The diffusion of regulatory capitalism in Latin America: Sectoral and national channels in the making of a new order

This article analyzes the sweeping restructuring of the state in Latin America and the consequent institutionalization of a new regulatory order. The analysis is grounded in an original database that covers the creation of regulatory agencies and their reform in nineteen countries and twelve sectors over the period from 1979 to 2002. The authors' data capture both the national and the sectoral patterns of the rise of the new order, and the authors distinguish between (1) national patterns of diffusion, whereby the number of prior regulatory authorities within a country determines the probability of the establishment of new authorities in that country; and (2) sectoral patterns of diffusion, whereby the number of prior regulatory authority in the same sector in other countries determines the probability of the establishment of new regulatory authority in that sector. The results coincide with a growing body of literature that emphasizes the role of contagious diffusion and shed some new light on sectoral and national channels of diffusion.