We study the effect of organizational choice and institutions on the performance of Spanish car dealerships. Using outlet-level data from 1994, we find that vertically integrated dealerships showed substantially lower labor productivity, higher labor costs and lower profitability than franchised...

We explain why European trucking carriers are much smaller and rely more heavily on owner-operators (as opposed to employee drivers) than their US counterparts. Our analysis begins by ruling out differences in technology as the source of those disparities and confirms that standard hypotheses in...

This article illustrates how contracts are completed ex post in practice and, in so doing, indirectly suggests what the real function of contracts may be. Our evidence comes from the contracts between automobile manufacturers and their dealers in 23 dealership networks in Spain. Franchising...

This article develops two hypotheses about economically-relevant values of Christian believers, according to which Protestants should work more and more effectively, as in the 'work ethic' argument of Max Weber, or display a stronger 'social ethic' that would lead them to monitor each other's...

This work analyzes the evolution and structure of the main institutional arrangements devised for reducing transaction costs related to the risk of eviction when selling land or using it as collateral. By comparing private contracting, recording of documents and registration of title systems...

This work first describes the structure of the main institutional arrangements devised for reducing transaction costs related to the risk of eviction when selling land or using it as collateralóprivate contracting, recording of documents and registration of rights. It then analyses the...