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Global Networks and Domestic Policy Convergence: A Network Explanation of Policy Changes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2012

Xun Cao
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University, Email: xuc11@psu.edu.
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Abstract

National economies are embedded in complex networks such as trade, capital flows, and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). These globalization forces impose differential impacts on national economies depending on a country's network positions. This article addresses the policy convergence-divergence debate by focusing on how networks at the international level affect domestic fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policies. The author presents two hypotheses: first, similarity in network positions induces convergence in domestic economic policies as a result of peer competitive pressure. Second, proximity in network positions facilitates policy learning and emulation, which result in policy convergence. The empirical analysis applies a latent-space model for relational/dyadic data and indicates that position similarity in the network of exports induces convergence in fiscal and regulatory policies; position similarity in the network of transnational portfolio investments induces convergence in fiscal policies; and position proximity in IGO networks is consistently associated with policy convergence in fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 2012

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