IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/ejlwec/v37y2014i2p269-275.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Those crazy transaction costs: on the irrelevance of the equivalence between monetary damages and specific performance

Author

Listed:
  • Gregory DeAngelo
  • Steven Medema

Abstract

The Coase theorem tells us that monetary damages and specific performance remedies for breach of contract have identical effects when transaction costs are zero. This has become a standard part of the literature on the economics of contract law. This note argues that the traditional view is somewhat misguided, as monetary damages and specific performance remedies are unnecessary in a zero transaction costs world. We go on to show how the presence of transaction costs impact the decisions of contracting parties as between the inclusion of liquidated damages clauses in contracts and resorting to litigation that could result in the application of either monetary damages or specific performance remedies. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Gregory DeAngelo & Steven Medema, 2014. "Those crazy transaction costs: on the irrelevance of the equivalence between monetary damages and specific performance," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 269-275, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:37:y:2014:i:2:p:269-275
    DOI: 10.1007/s10657-011-9285-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10657-011-9285-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10657-011-9285-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dahlman, Carl J, 1979. "The Problem of Externality," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 141-162, April.
    2. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Élodie Bertrand, 2006. "La thèse d'efficience du « théorème de Coase ». Quelle critique de la microéconomie ?," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(5), pages 983-1007.
    2. Petrick, Martin, 2004. "Governing Structural Change And Externalities In Agriculture: Toward A Normative Institutional Economics Of Rural Development," IAMO Discussion Papers 14878, Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    3. Jascha-Alexander Koch & Jens Lausen & Moritz Kohlhase, 2021. "Internalizing the externalities of overfunding: an agent-based model approach for analyzing the market dynamics on crowdfunding platforms," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(9), pages 1387-1430, November.
    4. Robert W. Hahn & Robert N. Stavins, 2011. "The Effect of Allowance Allocations on Cap-and-Trade System Performance," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(S4), pages 267-294.
    5. Oleksandr Sushchenko & Reimund Schwarze, 2016. "Carbon taxation and market financial instruments for mobilizing climate finance," Discussion Paper Series RECAP15 23, RECAP15, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder).
    6. Olivier Meier & Aurélie Sannajust, 0. "The smart contract revolution: a solution for the holdup problem?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-16.
    7. Ajit Kambil & Eric van Heck, 1998. "Reengineering the Dutch Flower Auctions: A Framework for Analyzing Exchange Organizations," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, March.
    8. Heindl, Peter, 2012. "Transaction costs and tradable permits: Empirical evidence from the EU emissions trading scheme," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-021, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Ervin, David E. & Fox, Glenn, 1998. "Environmental Policy Considerations In The Grain-Livestock Subsectors In Canada, Mexico And The United States," Proceedings of the 4th Agricultural and Food Policy Systems Information Workshop 1998: Economic Harmonization in the Canadian\U.S.\Mexican Grain-Livestock Subsector; 16754, Farm Foundation, Agricultural and Food Policy Systems Information Workshops.
    10. Christophe Depres & Gilles Grolleau & Naoufel Mzoughi, 2008. "Contracting for Environmental Property Rights: The Case of Vittel," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(299), pages 412-434, August.
    11. Vítor Gaspar, 2010. "Financial Stability and Policy Cooperation," Working Papers o201001, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    12. Centner, Terence J. & Griffin, Ronald C., 1998. "Externalities From Roaming Livestock: Explaining The Demise Of The Open Range," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 1-14, July.
    13. Chu, Mei-chin & Swinton, Scott M. & Batie, Sandra S. & Dobbins, Craig & Doering, Otto, III & Ritchie, Joe T., 1995. "Designing Contracts To Reduce Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution," 1995 Annual Meeting, August 6-9, Indianapolis, Indiana 271474, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    14. Maurice Lagueux, 2010. "The residual character of externalities," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 957-973.
    15. Shteryo Nozharov, 2023. "Social costs of circular economy in European Union," Post-Print hal-04307150, HAL.
    16. Peter Maskell & Mark Lorenzen, 2004. "The Cluster as Market Organisation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(5-6), pages 991-1009, May.
    17. Coggan, Anthea & Whitten, Stuart M. & Bennett, Jeff, 2010. "Influences of transaction costs in environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1777-1784, July.
    18. Bellanger, Manuel & Fonner, Robert & Holland, Daniel S. & Libecap, Gary D. & Lipton, Douglas W. & Scemama, Pierre & Speir, Cameron & Thébaud, Olivier, 2021. "Cross-sectoral externalities related to natural resources and ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    19. Gary D. Libecap, 2018. "Property Rights to Frontier Land and Minerals: US Exceptionalism," NBER Working Papers 24544, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Olga N. Balaeva & Andrei A. Yakovlev, 2015. "Estimation of Costs in the Russian Public Procurement System: A Case Study of Voronezh State University," HSE Working papers WP BRP 41/MAN/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Coase theorem; Specific performance; Monetary damages; K41; K12;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
    • K12 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Contract Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:37:y:2014:i:2:p:269-275. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.