Showing papers on "Commission published in 2011"
TL;DR: The German Human Biomonitoring Commission has derived new and updated reference values for PFOS and PFOA in human plasma, for thallium in urine, and for aromatic amines in urine for a comprehensive number of phthalate metabolites in urine and for organochlorine pesticides in human breast milk.
237 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate three ways in which firms can become "prominent" and thereby influence the order in which consumers consider options, and they show that equilibrium prices are lower when search costs are higher since a firm's benefit from being investigated first increases with search costs.
Abstract: We investigate three ways in which firms can become "prominent" and thereby influence the order in which consumers consider options. First, firms can affect an intermediary's sales efforts by means of commission payments. When firms pay commission to a salesman, the salesman promotes the product with the highest commission, and steers ignorant consumers towards the more expensive product. Second, sellers can advertise prices on a price comparison website, so that consumers investigate the suitability of products in order of increasing price. In such a market, equilibrium prices are lower when search costs are higher since a firm's benefit from being investigated first increases with search costs. Finally, consumers might first consider their existing supplier when they purchase a new product, which suggests a relatively benign rationale for the prevalence of cross-selling in markets such as retail banking.
156 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the Commission constitutes by far the most important partner of EU agencies and it is argued that EU agencies which might be able to act relatively independently of national governments and the Council, but not necessarily independently from the Commission, would contribute to executive centre formation at the European level and thus to further transformation of the current political-administrative order.
Abstract: The jury is still out with respect to whether European Union (EU)-level agencies act primarily as tools of national governments or not, although parts of the literature as well as the legal framework of EU agencies seem to favour the former interpretation. We argue that EU agencies which might be able to act relatively independently of national governments and the Council, but not necessarily independently from the Commission, would contribute to executive centre formation at the European level and thus to further transformation of the current political-administrative order. By measuring along several dimensions, we demonstrate that the Commission constitutes by far the most important partner of EU agencies. EU agencies deal (somewhat surprisingly) to a considerable extent with (quasi-) regulatory and politicized issues. When engaging in such areas, national ministries and the Council tend to strengthen their position, however, not to the detriment of the Commission. In addition to the Commission, nationa...
118 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine patterns of participation in the large expert group system under the European Commission and show that the informational foundation is strongly biased towards officials from national administrations, and argue that these distinct patterns are significantly affected by inter-institutional and environmental conditions that the Commission Directorate Generals opera...
Abstract: Who provides the European Union with information? This article examines patterns of participation in the large expert group system under the European Commission. It explores competing propositions about the character of the Commission's information system, and tests four hypotheses about what affects participation in the EU expert group system. The authors distinguish between three kinds of information providers: scientists, societal actors and government officials. The empirical section of the paper builds upon an analysis of a data set covering all of the Commission expert groups (N = 1237). Although scientists, and interest groups, industries and NGOs are prevalent information providers for the Commission, the authors show that the informational foundation is strongly biased towards officials from national administrations. They argue that these distinct patterns of participation are significantly affected by inter-institutional and environmental conditions that the Commission Directorate Generals opera...
100 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the commercially developed Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR) and Accounting Risk (AR) measures with academic risk measures to determine which best detects financial misstatements that result in Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions, egregious accounting restatements, and shareholder lawsuits related to accounting improprieties.
Abstract: Although a substantial body of academic research is devoted to developing and testing risk proxies that detect accounting irregularities, the academic literature has paid little attention to commercially developed risk measures. This is surprising given the general consensus that academic risk measures have relatively poor construct validity. We compare the commercially developed Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR) and Accounting Risk (AR) measures with academic risk measures to determine which best detects financial misstatements that result in Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions, egregious accounting restatements, and shareholder lawsuits related to accounting improprieties. We find that the commercially developed risk measures outperform the academic risk measures in all head-to-head tests for detecting misstatements. The commercial measures also perform as well as or better than the academic measures in new tests that predict future accounting irregularities using numbers reported one year before the misreporting even begins. Our results suggest commercially developed risk proxies may be useful to practitioners and academics trying to detect or predict accounting irregularities.
94 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the European Commission's internal energy policy package, agreed by the European Union in spring 2009, which reflected greater will on the part of the Commission to pressure unwilling Member State governments, and shifts in Commission leverage vis-a-vis Member States as well as a shift in policy networks with clout in EU policy-making.
