Damage Measures for Contract Breach when Buyers Have Reference-Dependent Preferences

Using the traditional law-and-economics production contract model with a fixed price, this paper analyzes the breach and reliance incentives that result from damage measures for breach of contract when buyers have reference-dependent preferences. We show that buyer's reference-dependent preferences can produce results at odds with the traditional portrayal. Importantly, we find that expectation damages are no longer generally superior to reliance damages.