In this paper, we consider a symmetric rent-seeking contest, where employees lobby for a governmental contract on … behalf of firms. The only verifiable information is which firm is assigned the contract. We derive the optimal wage contracts … of the employees and analyze, whether commitment by determining the wage contract prior to the competitor is profitable …

The term “liberty of contract” is usually associated with the doctrine that the due process clause of the United States … free-market advocates embrace the liberty of contract doctrine because they are averse to State interference with private … market transactions. But the term is ironic because a contract is only legally binding if courts will enforce it. Since …

rigid property rules, intellectual property owners will contract into more flexible liability rules. A series of recent …