IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/reggov/v15y2021i3p725-744.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agencies without borders: Explaining partner selection in the formation of transnational agreements between regulators

Author

Listed:
  • Machiel van der Heijden

Abstract

Transnational collaboration between regulatory agencies has proliferated rapidly within the last three decades. However, given that information regarding the motives, trustworthiness, and capabilities of potential partners is typically imperfect, decisions about with whom to collaborate are inevitably characterized by a degree of uncertainty. To better capture these dynamics, this article uses a network analytical perspective and hypothesizes that agencies are more likely to form agreements with agencies to whom they are already indirectly connected (transitivity), that are highly connected (preferential attachment), or with whom they share tie‐characteristics (assortativity). To test these hypotheses, a stochastic actor‐oriented model is used to analyze an original, self‐coded data set in which bilateral information exchange agreements between national securities agencies (n = 143) are mapped out over a 18‐year period. The results show that the formation of agreements between regulatory agencies is driven by (i) the number of shared partners (i.e. triadic closure); and (ii) similarity regarding agency characteristics (i.e. homophily).

Suggested Citation

  • Machiel van der Heijden, 2021. "Agencies without borders: Explaining partner selection in the formation of transnational agreements between regulators," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 725-744, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:15:y:2021:i:3:p:725-744
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12295
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12295
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rego.12295?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. Gautam Ahuja, 2000. "The duality of collaboration: inducements and opportunities in the formation of interfirm linkages," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 317-343, March.
    2. Gautam Ahuja & Francisco Polidoro & Will Mitchell, 2009. "Structural homophily or social asymmetry? The formation of alliances by poorly embedded firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(9), pages 941-958, September.
    3. Simmons, Beth A., 2001. "The International Politics of Harmonization: The Case of Capital Market Regulation," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(3), pages 589-620, July.
    4. Bach, David & Newman, Abraham L., 2010. "Transgovernmental Networks and Domestic Policy Convergence: Evidence from Insider Trading Regulation," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(3), pages 505-528, July.
    5. Karin Van Boetzelaer & Sebastiaan Princen, 2012. "The Quest for Co-ordination in European Regulatory Networks," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(5), pages 819-836, September.
    6. Andreas Dür & Leonardo Baccini & Manfred Elsig, 2014. "The design of international trade agreements: Introducing a new dataset," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 353-375, September.
    7. Joshua Lospinoso & Michael Schweinberger & Tom Snijders & Ruth Ripley, 2011. "Assessing and accounting for time heterogeneity in stochastic actor oriented models," Advances in Data Analysis and Classification, Springer;German Classification Society - Gesellschaft für Klassifikation (GfKl);Japanese Classification Society (JCS);Classification and Data Analysis Group of the Italian Statistical Society (CLADAG);International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS), vol. 5(2), pages 147-176, July.
    8. Dür, Andreas & Baccini, Leonardo & Elsig, Manfred, 2014. "The design of international trade agreements: introducing a new dataset," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59179, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Simmons, Beth A. & Dobbin, Frank & Garrett, Geoffrey, 2006. "Introduction: The International Diffusion of Liberalism," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(4), pages 781-810, October.
    10. Kinne, Brandon J, 2013. "Network Dynamics and the Evolution of International Cooperation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 107(4), pages 766-785, November.
    11. Asif Efrat & Abraham L. Newman, 2018. "Divulging data: Domestic determinants of international information sharing," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 395-419, September.
    12. Seungwha (Andy) Chung & Harbir Singh & Kyungmook Lee, 2000. "Complementarity, status similarity and social capital as drivers of alliance formation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Baccini, Leonardo, 2014. "Cheap talk: transaction costs, quality of institutions, and trade agreements," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 44923, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Singer, David Andrew, 2004. "Capital Rules: The Domestic Politics of International Regulatory Harmonization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 531-565, July.
    15. Hafner-Burton, Emilie M. & Kahler, Miles & Montgomery, Alexander H., 2009. "Network Analysis for International Relations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(3), pages 559-592, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Schneider, Sophie Therese, 2018. "North-South trade agreements and the quality of institutions: Panel data evidence," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 27-2018, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    2. Gaonkar, Shweta & Mele, Angelo, 2023. "A model of inter-organizational network formation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 82-104.
    3. James Hollway & Jean-Frédéric Morin & Joost Pauwelyn, 2020. "Structural conditions for novelty: the introduction of new environmental clauses to the trade regime complex," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 61-83, March.
    4. David Bach & Abraham Newman, 2014. "Domestic drivers of transgovernmental regulatory cooperation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(4), pages 395-417, December.
    5. Cobeña, Mar & Gallego, Ángeles & Casanueva, Cristóbal, 2017. "Heterogeneity, diversity and complementarity in alliance portfolios," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 464-476.
    6. Gilsing, Victor A. & Cloodt, Myriam & Bertrand–Cloodt, Danielle, 2016. "What makes you more central? Antecedents of changes in betweenness-centrality in technology-based alliance networks," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 209-221.
    7. Olga A. Novoselova, 2022. "What matters for interorganizational connectedness? Locating the drivers of multiplex corporate networks," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 872-899, April.
    8. Rahel Aichele & Gabriel Felbermayr, 2016. "The Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal (TPP): What Are the Economic Consequences for In- and Outsiders?," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 16(04), pages 53-64, January.
    9. Kox, Henk L.M. & Rojas Romasgosa, Hugo, 2019. "Gravity estimations with FDI bilateral data: Potential FDI effects of deep preferential trade agreements," MPRA Paper 96318, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Carattini, Stefano & Fankhauser, Sam & Gao, Jianjian & Gennaioli, Caterina & Panzarasa, Pietro, 2023. "What does network analysis teach us about international environmental cooperation?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    11. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Teti, Feodora & Yalcin, Erdal, 2019. "Rules of origin and the profitability of trade deflection," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    12. Harald Oberhofer & Michael Pfaffermayr & Yvonne Wolfmayr, 2021. "Die Auswirkungen des Brexit auf Österreichs Wirtschaft," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 66782, Juni.
    13. Patricia AUGIER & Olivier CADOT & Marion DOVIS, 2016. "Regulatory harmonization, profits, and productivity: Firm-level evidence from Morocco," Working Papers P162, FERDI.
    14. Katharina Längle, 2020. "Upgrading of Exports: Does the Integration into Trade Agreements Pave the Way to Product Upgrading?," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 20006, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    15. Benz, Sebastian & Jaax, Alexander, 2019. "Quantifying the costs of regulatory barriers to trade in services: New estimates of ad valorem equivalents based on the OECD STRI," Conference papers 333096, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    16. Benz, Sebastian & Jaax, Alexander, 2022. "The costs of regulatory barriers to trade in services: New estimates of ad valorem tariff equivalents," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    17. Cormier, Benjamin, 2023. "Chinese or western finance? Transparency, official credit flows, and the international political economy of development," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Jacopo Timini & Nicola Cortinovis & Fernando López Vicente, 2022. "The heterogeneous effects of trade agreements with labour provisions," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(9), pages 2820-2853, September.
    19. Woori Lee, 2019. "Services liberalization and global value chain participation: New evidence for heterogeneous effects by income level and provisions," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 888-915, August.
    20. Francois, Joseph & Hoekman, Bernard & Manchin, Miriam, 2022. "Pursuing Environmental and Social Objectives through Trade Agreements," Papers 1377, World Trade Institute.

    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:15:y:2021:i:3:p:725-744. 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.