The Transnational Appeal Of Formalism: The Case Of Japan's Netting Law

Abstract:     
The paper addresses the proliferation of "formalist" regulatory devices in the field of international financial regulation. It seeks to understand this transnational trend from the standpoint of a concrete case of legal reform in the global derivatives markets as they are encountered in Japan. Drawing upon five months of ethnographic fieldwork among traders and regulators, the paper offers an account of how processes identified with the expansion of the Rule of Law occur in the context of Japan's Big Bang, how they are interpreted and deployed by a variety of participants and audiences, and ultimately why formalism emerges as the solution as well as the mode or genre of deliberation in such reformist projects.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 62

JEL Classification: K22, K33

working papers series