Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
This paper offers a theory to explain cross-national variation in administrative law doctrines and practices. Administrative law regimes vary along three primary dimensions: the scope of delegation to agencies, agencies’ exercise of discretion, and judicial practices of deference to agencies. Working with a principal-agent framework, we show how cross-national differences in institutions’ capacities and the environments they face encourage the adoption of divergent strategies that lead to a variety of distinct, stable, equilibrium outcomes. We apply our model to explain patterns of administrative law in the United States, Germany, France, and Commonwealth jurisdictions.
Recommended Citation
Jud Mathews and Nuno M. Garoupa, Strategic Delegation, Discretion, and Deference: Explaining the Comparative Law of Administrative Review, 62 Am. J. Comp. L. 1 (2014).