Direito internacional
No. 11-11
Law and Peace: Contracts and the Success of the Danish Dairy Cooperatives
Ingrid Henriksen, Morten Hviid, and Paul Sharp
Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 26, DK-1353 Copenhagen K., Denmark Tel.: +45 35 32 30 01 – Fax: +45 35 32 30 00 http://www.econ.ku.dk
ISSN: 1601-2461 (E)
Law and peace: Contracts and the success of the Danish dairy cooperatives1
Ingrid Henriksen, University of Copenhagen
Morten Hviid, University of East Anglia
Paul Sharp, Humboldt University / University of Copenhagen
Abstract: We consider the successful early emergence of cooperative creameries in Denmark in the late nineteenth century within the framework of the ‘new institutional economics’ presented by Williamson (2000). Previous work has focused on the social cohesion of the Danes, but we demonstrate that this was not sufficient for the success. The Danish legal system, which we compare to that of other countries, was also of crucial importance, along with the way in which rules were monitored and enforced. Of particular importance was the Danish cooperatives’ use of contracts, which we explore with evidence from a variety of primary and secondary sources.
Keywords: Cooperatives, creameries, contracts, new institutional economics
JEL codes: K12, L31, N43, N53, Q13
1 Financial support from the Danish Social Science Research Council, grant no. FOR890 and the Carlsberg Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Martin Bork and Susanne Krogh Jensen for very conscientious research assistance. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the