Abstract: The article analyses the September 2007 European Commission proposal for a third internal energy policy package, agreed by the European Union in spring 2009. Compared to legislation from 2003, the proposal reflects greater will on the part of the Commission to pressure unwilling Member State governments, and shifts in Commission leverage vis-a-vis Member States as well as a shift in policy networks with clout in EU policy-making. This shift in Commission leverage would indicate stronger supranational governance in EU energy matters in the future.
84 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an original database of 1,164 civil society groups that received funding from the European Commission from 2003 to 2007, compiled from funding documents recently released through the European Transparency Initiative, and identifies the empirical patterns behind Commission funding behavior.
Abstract: This article presents analyses from an original database of 1,164 civil society groups that received funding from the European Commission from 2003 to 2007, compiled from funding documents recently released through the European Transparency Initiative, and identifies the empirical patterns behind Commission funding behaviour. Based on the literature on input legitimacy, one would expect the Commission to seek to achieve balance across Member States and across diffuse and specific interests. Based on the literature on European integration which argues the EU has preferentially supported Euro groups, one would expect the Commission to support groups that promote pan-Europeanism and are organized at the European Union (EU) level. The data analysis shows that groups which promote a European identity, democracy and civic engagement and intercultural exchange, as well as those that are organized at the EU level, receive stronger support from the Commission. Additionally, groups based in the old Member States of western Europe receive significantly more funding than those in central and eastern Europe. The database is freely available to scholars online.
78 citations
TL;DR: Indonesia's Anti-Corruption Court and the Corruption Eradication Commission are under threat as mentioned in this paper, and their fall may be imminent, according to the authors of this article.
Abstract: Indonesia's Anti-Corruption Court had until recently convicted all the defendants brought before it by the Corruption Eradication Commission. Many of these were well-known and politically powerful figures. Yet both the Court and the Commission are under threat. Between February and October 2011, the Anti-Corruption Courts issued more than 20 acquittals, and on 11 October 2011, for the first time, a defendant prosecuted by the KPK itself was acquitted. This article traces the history of the Court and the Commission and explains why their fall may be imminent. Both institutions have been the targets of efforts to discredit and hobble them, apparently orchestrated by people the Commission has investigated. If the current trend continues, the Anti-Corruption Court and the Corruption Eradication Commission may soon join the growing list of Indonesia's failed anti-corruption initiatives.
78 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors suggest that contextual environmental factors play an important causal role in the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors among communities with different physical, social, and economic resources, and that health promotion interventions often are undertaken in isolation and with inadequate attention to these holistic social and economic influences on lifestyle.
64 citations
TL;DR: The European Commission's claim to have developed a new, more open and progressive model of "European governance" is examined in this paper, where the authors conclude that far from laying the grounds for a more inclusive, participatory and democratic political order, the Commission's model to governance represents a form of neoliberal governmentality that is actually undermining democratic government and promoting a politics of exclusion.
Abstract: The word ‘governance’ has become an increasingly central policy motif in the European Union and elsewhere yet its meanings are ambiguous and often poorly understood. This article examines the genealogy of that concept focusing in particular on the European Commission's claim to have developed a new, more open and progressive model of ‘European governance’. The paper is set out in four steps. The first analyses the European Commission's claims for ‘governance’ as a concept integral to its new vision for Europe. The second interrogates some of the conflicting definitions and meanings inherent in the term and examines the highly selective paradigm of governance that has been developed in official Commission discourse. The third addresses two specific areas where the Commission's governance model has been applied: the Green paper on The Future of Parliamentary Democracy and the Open Method of Coordination. The fourth turns to analyse these findings using critical social theory. I conclude that far from laying the grounds for a more inclusive, participatory and democratic political order, the Commission's model to governance represents a form of neoliberal governmentality that is actually undermining democratic government and promoting a politics of exclusion.
62 citations
Book•
30 Sep 2011
TL;DR: The mother of all battles as mentioned in this paper is a well-known example of a war story in the Middle East. But, it is not the case in the Arab world, since it involves the United States and the "Zionist entity".
