Agencies and the Processing of Business Disputes (October 23, 2007). Florida International University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 07-08, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1023792

Manuel A. Gómez (Contact Author)

Florida International University College of Law ( email )

11200 SW 8th St.
RDB Hall 1097
Miami, FL 33199
United States
(305) 348-1158 (Phone)

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