The fiduciary norm, which prescribes agent behavior solely for the goal of the principal, without regard for other goals, is defined in the context of the theory of agency. The fiduciary program, a set of procedures for determining the principal's preferences and acting for them, is then defined...

We formulate and solve the problem of optimal mechanism-design by a principal facing adverse selection and moral hazard from different sources. The parties' decision problem is comprised of a publicly observable collective choice and a partially private social choice. As in agency with pure...

The North Carolina legislature passed a law that prohibits transgender individuals from using certain public toilets. The legislation has been controversial. Some entertainers have stated they will not hold concerts in North Carolina until the law is repealed. Some corporations have been...

We obtain laboratory evidence that suggests that (i) promisors are more likely to keep promises the more they were relied upon by a promisee; (ii) this effect is anticipated by promisees, who accordingly strategically overinvest to lock promisors into keeping their promises (“psychological...

We investigate why people keep their promises in the absence of external enforcement mechanisms and reputational effects. In a controlled laboratory experiment we show that exogenous variation of second-order expectations (promisors' expectations about promisees' expectations) leads to a...

This chapter in the book PIONEERS OF LAW AND ECONOMICS explores the contributions of Benjamin Klein to law and economics. I explore the intellectual foundations of Klein's pioneering analysis of the hold-up problem, the theory of the firm, vertical restraints, franchising, and the role of...

Many businesses adopt one-sided boilerplate contract terms and conditions that lead to protracted negotiations. Often, the parties ultimately reach a compromise that could have been reached sooner if they had put forward more balanced contract terms at the outset. We ask why this seemingly...

Buyers may try to motivate their sellers to make relationship-specific investments to reduce the probability that the design of the goods they procure is defective. In some countries, courts examine how much real authority the seller had in performing the work to assign liability for a design...

Most major jurisdictions require websites to provide customers with privacy policies. A privacy policy’s most important function is to provide consumers with a description of the online service provider’s current privacy practices. We argue that these policies also serve a second,...

Transactions of any complexity between buyers and sellers are supported by long-term contracts and these contracts are inevitably incomplete. We propose an approach for overcoming contractual incompleteness based on the idea that most people are inclined to follow widely accepted social norms,...