Reliance costs can be impossible to estimate at contract formation.

Evidence

Diamond cutters are independent contractors and are often paid by the stone. Consequently, after contracting to purchase a piece of rough, a dealer will contract with a cutter. If he does not obtain the stone and does not have other work for the cutter to do, he will still have to pay the cutter. Furthermore, unlike many commercial contexts, at the time a diamond contract is made, the promisee typically is unable to estimate what is reliance expenditures will be; they will depend largely on the subsequent business opportunities that present themselves to the promisee. — Lisa Bernestein, Opting out of the Legal System, 228

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the unquantifiable nature of reliance damages in specialized trades — who bears the risk when a promisee’s exposure depends on future opportunities.
• XREF: connects to: The Army could not produce a cost analysis supporting its changed basing decision; Contractual commitments shift negotiation costs rather than truly binding anyone — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 68; Overt state force is ineffective because labor contracts cannot stipulate every profitability requirement — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 587

Broader Connections

• The Army could not produce a cost analysis supporting its changed basing decision #exemplifies (0.90)
• Contractual commitments shift negotiation costs rather than truly binding anyone #qualifies (0.75) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 68