Contractual Networks, Inter-Firm Cooperation and Economic Growth

Edited by Fabrizio Cafaggi, Judge at the Italian Council of State, Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Public Administration, LUISS University, Italy

• Contents: 1. IntroductionFabrizio Cafaggi PART I: CONTRACTUAL NETWORKS: THE CHALLENGES TO CONTRACT THEORY2. Cooperation, Long-term Relationships and Open-endedness in Contractual Networks Fernando Gómez 3. Do Inter-firm Networks Make Access to Finance Easier? Issues and Empirical EvidenceDomenico Scalera and Alberto Zazzaro 4. Contractual Networks and Contract Theory: A Research Agenda for European Contract LawFabrizio Cafaggi PART II: A COMPARATIVE FRAMEWORK5. Contractual Networks in German Private LawStefan Grundmann6. Linked Contracts Under French LawCarole Aubert de Vincelles7. Contract Networks, Freedom of Contract and the Restructuring of Privity of ContractSimon Whittaker PART III: TOWARD A EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF DECENTRALIZED RULES?8. Interfirm Networks Across Europe: A Private International Law PerspectiveFabrizio Cafaggi and Sandrine ClavelIndex

’Contractual networks - loose associations of firms - are fundamental but little-understood features of the modern economic landscape. Observed across a wide range of industries and in many different settings, these networks present important questions for the theory of the firm and for the analysis of modern industrial organization. This volume brings together cutting edge research on contractual networks across a range of industries, geographic regions, and legal environments - research that demonstrates the extraordinary flexibility and complexity of these forms of industrial organization and illuminates many aspects of their structure and function. Highly recommended.’