Abstract: 1. The United States 2. The 'Zionist entity' 3. The Arab world 4. Qadisiyyah Saddam (the Iran-Iraq War) 5. The mother of all battles 6. Special munitions 7. The embargo and the special commission 8. Hussein Kamil.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that preference heterogeneity with two camps of nearly equal size, a vague mandate and conflicting messages from principals all give the agent more discretion at the international level.
Abstract: During the period leading up to the 2005 WTO Hong Kong ministerial meeting and the 2006 Geneva informal meeting, European Union member states became even more strongly opposed to any further concessions on agricultural issues in the Doha Trade Round. Despite this opposition, the European Commission made a further offer which included concessions on agricultural issues. Based on data collected from Agence Europe and interviews with officials from the European Commission and the Council of Ministers, this contribution shows that preference heterogeneity with two camps of nearly equal size, a vague mandate and conflicting messages from principals all give the agent more discretion at the international level.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show how the European Commission cultivates policy shifts toward a particular idea of a common European Higher Education Area by using its considerable financial leverage, by making European Union (EU) funding dependent on grant recipients meeting certain strategically selected conditions.
Abstract: This article shows how the European Commission cultivates policy shifts toward a particular idea of a common European Higher Education Area by using its considerable financial leverage. By making European Union (EU) funding dependent on grant recipients meeting certain strategically selected conditions, the Commission creates new incentive structures for domestic actors, in this case higher education institutions (HEIs), with two important consequences. First, the Commission turns universities into agents for its policies: Universities lobby governments to pass legislation, which would allow them to conform to Commission requirements. Second, HEIs try to comply with the Commission's requirements even in the absence of compatible national frameworks, thereby leapfrogging policy decisions on the national level. Describing this as a “soft” mechanism for achieving convergence, as Open Method of Coordination accounts posit, overlooks the fundamentally non-negotiable nature of the process from the participants' perspective and considerably underestimates the Commission's real influence. We examine this argument through a case study of an EU-funded higher education program, Erasmus Mundus.
TL;DR: This article examined gender mainstreaming in European Commission development aid through quantitative and qualitative analysis of policy documents and concluded that the shift towards a transformative gender and development paradigm has only partly been made and that the Commission promotes a Europeanness in its gender policies, which links the internal and external agenda.
Abstract: Synopsis This article examines gender mainstreaming in European Commission development aid through quantitative and qualitative analysis of policy documents The research aim is twofold First I evaluate whether a genuine shift has been made from a conservative Women in Development paradigm to a transformative Gender and Development paradigm Secondly I examine whether the European Commission advocates a Europeanness in its gender policy towards developing countries The quantitative analysis assesses language, format and budgets Next, qualitative analysis embarks on a deeper reading of how gender (in)equality is approached I conclude that the shift towards a transformative Gender and Development paradigm has only partly been made and that the Commission promotes a Europeanness in its gender policies, which links the internal and external agenda
TL;DR: In this article, the European Commission published its decision about the conditions for state aid to Dutch housing associations, with the proposal of the Dutch government that housing associations allocate at least 90 per cent of their social rental dwellings to households with an income of less than EUR 33,000.
Abstract: The size of the Dutch social housing sector, with a 32 per cent share of the housing stock, has prompted concerns over the ‘level playing field’ of competition between social and commercial housing providers. In 2007, this concern culminated in a complaint from the Dutch Association of Institutional Investors (IVBN) to the European Commission, with particular reference to the distorting effects of state aid to housing associations. In December 2009 the European Commission published its decision about the conditions for state aid to Dutch housing associations. The Commission agrees with the proposal of the Dutch government that housing associations allocate at least 90 per cent of their social rental dwellings to households with an income of less than EUR 33,000, if they want to remain eligible for state aid for these activities. Furthermore, housing associations may invest in real estate for public purposes. With its decision, the Commission ends a long period of uncertainty and contributes to cr...
