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Law and Peace: Contracts and the Success of the Danish Dairy Cooperatives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2012

INGRID HENRIKSEN ,
MORTEN HVIID  and
PAUL SHARP
INGRID HENRIKSEN*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 K⊘benhavn K, Denmark. E-mail: ingrid.henriksen@econ.ku.dk.
MORTEN HVIID*
Affiliation:
Director of the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy and Professor of Law, UEA Law School, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. E-mails: M.Hviid@uea.ac.uk.
PAUL SHARP*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Business and Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark. E-mails: pauls@sam.sdu.dk.
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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 Oliver Williamson. Previous work focused on the social cohesion of the Danes, but we demonstrate that this was not sufficient for their 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 interest is the Danish cooperatives’ use of contracts, which we explore with evidence from a variety of primary and secondary sources.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , 12 March 2012 , pp. 197 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2012

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