Regulatory Agencies, the State and Markets: A Franco-British Comparison

The article examines whether and how independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) have altered the strategies, relationships and power of French policy makers in markets and whether they led to convergence with Britain in state-market relations. It relates these questions to broader debates about the extent to which previous policy-making systems have been transformed, whether Europe has one regulatory state or several, whether France has become a form of 'liberal market economy' and the power of the state after reform of markets. It argues that although, as in Britain, France has established IRAs with responsibilities for ensuring competition in key economic domains, French state strategies remained very different from British ones and markets operate very differently in the two countries. Moreover, the break with the past has been limited: public policy makers continue to have significant capacities to mould markets and delegation to IRAs has often reinforced the power of existing elites and aided the adaptation of traditional French industrial strategies to new conditions. Thus even if France has adopted the formal institutions of competitive markets, it has not converged with a liberal market economy such as Britain in terms of strategies and behaviour. State forms and instruments may have altered, but an activist French industrial policy is alive and well.regulation, independent regulatory agencies, electricity, 3G mobiles

Western policies towards sovereign wealth fund equity investments: a comparison of the UK, the EU and the US

This policy brief examines how Western nations respond to investment by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). It sets out two polar positions on such investment: that it is an issue of national security, as it presents important dangers for Western countries; or that it is an economic governance issue, in which SWF investment can be beneficial to Western countries or its problems have been greatly exaggerated. The paper then compares the policies of the UK, EU and US towards equity investment in company equities. The EU and UK have treated SWF equity investment as a matter of free trade and movement of capital, and imposed few specific restrictions; indeed, they have often accepted and welcomed SWF equity investment. On the other hand, the US has often seen strong debates about whether SWF investment is a free trade or a national security issue, and has imposed much stronger legislative monitoring and restrictions

From old to new industrial policy via economic regulation

Major institutional reforms that have introduced economic regulation in Europe and elsewhere appear to have ended traditional industrial policies of favouring selected national champion suppliers. Privatisation, the delegation of powers over mergers and acquisitions to the EU and independent competition authorities, new rules to ensure competition and prohibit state support to favoured companies and the end of planning, all appear to have led to a regulatory state. However, the article argues that regulatory reforms have in fact provided additional or alternative instruments for policy makers to favour European or international champion firms. The article analyses the different institutional reforms to show how they have provided instruments for policy makers to construct larger Europeanised and internationalised champion firms, shape markets through mergers and acquisitions, aid selected firms in liberalised markets, and to plan policies in ways that privilege chosen firms. It concludes that regulatory institutions are compatible with new forms industrial policy

State production of cultural nationalism: political leaders and preservation policies for historic buildings in France and Italy

Although cultural and political nationalism have often been treated as separate, recent studies argue that they are linked because the state produces policies such as promotion of cultural heritage to further nation building. The article examines the conditions that favour national political leaders adopting policies to protect historic buildings for aims of political nationalism. It compares France and Italy, focusing on the period after 1870. It finds that in both countries, national political leaders have introduced extensive protection of historic buildings when faced with major challenges such as war, regime change or pressures from localism or supporters of cultural nationalism as part of wider strategies to build and reinforce the nation state. But Italy extended protection earlier and more deeply than France, suggesting in a later nation state with strong inherited cultural nationalism but major political weaknesses and, national political leaders may introduce earlier, more far-reaching and more layered legal protection than in states created earlier and with fewer weakness

Overseas state outsiders as new sources of patient capital: government policies to welcome Sovereign Wealth Fund investment in France and Germany

The strong debates in the varieties of capitalism literature as to whether financial liberalisation and internationalisation undermine ‘insider’ corporate governance systems based on patient capital in coordinated and state-led market economies have focused on ‘impatient’ overseas private capital. However, cross-border state investment has also grown. We examine government policies towards a different type of overseas investment- state equity purchases by Sovereign Wealth Funds. We argue that policy makers in insider’ corporate governance systems can see such investment as an attractive international source of patient capital that can offset declines in traditional sources of patient capital. We compare two polities- Germany and France- and show that policy makers actively welcome and seek SWF investment, driven by coalitions of ‘insiders’ composed of the managements of large industrial firms and governments who seek passive patient capital and beneficial relationships with overseas investors. Thus, overseas state investors can provide new sources of patient capital

Why are neoliberal ideas so resilient in Europe’s political economy?

Despite the economic crisis that hit full force in 2008 in the US and Europe, political leaders have made little attempt to rethink the neoliberal ideas that are in large part responsible for the boom and bust, let alone to come to terms with how immoderate the ‘Great Moderation’ really was. Much the contrary, neoliberal ideas seem to continue to constitute the ruling ideas. In the financial markets, where the crisis began, reregulation remains woefully inadequate, while the only ideas in play are neoliberal, either for more ‘market-enhancing’ regulation or in favor of greater laissez-faire. The biggest puzzle, however, is the response to the crisis by Eurozone countries that have embraced ‘market discipline’ through austerity and, in so doing, have condemned themselves to slow or no growth. This is in contrast to the US, which has posted better economic results, despite being torn between Republican fundamentalists advocating austerity and a more pragmatic leadership focused on growth

Bounded Rationality, Formal Implementation Processes, and Conflicting Subcultures: A Theoretical Framwork

This paper develops a theoretical framework for studying how the interaction of individual perceptions, an organizations’ subcultures, and formal information systems (IS) design processes influence the fit of an IS to its respective organization. Building on models of individual decision making, such as bounded rationality, it extends several propositions for how informal and formal structures influence the fit of an IS

Examining the Influence of Cultural Values on the Routine Post-Adoptive Use of Knowledge Management Systems

This work-in-progress examines culture\u27s consequences on routine knowledge sharing behavior. It employs two complementary cross-cultural theories to develop an integrative model of culture and habitual system use in the context of knowledge management. More specifically, using the Theory of Basic Human Values and the Theory of IT-Culture Conflict, we posit that such cultural values as an emphasis on the legitimacy of an unequal distribution of resources, an emphasis on active mastery and change of the environment, and an emphasis on voluntary commitment to the welfare of others may, under certain conditions, lead to habitual knowledge management system use for contributing knowledge. In carefully selecting and integrating these two theories, this study overcomes major methodological problems inherent in much prior cross-cultural IS scholarship. We propose a quantitative methodology to test the model and discuss why structural equation modeling is the best-fitting data-analytic technique for quantitative cross-cultural IS research