TL;DR: The Community method provides a kind of tertium genus, since the Commission is supposed to be the policy initiator, but most decisions require a green light from national capitals as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Discussions regarding the functioning of the EU often posit two alternative models: an inter-governmental one, in which the emphasis is laid on how states’ interests are reconciled and national governments retain a central role; and a supra-national one, according to which a leadership role is granted to supra-national institutions such as the Commission or the European Parliament. The Community method provides a kind of tertium genus, since the Commission is supposed to be the policy initiator, but most decisions require a green light from national capitals. As has been discussed in Chapter 1, from the 1990s onward, inter-governmental alternatives to this model have multiplied, most notably in the field of foreign policy, where the reluctance to delegate powers to the EU was very strong.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the relationship among the compensation system (fixed or commission) applied to salespeople, the system by which they are controlled, and the effects of both on individual performance and sales organization effectiveness.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship among the compensation system (fixed or commission) applied to salespeople, the system by which they are controlled, and the effects of both on individual performance and sales organization effectiveness. Previous research has been extended in a different country/context, and from the field sales manager's points of view.Design/methodology/approach – First, a cluster analysis was used to obtain a set of groups of salespeople characterized by their main compensation system (salary and/or commission). Also, ANOVA is used to analyze the significance of the differences due to the different compensation system.Findings – The empirical data reflect the results of research involving 108 field sales managers and show that the compensation system used for the salespeople has significant effects on individual salesperson performance and sales organization effectiveness and is related to the control system used by the company. Companies with a compen...
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TL;DR: In this article, a three-pronged monitoring mechanism, incorporating fiscal, macroeconomic and thematic surveillance, has been put in place to coordinate and supervise policies, and the commitments made by Member States in favour of the Europe 2020 strategy are examined and their progress measured.
Abstract: The Europe 2020 strategy lays the foundations for “smart, sustainable and inclusive” growth for the decade to come. Alongside this, a three-pronged monitoring mechanism – incorporating fiscal, macroeconomic and thematic surveillance – has been put in place to coordinate and supervise policies. It is in the context of the thematic analysis that the commitments made by Member States in favour of the Europe 2020 strategy are examined and their progress measured. The national reform programmes filed each year with the European Commission effectively contain the conversion of the five key European targets – with regard to employment, innovation, education, sustainable development and social inclusion – into national objectives and also the steps that the countries are intending to implement in order to advance along these different paths. The new model of governance – still in progress – was implemented for the first time in 2011, during what has been named the European Semester. The impetus was provided by the Annual Growth Survey carried out in January by the European Commission, which served as a basis for the endorsement of the priorities for fiscal consolidation and structural reforms by the European Council meeting held in the spring. In April, the Member States compiled their national reform programme and their stability or convergence programme. The Commission examined them in May and the European Council approved specific recommendations to each country in June, with the aim of strengthening the cohesion of the national policies planned in the budgets that are to be adopted by Member Sates during the following months, referred to as the National Semester. The mobilisation of countries in favour of the Europe 2020 strategy is proving insufficient in a certain number of fields. As far as the labour market is concerned, assuming that the commitments made by the Member States are honoured, the European strategic target of arriving at an overall employment rate of 75 % by 2020 would not be achieved, since there would be a shortfall of at least 1 percentage point. In the field of research and innovation, the share of GDP taken up by gross domestic expenditure on RD however, the efforts set out in the national reform programmes are not directly comparable between the countries. The education targets aimed at lowering the school drop-out rate to a level below 10 % and increasing the share of persons between 30 and 34 years of age with tertiary education to at least 40 % would not be honoured either. Lastly, with regard to social cohesion, the Member States are free to choose their national objectives on the basis of the indicators that they deem most appropriate depending on their own situation, in order to make their contribution to the European target of reducing the number of persons at risk of poverty and/or social exclusion by at least 20 million between now and 2020.
TL;DR: The primary federal regulation concerning employment testing has not been revised in over 3 decades as mentioned in this paper and the regulation is substantially inconsistent with scientific knowledge and professional guidelines and practice, and the problems faced by U.S. employers in complying with the regulations.
