Regulatory Capitalism: Policy Irritants and Convergent Divergence

The concluding part of this volume may be the right place to discuss the issue of the outcomes of regulatory capitalism. The analysis so far has only touched on the outcomes, and even here we cannot offer more than some suggestions on how to approach the issue. Not only is the new order still in the making, but its outcomes are unlikely to be straightforwardly positive or negative. The greater the change, the more difficult it is to control and capture its outcomes. Consequently, what may seem at first to be a victory of one side or of a certain idea may develop into an ambiguous outcome that shifts the balance of power in unforeseen ways. Outcomes in the center (or wherever the process of diffusion begins) may differ remarkably from outcomes in the periphery; and convergence on the general framework of regulatory capitalism may be accompanied by significant divergence in practices, applications and analyses across both sectors and nations. In short, one should not expect the ideas and institutions of regulatory capitalism to fall on fertile ground and be welcomed by caring guardians in all countries and sectors. To be sure, at a fundamental level the evaluation of the outcomes rests on certain