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Relational contracts: recent empirical advancements and open questions

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  • Macchiavello, Rocco
  • Morjaria, Ameet

Abstract

Relational contracts – informal self-enforcing agreements sustained by repeated interactions – are ubiquitous both within and across organizational boundaries. This review highlights recent empirical contributions in selected areas. We begin by reviewing some recent work that explicitly takes the dynamic enforcement constraints that underpin relational contract theory to the data. We then discuss the relationship between relational contracting and firms’ performance. We conclude by pointing in directions that we consider to be particularly ripe for future work.

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  • Macchiavello, Rocco & Morjaria, Ameet, 2023. "Relational contracts: recent empirical advancements and open questions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 123003, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:123003
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    contract theory; organizations; relational contracts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

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