Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T08:25:36.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holdups and Non-standard Breach Remedies in Delegation Contracts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Christophe Defeuilley
Christophe Defeuilley*
Affiliation:
cired (ehess and cnrs)
Get access

Summary

A vast literature is devoted to assess the Transactional Approach in several empirical fields. Common to all these studies is the testing of transactional approach conjectures from the standpoint of private contractual relationships. The aim of this paper is to explore the relevance of Transaction Cost Theory in the French administrative legal context. The paper examines the delegation contracts used to manage the provision of urban services in France. The paper shows that (1) these delegation contracts can be considered as self-enforcing agreements (2) they do not operate in “the shadow of the law ” (3) they feature strong adaptive capabilities. A distinction is made between non-standard contractual arrangements and hybrid governance modes.

Résumé

Résumé

L’objet de cet article est de tester la pertinence des enseignements de la Théorie des Coûts de Transaction en les confrontant à des structures contractuelles qui ne relèvent pas du cadre juridique à partir duquel elle s’est construite. On traite des contrats de délégation utilisés en France dans la gestion des services urbains. On montre que (1) ces contrats peuvent être considérés comme des structures “auto - renforçantes ” ; (2) ne sont pas supportés par des mécanismes se situant en dehors des règles communes du droit administratif et (3) possèdent de fortes capacités d’adaptation. Cela montre qu’une distinction peut être introduite entre arrangements contractuels non - standards et formes hybrides de gouvernance.

Keywords

Transaction Cost Theory,delegation contracts,hybrid governance modes,French administrative law.K12,L14,L33Théorie des Coûts de Transaction,formes hybrides de gouvernance,contrats de délégation,droit administratif français.K12,L14,L33.
Type
Research Article
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 65 , Issue 3 , 1999 , pp. 349 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1999 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Thanks to the participants of the CIRED workshop and two anonymous referees for criticisms and remarks. This paper has benefited from my collaboration with Mehrdad Vahabi. I am responsible for all the remaining errors.

