'Just the Oven': A Law &amp; Economics Approach to Gestational Surrogacy Contracts

Hatzis, Aristides N.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.381621

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…But is a surrogate mother really “just the oven,” free from emotional attachments, delight, or resentment, even when she is motivated to assist a desperate, infertile couple willing to pay for her trouble? (Hatzis ).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Legalization of Emotion: Managing Risk by Managing Feelings in Contracts for Surrogate Labor

Berk¹

2015

Law Soc Rev

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Despite a rich literature in law and society embracing contracts as exchange relations, empirical work has yet to consider their emotional dimensions. I explore the previously unmapped case of surrogacy to address the interface of law and emotions in contracting. Using 115 semistructured interviews and content analyses of 30 surrogacy contracts, I explain why and how lawyers, with the help of matching agencies and counselors, tactically manage a variety of emotions in surrogates and intended parents before, during, and after the baby is born. I establish that a web of “feeling rules” concerning lifestyle, intimate contact, and future relationships are formalized in the contract, coupled with informal strategies like “triage,” to minimize attachment, conflicts, and risk amidst a highly unsettled and contested legal terrain. Feeling rules are shared and embraced by practitioners in an increasingly multijurisdictional field, thereby forging and legitimating new emotion cultures. Surrogacy offers a strategic site in which to investigate the legalization of emotion—a process that may be occurring throughout contemporary society in a variety of exchange relations.

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confidence: 99%

The Legalization of Emotion: Managing Risk by Managing Feelings in Contracts for Surrogate Labor

Berk¹

2015

Law Soc Rev

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“…After a thorough analysis of all these factors, Posner (1989) and Hatzis (2003) conclude that these issues should not make surrogacy contracts unenforceable. Many of the problems, including misinformation and exploitation of needy surrogates, have their roots elsewhere.…”

Section: Discussion and Directions For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rent a womb: Surrogate selection, investment incentives and contracting

Banerjee

Basu

2009

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

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a b s t r a c tWe develop a model of gestational surrogacy, in which a childless couple faces heterogeneous prospective surrogates. High-type surrogates add more value but also have higher outside options. Surrogates can make specific investments for the overall well-being (care) of the unborn child. We show that, under noncontractibility, surrogates invest less (take less care) than the first-best. Couples are also more likely to choose low-type surrogates, who need less compensation for foregoing cheaper outside options. Hence the popular practice of making surrogacy contracts unenforceable might put the unborn child at risk.

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“…10 Other forms of surrogacy can also be analyzed under this structure with slight modification. 11 See Hatzis (2003) for a general equilibrium approach on surrogacy.…”

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confidence: 99%

Optimal Organization of Surrogacy Contracts and Underinvestment

Pramanick

Banerjee

2016

J. Quant. Econ.

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Abstract:We develop a model of commercial gestational surrogacy in which a childless couple approaches a prospective surrogate, who is willing to gestate for the couple. The surrogate's care is noncontractible. We show that if the surrogate doesn't have any wealth, at the optimum, she is always found to put in sub-optimal effort. Put differently, the surrogate cannot be made a residual claimant and therefore eliciting first best care is never optimal. Therefore the paper, in a hidden action framework, formalizes this 'inefficiency' inherent in the Indian 'rent-a-womb' market.

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'Just the Oven': A Law & Economics Approach to Gestational Surrogacy Contracts

Cited by 11 publications

References 32 publications

The Legalization of Emotion: Managing Risk by Managing Feelings in Contracts for Surrogate Labor

The Legalization of Emotion: Managing Risk by Managing Feelings in Contracts for Surrogate Labor

Rent a womb: Surrogate selection, investment incentives and contracting

Optimal Organization of Surrogacy Contracts and Underinvestment

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