IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/reggov/v1y2007i4p271-294.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

De facto independence after delegation: A fuzzy‐set analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Martino Maggetti

Abstract

The phenomenon of delegating public authority from elected politicians (or ministries headed by elected politicians) to formally independent regulatory agencies (RAs) is becoming increasingly widespread. This paper examines the relation between formal independence, as prescribed in the constitutions of agencies, and de facto independence. Toward this end, it conceptualizes and assesses de facto independence of RAs, and discusses organizational, institutional, and political explanations for divergence from formal independence. The complex relations between de facto and formal independence are examined with a cross‐national, cross‐sectoral comparison of 16 Western European RAs using fuzzy‐set analysis. The results show that formal independence is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for explaining variations in the de facto independence of agencies. Other factors, such as the lifecycle of agencies, veto players, and European networks of agencies, have a decisive impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Martino Maggetti, 2007. "De facto independence after delegation: A fuzzy‐set analysis," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 1(4), pages 271-294, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:1:y:2007:i:4:p:271-294
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-5991.2007.00023.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2007.00023.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2007.00023.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giandomenico Majone, 2001. "Nonmajoritarian Institutions and the Limits of Democratic Governance: A Political Transaction-Cost Approach," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 157(1), pages 57-78, March.
    2. Cukierman, Alex & Webb, Steven B & Neyapti, Bilin, 1992. "Measuring the Independence of Central Banks and Its Effect on Policy Outcomes," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 6(3), pages 353-398, September.
    3. George J. Stigler, 1971. "The Theory of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 2(1), pages 3-21, Spring.
    4. Pierson, Paul, 2000. "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(2), pages 251-267, June.
    5. Albert Breton & Angela Fraschini, 2003. "The Independence of the Italian Constitutional Court," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 319-333, December.
    6. David Martimort, 1999. "The Life Cycle of Regulatory Agencies: Dynamic Capture and Transaction Costs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 66(4), pages 929-947.
    7. Hall, Peter A. & Gingerich, Daniel W., 2004. "Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Macroeconomy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 04/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    8. Braun, Dietmar, 1993. "Who Governs Intermediary Agencies? Principal-Agent Relations in Research Policy-Making," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 135-162, April.
    9. Ragin, Charles C., 2006. "Set Relations in Social Research: Evaluating Their Consistency and Coverage," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(3), pages 291-310, July.
    10. Paul Conway & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2006. "Product Market Regulation in the Non-Manufacturing Sectors of OECD Countries: Measurement and Highlights," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 530, OECD Publishing.
    11. Majone, Giandomenico, 1997. "From the Positive to the Regulatory State: Causes and Consequences of Changes in the Mode of Governance," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(2), pages 139-167, May.
    12. Alfred E. Kahn, 1988. "The Economics of Regulation: Principles and Institutions," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262610523, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alena V. Pivavarava & Christel Koop, 2023. "The adoption of digital practices by economic regulators: mapping digital pathways for consumer e-participation," Economics Series Working Papers 1013, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Axel Marx, 2008. "Limits to non‐state market regulation: A qualitative comparative analysis of the international sport footwear industry and the Fair Labor Association," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(2), pages 253-273, June.
    3. Yehuda Porath & Tal Sadeh, 2022. "National Debt Management Autonomy and National Debt Maturity at Issue," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2022.14, Bank of Israel.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Budzinski, Oliver & Eckert, Sandra, 2015. "Wettbewerb und Regulierung," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 93, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    2. Henk Erik Meier & Borja García & Serhat Yilmaz & Webster Chakawata, 2023. "The Capture of EU Football Regulation by the Football Governing Bodies," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 692-711, May.
    3. Lindemann, Henrik, 2015. "Does Regulatory Independence Translate into a Higher Degree of Liberalization? - Evidence from EU Energy Regulators," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-545, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    4. Goyal Yugank, 2017. "Informal Institutions in the Regulatory State: The Case of Bureaucracy in India," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 147-177, June.
    5. Sauro Mocetti & Giacomo Roma & Enrico Rubolino, 2022. "Knocking on Parents’ Doors: Regulation and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(2), pages 525-554.
    6. Barros, Pedro & Nilssen, Tore & Hoernig, Steffen, 2008. "Keeping Both Eyes Wide Open: The Life of a Competition Authority Among Sectoral Regulators," CEPR Discussion Papers 6861, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Marzano, Riccardo, 2015. "One more ride on the merry-go-round! Public ownership and delayed competition in local public services," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 981-996.
    8. Belloc, Filippo & Nicita, Antonio & Sepe, Simone M., 2014. "Disentangling liberalization and privatization policies: Is there a political trade-off?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 1033-1051.
    9. Moretti, Laura, 2014. "Inflation targeting and product market deregulation," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 372-386.
    10. Alessandro De Chiara & Marco A. Schwarz, 2020. "A Dynamic Theory of Regulatory Capture," Working Papers 2020-12, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    11. Estache, Antonio & Martimort, David, 1999. "Politics, transaction costs, and the design of regulatory institutions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2073, The World Bank.
    12. Marc Quintyn & Michael W. Taylor, 2003. "Regulatory and Supervisory Independence and Financial Stability," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 49(2), pages 259-294.
    13. Massimiliano Vatiero, 2018. "Transaction and transactors’ choices: what we have learned and what we need to explore," Chapters, in: Claude Ménard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), A Research Agenda for New Institutional Economics, chapter 11, pages 97-108, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. G. P. Manish & Colin O’Reilly, 2019. "Banking regulation, regulatory capture and inequality," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 145-164, July.
    15. Tomaso Duso, 2005. "Lobbying and regulation in a political economy: Evidence from the U.S. cellular industry," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 251-276, March.
    16. Manto Lampropoulou & Stella Ladi, 2020. "The Role and Performance of Independent Regulatory Agencies in Post-Crisis Greece," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 145, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    17. Hongqi Ma & Guangjun Shen, 2021. "Do new mayors bring fresh air? Some evidence of regulatory capture in China," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 25(4), pages 227-249, December.
    18. Fabrizio Gilardi, 2005. "The Institutional Foundations of Regulatory Capitalism: The Diffusion of Independent Regulatory Agencies in Western Europe," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 598(1), pages 84-101, March.
    19. Carlo Cambini & Laura Rondi, 2011. "Independence, Investment and Political Interference: Evidence from the European Union," RSCAS Working Papers 2011/42, European University Institute.
    20. Carol A. Heimer & Elsinore Kuo, 2021. "Subterranean successes: Durable regulation and regulatory endowments," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 63-82, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:1:y:2007:i:4:p:271-294. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-5991 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.