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Copyright

Michael Bakker; Rolef de Weijs;

Published On

2025-06-05

Page Range

pp. 155–170

Language

  • English

Print Length

16 pages

8. Limited Liability through the Lens of Expected Value Analysis

  • Michael Bakker (author)
  • Rolef de Weijs (author)
Chapter of: Uncovering European Private Law: A Student Handbook(pp. 155–170)
The aim of this chapter is to illustrate how limited liability rules enable the transfer of risks and costs away from the shareholders of a corporation to other parties, such as creditors. We illustrate this inherent feature of limited liability by applying expected value analysis, a simple and intuitive analytical framework, to two stylised numerical examples. Subsequently, we briefly discuss several legal strategies that seek to address the externalisation of risks and costs through the corporate form.

Contributors

Michael Bakker

(author)

Michael Bakker, LL.M. is PhD Fellow at the Amsterdam Law School and ACT. In his research, he focuses on the role of shareholders and the general meeting with respect to the sustainability/ESG strategy and policy of publicly listed companies. He is a lecturer in corporate and commercial law. He holds master’s degrees in law (LL.M.) and finance (M.Sc.) from the University of Amsterdam and he was a visiting student at Columbia Law School. See https://www.uva.nl/profiel/b/a/m.h.c.bakker/m.h.c.bakker.html#Profiel

Rolef de Weijs

(author)
Professor in Insolvency Law at University of Amsterdam

Prof. Dr. Rolef de Weijs is Professor in Insolvency Law at the Amsterdam Law School and ACT. He holds a master’s in law and philosophy from Groningen University and an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School. He also participated in the Japan Prize Winners’ Programme. He did his Ph.D. research at the Amsterdam Institute for Private law. In 2010, he defended his Ph.D. thesis ‘Faillissementspauliana, Insolvenzanfechtung & Transaction Avoidance in Insolvencies’. De Weijs specialises in insolvency law, corporate law, and corporate finance. De Weijs practices law as an attorney and a court appointed trustee in bankruptcy at Houthoff, a law firm in Amsterdam. See https:// www.uva.nl/profiel/w/e/r.j.deweijs/r.j.deweijs.html