Abstract: The primary federal regulation concerning employment testing has not been revised in over 3 decades. The regulation is substantially inconsistent with scientific knowledge and professional guidelines and practice. We summarize these inconsistencies and outline the problems faced by U.S. employers in complying with the regulations. We describe challenges associated with changing federal regulations and invite commentary as to how such changes can be implemented. We conclude that professional organizations, such as the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), should be much more active in promoting science-based federal regulation of employment practices. For most of the history of the United States, the employment opportunities of ethnic and racial minorities, women, and older adults were substantially restricted. With the enactment of federal civil rights legislation, the U.S. government sought to end such employment discrimination. The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Civil Service Commission, Department of Labor, & Department of Justice,1978), hereafter ‘‘UniformGuidelines,’’ are U.S. federal guidelines, ‘‘which are designed to assist employers [ ... ]t o comply with requirements of federal law prohibiting employment practices which
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss various aspects of our hospital merger analyses as well as the effects of authorized generic drugs on consumers and competition, and describe two ongoing studies on the use of credit-based insurance scores to price homeowners insurance, and the accuracy of consumers' credit reports that are provided by credit bureaus.
Abstract: Economists at the Federal Trade Commission pursue the agency’s competition and consumer protection missions. In this year’s essay, in antitrust, we discuss various aspects of our hospital merger analyses as well as the effects of authorized generic drugs on consumers and competition. In consumer protection, we describe two ongoing studies on the use of credit-based insurance scores to price homeowners insurance, and the accuracy of consumers’ credit reports that are provided by credit bureaus.
TL;DR: In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, supporters of campaign finance reform argued that American politics would soon be awash in corporate cash and that public policy outcomes would reflect the desires of big business as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , supporters of campaign finance reform argued that American politics would soon be awash in corporate cash and that public policy outcomes would reflect the desires of big business. Using event study methodology to isolate the effect of Citizens United on firms’ stock prices, this article finds that the financial markets did not share this view. Rather, key events in the case did not significantly affect the share prices of those large firms heavily engaged in and sensitive to politics, suggesting that investors expected the decision to have no effect on political and policy outcomes of concern to corporate America.
TL;DR: The Office of Health Economics is currently carrying out an expert commission on the role of competition in the NHS, to investigate which health services would benefit from competition and which would be harmed by it.
Abstract: Perhaps best known for producing an annual compendium of health statistics encompassing population, morbidity, mortality, UK healthcare expenditure, and NHS costs, the Office of Health Economics is currently carrying out an expert commission on the role of competition in the NHS. The idea is to investigate which health services would benefit from competition and which would be harmed by it.
By collecting evidence it says that it hopes to cut through extreme positions for and against that are unlikely to represent the most socially beneficial outcome.
Chaired by the Oxford economics professor James Malcomson, the commission expects to complete its work and issue a …
TL;DR: The Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour published a major report entitled Time for a Fresh Start as mentioned in this paper, which exposes the youth justice system in England and Wales to critical scrutiny.
Abstract: In 2010, the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour published a major report entitled Time for a Fresh Start (Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour, 2010). The Commission’s report exposes the youth justice system in England and Wales to critical scrutiny. During the course of its inquiries the Commission consulted with, and/or received ‘evidence’ from, over 170 individuals and organizations. At the conclusion of the same inquiries, the report was published alongside a companion volume entitled A New Response to Youth Crime (Smith, 2010). The titles of the report and its accompanying book leave little to the imagination; the Commission clearly believes that a ‘fresh start’ and/or a ‘new response’ to youth crime and youth justice are needed in England and Wales. Informed by a long-term research project centred on national and international youth justice theory, law, policy and practice, this article focuses exclusively upon the Commission’s report and subjects it to critical assessment. Whilst endorsing the Commission’s perceived need for change, the article presents a detailed critique of its ‘alternative’ vision. It concludes by raising core questions pertaining to youth justice policy formation and the politics of policy influence.
Book•
16 May 2011
TL;DR: Wallison's Dissent to the majority report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission reveals that government-mandated subprime loans, not greedy investors, were the force behind the deterioration in underwriting standards as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Peter J. Wallison is the only member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) to release a formal dissent to the FCIC's official report on the causes of the financial crisis. Wallison, codirector of financial policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, argues that the FCIC's report fails to address the cause of the deterioration in mortgage underwriting standards that led to the housing bubble widely accepted as the key factor in destabilizing the American economy. Wallison's Dissent to the Majority Report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission reveals that government-mandated subprime loans, not greedy investors, were the force behind the deterioration in underwriting standards. This dissent is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the causes of the financial crisis-and to prevent future economic collapse.
