Re: [Gnu-arch-users] OT: Slavery???

[Charles Duffy]

On Mon, 2003-11-24 at 05:02, Peter Conrad wrote:
> > It may be to my advantage to purchase a car on a payment plan for
> > $200/month -- but it would be far more to my advantage to drive off and
> > pocket the $200.
> 
> this boils down to risk management. If the car dealer runs a high risk of
> losing the car he will not offer you such a contract. OTOH, if very few
> people "drive off" he'll be able to make a profit, so he might take the
> risk.

No doubt.

This is not, really, an answer to the question of what contracts would
still work were no enforcement mechanism available versus what contracts
would have sufficient risk created by the lack of enforcement as to make
them generally untenable. (That said, that question isn't really
relevant to the bit this thread got spawned from -- contractual
enforcement as a social issue -- so perhaps it's best to let it drop).