This paper considers why it is that drafters of national constitutions incorporate international law, a phenomenon that is of growing importance. It argues that designers do so when they need to make credible commitments, and that international law has some unique features that render it...

This paper analyzes the rapid increase in civil litigation in Japan during the 1990s in light of existing theories of Japanese litigiousness. Using a unique set of prefecture-level data, it demonstrates that the 1990s increase in litigation is best attributed to two factors: the expansion in...

I use transaction costs economics to model an assembler's choice of supplier for an innovative component. I extend the TCE model by drawing on the insights of the evolutionary view of strategy, which suggests a focus on the technical capabilities of potential suppliers, and the literature on...

We argue that the optimal configuration of contractual and relational governance mechanisms in an alliance is contingent not only on the amount of asset specificity, but on the nature of the asset involved in the alliance. Physical assets are more suited to contractual controls, while knowledge...

Modularity in product design and flexible supply chains is increasingly common in buyer-supplier relationships. Although the benefits of supply chain flexibility and component modularity for end-product manufacturers are accepted, little is known about their impact on suppliers. We advance the...