References

Aghion, P. et Bolton, P. (1987), “Contracts as a barrier to entry”, American Economic Review, 77, n°2, pp. 388–401 Google Scholar
Alchian, A. et Woodward, S. (1988), “The firm is dead; long live the firm. A review of Oliver E. Williamson’s The Economic Institutions of Capitalism”, Journal of Economic Literature, 26, n°1, pp. 65–79 Google Scholar
Auby, J.F. (1997), Les services publics locaux, Paris, Berger-Levrault Google Scholar
Barraqué, B. (dir.) (1995), Les politiques de l’eau en Europe, Paris, La Découverte Google Scholar
Bezançon, X. (1995, 1997), Les services publics en France. Vol. I: du Moyen-Age à la révolution, Vol. II: de la révolution à la première guerre mondiale, Paris, Presses des Ponts et Chaussées Google Scholar
Boistard, P. et Guerin, L. (1997), Dispositif de financement des agences de l’eau, Paris, Commissariat Général du Plan Google Scholar
Chapus, R. (1992), Droit administratif général, Paris, Montchrestien Google Scholar
Clark, E. et Móndelo, G. (1997), An option approach to water delegation, Nota di Lavoro 85.97, Milano, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Google Scholar
Compagnie Générale des Eaux (1953), Brève histoire de cent ans. 1853–1953, Paris Google Scholar
Cour des Comptes (1997), La gestion des services publics locaux d’eau et d’assainissement, Paris, Les Editions du Journal Officiel Google Scholar
Cowan, S. (1994), “Privatization and Regulation of the Water Industry in England and Wales”, in Bishop, M., Kay, J. et Mayer, C. (ed.), Privatization and Economic Performance, Oxford, Oxford University Press Google Scholar
Coyaud, D. (1988), “Private and public alternatives for providing water supply and sewerage services”, World Bank Discussion Note 31, INU Dept., World Bank, Washington Google Scholar
Delacour, E. (1997), La notion de convention de délégation de service public, thèse de doctorat, Paris Google Scholar
Delcros, X. et Peyrical, J. M. (1994), “Le financement privé des équipements collectifs” L’Actualité Juridique – Droit administratif, août, pp. 70–75 Google Scholar
Edlin, A. et Reichelstein, S. (1996), “Holdups, standard breach remedies, and optimal investment”, American Economie Review, 86, n°3, pp. 478–501 Google Scholar
European Commission (1996), Législation communautaire en matière d’environnement, vol. 7, DG XI, Bruxelles Google Scholar
Fullerton, D. et Kinnaman, T. (1996), “Household responses to pricing garbage by the bag”, American Economic Review, 86, n°4, pp. 971–983 Google Scholar
Hart, O., Shleifer, A. et Vishny, R. (1997), “The proper scope of government: theory and a application to prisons”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112, n°4, pp. 1127–1161 Google Scholar
Joskow, P. (1987), “Contract duration and relationship-specific investments: empirical evidence from coal markets”, American Economic Review, 77, n°1, pp. 168–185 Google Scholar
Joskow, P. (1988), “Asset specificity and the structure of vertical relationships: empirical evidence”, Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 4, n°1, pp. 95–117 Google Scholar
Klein, B. (1996), “Why hold-ups occur: the self-enforcing range of contractual relationships”, Economic Inquiry, 34, n°3, pp. 444–463 Google Scholar
Klein, B., Crawford, R. et Alchian, A. (1978), “Vertical integration, appropriable rents and the competitive contracting process”, Journal of Law and Economics, 21, n°2, pp. 297–326 Google Scholar
Klein, B. et Leffler, K. (1981), “The role of market forces in assuring contractual performances”, Journal of Political Economy, 89, n°4, pp. 615–641 Google Scholar
Klein, B. et Murphy, K. (1997), “Vertical integration as a self-enforcing contractual arrangement”, American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 87, n°2, pp. 415–420 Google Scholar
Lorrain, D. (1991), “Public goods and private operators in France”, in Batley, R. et Stocker, G. (ed.), Local government in Europe. Trends and developments, London, MacMillan Google Scholar
Lorrain, D. et Stocker, G. (dir.) (1995), La privatisation des services urbains en Europe, Paris, La Découverte Google Scholar
Macneil, I. (1974), “The many futures of contracts”, Southern California Law Review, 47, n°2, pp. 691–816 Google Scholar
Ministère du, Travail (1996), Programme d’amélioration de la qualité des eaux destinées à la consommation humaine, Paris Google Scholar
Posner, R. (1993), “The new Institutional Economics meets Law and Economics”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 149, n°1, pp. 73–87 Google Scholar
Riordan, M. et Williamson, O. (1985), “Asset specificity and economic organization”, International Journal of Industrial Organization, 3, n°4, pp. 365–378 Google Scholar
Telser, L. (1980), “A theory of self-enforcing agreements”, Journal of Business, 53, n°1, pp. 27–44 Google Scholar
Williamson, O. (1979), “Transaction-cost economics: the governance of contractual relations”, Journal of Law and Economics, 22, n°2, pp. 233–261 Google Scholar
Williamson, O. (1983), “Credible commitments: using hostages to support exchange”, American Economic Review, 73, n°4, pp. 519–540 Google Scholar
Williamson, O. (1985), The economic institutions of capitalism, firms, markets, relational contracting, New-York, The Free Press Google Scholar
Williamson, O. (1991a), “Economics institutions: spontaneous and intentional governance”, Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 7, pp. 159–187 Google Scholar
Williamson, O. (1991b), “Comparative economic organization: the analysis of discrete structural alternatives”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, n°2, pp. 269–296 Google Scholar
Williamson, O. (1993a), “Transaction Cost Economics meets Posnerian law and economics”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 149, n°1, pp. 99–118 Google Scholar
Williamson, O. (1993b), “The evolving science of organization”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 149, n°1, pp. 36–63 Google Scholar
Williamson, O. (1996), The mechanisms of governance, Oxford, Oxford University Press Google Scholar