This is a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of the economic analysis of contracts written by a specially commissioned team of leading international scholars. The book offers a well structured analysis of theoretical developments, the diverse fields of applications, the methodologies in use, and the policy implications at both firm and state level. It offers a unique combination of theoretical and applied economics along with insights from law and management sciences. The volume is designed to appeal to scholars, graduate students and practitioners in economics, management and law.

This is a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of the economic analysis of contracts written by a specially commissioned team of leading international scholars. The book offers a well structured analysis of theoretical developments, the diverse fields of applications, the methodologies in use, and the policy implications at both firm and state level. It offers a unique combination of theoretical and applied economics along with insights from law and management sciences. The volume is designed to appeal to scholars, graduate students and practitioners in economics, management and law.

How are our societies being transformed by internet and digital economics? This book provides an accessible introduction to the economics of the internet and a comprehensive account of the mechanisms of the digital economy. Leading scholars examine the original economic and business models being developed as a result of the internet system, and explore their impact on our economies and societies. Key issues are analysed, including the development of open source software and on-line communities, peer-to-peer and online sharing of cultural goods, electronic markets and the rise of new...

Institutions frame behaviors and exchanges in markets, business networks, communities, and organizations throughout the world. Thanks to the pioneering work of Ronald Coase, Douglas North and Olivier Williamson, institutions are now recognized as being a key factor in explaining differences in performance between industries, nations, and regions. The fast-growing field of new institutional economics analyzes the economics of institutions and organizations using methodologies, concepts, and analytical tools from a wide range of disciplines (including political science, anthropology, sociology,...

Environmental challenges, and the potential solutions to address them, have a direct effect on living standards, the organization of economies, major infrastructures, and modes of urbanization. Since the publication of path-breaking contributions on the governance of environmental resources in the early 1990s, many political initiatives have been taken, numerous governance experiments have been conducted, and a large multi-disciplinary field of research has opened up. This interdisciplinary book takes stock of the knowledge that has accumulated to date, and addresses new challenges in the...

Different types of markets exist throughout the world but how are they created? In this book, an interdisciplinary team of authors provide an evolutionary vision of how markets are designed and shaped. Drawing on a series of case studies, they show that markets are far from perfect and natural mechanisms, and propose a new view of markets as social construct, explaining how combinations of economic, political and legal constraints influence the formation and performance of markets. Historical trajectories and interdependencies among institutional dimensions make it difficult to build...

Digital technologies have prompted the emergence of new modes of regulation and governance, since they allow for more decentralized processes of elaboration and implementation of norms. Moreover, the Internet has been raising a wide set of governance issues since it affects many domains, such as individual rights, public liberties, property rights, economic competition, market regulation, conflict management, security and the sovereignty of states. There is therefore a need to understand how technical, political, economic and social norms are articulated, as well as to understand who the main...

Drawing on case studies from a range of industries, countries and periods of history, this edited volume examines how a combination of economic, political and legal dynamics shape the formation and the performance of markets. This book will appeal to all those interested in the reform of markets.