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Economic integration and state capacity
Title / Series / Name
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Authors
Editors
Keywords
European Union accession
bureaucracy
competition policy
deep integration
judiciary
state capacity
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (all)
bureaucracy
competition policy
deep integration
judiciary
state capacity
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (all)
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/26572
Abstract
We investigate whether and how economic integration increases state capacity. This important relationship has not been studied in detail so far. We put together a conceptual framework that highlights what we call the Montesquieu, Weber and Smith channels to guide our analysis. Each of these corresponds to a series of mechanisms in three distinct institutional arenas: judiciary, bureaucracy and competition policy. To test our framework, we introduce a new panel of institutional reform measures that allow us to investigate how changes in these three arenas interact with each other and what sequence of changes yields increases in state capacity. The yearly data set covers all the 17 candidate countries to join the European Union (EU) after the 1995 enlargement. Deep integration, we find, can induce broad institutional change by providing incentives for simultaneous change in core state institutions. Bureaucratic independence and judicial capacity seem to be the key engine of the process engendered by the prospect of EU membership. Yet early and abrupt removal of external anchors might generate significant backsliding, or reversals, in domestic institutional change.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2019-06-01
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1017/S1744137418000346