Contractual Certainty International Trade: Empirical Studies and Theoretical Debates on Institutional Support for Global Economic Exchanges

Global business interacts efficiently despite the heterogeneity of social, economic, and legal cultures which, according to widespread assumptions, cause insecurities and uncertainties. Breaches of contracts may occur more frequently and business relationships may be terminated more often in international than in domestic trade. But most business people engaged in exporting or importing products or services seem to operate in a sufficiently predictable environment allowing successful ventures into the global market. The apparent paradox presented by cultural/institutional diversity and contractual efficiency in cross-border business transactions is the focus of this volume of essays. The wide range of approaches adopted by contributors to this volume include: the Weberian concept of law as a tool for avoiding the risk of opportunism * economic sociology, which treats networks and relationships between contractual parties as paramount * representatives of new institutional economics who discuss law as well as private governance institutions as most efficient responses to risk * comparative economic sociologists who point to the varieties of legal cultures in the social organization of trust * national and international institutions such as the World Bank which try to promote legal certainty in the economy. Inspired and edited by scholars of the famous 'Bremen School, ' these essays will be of great interest to scholars and students of globalization. The book builds on this interdisciplinary exercise by adding empirical evidence to ongoing debates regarding enabling structures for international business. It critically reviews and discusses some propositions which contain interesting hypotheses on the effects of the internationalization of markets on market co-ordination institutions, and on the role of the state in the globalizing economy. (Series: Onati International Series in Law and Society