Financial regulatory conundrums in the North Atlantic

Abstract

This article explains a dominant, curious and important pattern that emerges from our original data on 11 areas of financial regulation in the United States and the European Union from the Great Financial Crisis to 2020: sustained regulatory stringency in both jurisdictions. Our novel explanation, rooted in theories about international economic interdependence, temporal process and market power, emphasizes cross-border interactions that arose from a build-up of ‘border-policing’ capacities. Our medium-n study, which combines congruence analysis and process tracing, reveals a causal mechanism – ‘joint reinforcement’ – whereby the potential penalties imposed by one of the two jurisdictions prevent or temper the other from watering down-regulation. The study pushes the boundaries of qualitative research, advances theory and speaks to debates about global public goods.