There is anecdotal evidence that the primary reason why managers hold cash on their balance sheets is to cover operating losses (operating shortfalls). In this paper, we rationalize this as an optimal response in a world with contract heterogeneity. Specifically, we relax the standard assumption...

In the past 15 years, Delaware courts seem to have created a rule that allowed sophisticated parties to contract around fraud by using an unambiguous disclaimer and integration clause. Supposedly, an extra-contractual fraud claim would be dismissed had there been an unambiguous disclaimer....

Western contract law and the principle of freedom of contract are based on two premises: private ownership and a free market. This paper argues that freedom of contract is not applicable to Chinese state-owned enterprises due to the unique economic conditions surrounding Chinese SOEs:...

Whenever a court enforces a bargain, it does so against someone who regrets having made it. Why should he be bound? Our thesis is that, in principle, a contract of exchange should be enforced when it is economically fair and voluntary. It is economically fair when the performance that each party...