Description
Discussing relational and formal contracts in China, Zhou et al (2003) hold that countries with legal systems have courts to enforce contractual provision but interestingly in emerging economies such as China, in which the legal system is weak, the use of contracts is still prevalent. Also conventional institutional analysis suggests that emerging economies will translate from personal connections to rule-based institutions that support impersonal market exchanges. Similarly, the efficiency logic of transaction cost economics indicates that in market exchanges, contracts mitigate some of the inefficiencies that arise from exchange hazard, namely asset specificity and uncertainty (Williamson, 1996).