The supply and demand of governance in standard-setting: insights from the past

Governance in standard-setting can be distinguished in the degree of public or private oversight, and in the degree to which the environment is hierarchical or anarchical. This variation in governance structures can be explained by three variables: (1) the gains that flow to political entrepreneurs in supplying state intervention; (2) the strategic setting in which private and public actors operate; and (3) the intrinsic attributes of the good in question. The article argues that while private demand is an important facet of standards governance, greater attention needs to be paid to the incentives for political entrepreneurs to supply public intervention, and the incentives for political entrepreneurs to agree on common standards. A historical analysis of product standards and transactional standards, as weights and measures, reveals that public actors may impede standardization even in the face of high private demand and clear public welfare gains.