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TL;DR: The Europeanization of energy policies is desirable because the three main objectives of energy policy (climate protection, security of supply and competitiveness) have cross-border impacts as mentioned in this paper, and it is good that the European Union has been granted a competence for energy policy in the article 194 of the Lisbon treaty.
Abstract: The Europeanization of energy policies is desirable because the three main objectives of energy policy (climate protection, security of supply and competitiveness) have cross-border impacts. Hence, it is good that the European Union has been granted a competence for energy policy in the article 194 of the Lisbon treaty. In addition, it is good that the European Commission has published its long-term strategy to stabilize expectations which is important for infrastructure investment. It is regrettable though that price signals, competition and market principles only play a minor role for the Commission while rather doubtful objectives such as fostering energy efficiency and promoting renewable dominate the agenda. The Commission's strategy is mainly characterized by bureaucratic dirigisme, intense regulation, state planning and public subsidies. The road to a centrally planned energy industry is being walked down fast.
TL;DR: In this article, the role of the Commission in the European Union (EU) is analyzed and a game-theoretical model of two EU processes, Commission appointment and the adoption of legislation, is presented.
Abstract: This article analyses the role of the Commission in the European Union (EU). We present a game-theoretical model of two EU processes — Commission appointment and the adoption of legislation — and a...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an insight into a crucial aspect of the everyday behaviour of Commission officials and whether national identity and categorizations play a role in the Commission, and the empirical evidence on the new generation Commission officials operating in the post-reform Commission bureaucracy is scarce.
Abstract: There is a rich body of literature on the functioning of the European Commission and the profile of its officials in the 1990s and early 2000s. Yet, the empirical evidence on the new generation Commission officials operating in the post-reform Commission bureaucracy is scarce. What kind of individuals end up working for the Commission? How do they think and behave on a daily basis? This article provides an insight into a crucial aspect of the everyday behaviour of Commission officials and whether national identity and categorizations play a role in the Commission. The analysis of the functions and meanings of nationality in a multinational context and the ways in which officials deal with nationality provides evidence of cosmopolitan dispositions and practices. In contrast to what has been previously argued in the literature, the empirical findings point to the effect of self-selection, selection and organizational socialization in establishing cosmopolitanism in the Commission.
TL;DR: This paper argued that the current attention to obesity is heavily influenced by WHO research reports and that the WHO's recommendations on obesity supply EU institutions with a new agenda, which in turn mobilizes pan-European groups and private sector interests.
Abstract: In this paper, we argue that EU institutions have demonstrated an interest in diet/nutrition for some time, but only in the last five years has obesity risen to the top of the agenda. How did the Commission and European parliament become involved in fighting obesity? It is not because national governments or societal interest groups or public health agencies pushed EU officials to reduce the body mass of European citizens. Rather, drawing on the literature on transnational policy actors, we show that the current attention to obesity is heavily influenced by WHO research reports. Moreover, the WHO's recommendations on obesity supply EU institutions with a new agenda, which in turn mobilizes pan-European groups and private sector interests. Obesity provides a further example of entrepreneurial Commission officials pursuing alliances with international institutions in order to take advantage of their scientific expertise and to carve out a new EU agenda.
TL;DR: The role of the European Union (EU) in the Group of Eight (G8) framework has been examined in this article, where the authors argue that the EU in the G8 constitutes an unusual form of delegation because the principal-agent relationship is characterized by considerable degrees of informality and ambiguity.
Abstract: This article examines the role of the European Union (EU) in the Group of Eight (G8) framework. We suggest that the EU in the G8 constitutes an unusual form of delegation because the principal–agent (PA) relationship is characterized by considerable degrees of informality and ambiguity. The main argument advanced in this article is that the European Commission, the agent, despite being structurally disadvantaged at the outset, managed to emancipate itself within the G8 over time. This process of agent emancipation has been reinforced, above all, by the flexibility and informality of the G8, the evolving European integration process, and the growing Commission capabilities, standing and entrepreneurship. Although the Commission has managed to move considerably beyond the original PA design intended by the principals, member states' incentives to rely on the Commission also increased over time. We argue that the Commission itself was able to manipulate these incentives, which is most evident in the sub-case...