Graeme Auld
LightNews LightNews
banner
graemeauld.bsky.social
Graeme Auld
@graemeauld.bsky.social
480 followers 270 following 49 posts
Professor, School of Public Policy & Administration @carletonsppa.bsky.social, Carleton University. Environment. Governance. Regulations. (web: https://carleton.ca/sppa/people/auld-graeme/?)

Co-Editor, Regulation & Governance @reggovjournal.bsky.social
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
graemeauld.bsky.social
Graeme Auld @graemeauld.bsky.social · May 3
New article in Resources Policy. #Openaccess

'Licensing to operate: Understanding variations in regulatory outcomes in the Australian mining sector'

Wrote this one with Lisa Mills & Jennifer Stewart. Thanks to #SSHRC for funding support.

See abstract 👇

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Licensing to operate: Understanding variations in regulatory outcomes in the Australian mining sector
Literature on natural resources has argued that to proceed with the development of a mine, mining companies need a “licence to operate” – the approval…
www.sciencedirect.com
graemeauld.bsky.social
Now out in the latest issue of New Political Economy. #RegGov #fisheries #audits #intermediaries

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Rethinking capacities of regulatory market-assurance intermediaries: the case of seafood sustainability audits
Credible assurances about the invisible qualities of goods and services – such as sustainability features – are key to market governance. The theory of regulatory intermediaries offers a lens for a...
www.tandfonline.com
June 10, 2025 at 1:45 AM
graemeauld.bsky.social
Would be great see a similar study in Canada.

FYI @sjcfishy.bsky.social
reggovjournal.bsky.social Regulation & Governance @reggovjournal.bsky.social · May 27
#Earlyview #Openaccess

'The Drivers of Science Referenced in US EPA Regulatory Impact Analyses: Open Access, Professional Popularity, and Agency Involvement'
By: Tyler A. Scott, Sojeong Kim, Liza Wood

See abstract below 👇

#RegulatoryScience #RegGov

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
ABSTRACT We perform bibliometric analysis on documents for 255 Regulatory Impact Analyzes (RIAs) prepared by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 1980 through 2024. Using a series of automated information extraction methods, we extract references from these documents and match them to bibliographic records. We then build a database of relevant articles (whether cited in an RIA or not) and fit a two-stage regression model that predicts whether, and how many times, a reference is used in RIAs as a function of journal prestige, professional popularity, article accessibility, EPA funding, and involvement of EPA employees as co-authors. By considering cited and uncited articles related to similar scientific concepts, we can observe systematic differences in what types of research products get used in policy analysis. Academic popularity, open access status, and EPA authorship and sponsorship all predict more likely and more frequent article use. Articles in prestigious journals are no more likely to be referenced, but once referenced in the corpus are then referenced more frequently.
May 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
Great new study. Interesting possible connections here to work on regulatory intermediaries.
reggovjournal.bsky.social Regulation & Governance @reggovjournal.bsky.social · May 27
#Openaccess #Earlyview

'Legal Brokers of Chinese Investment in Cambodia: Compliance Between Contract and Culture'
by: @matthewserie.bsky.social, Molly Bodurtha, Sokphea Young

See abstract below 👇

#RegGov #Compliance #investment

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
ABSTRACT In conventional understandings of compliance, lawyers and compliance officers internalize compliance within corporations. Complicating this model, this article argues that compliance professionals may occupy a Janus-faced role between informality and formality. We use the case of “legal brokers” of Chinese investment in Cambodia as our empirical testing ground. Based on qualitative fieldwork conducted in Cambodia from 2019 to 2022, we find that legal brokers between Chinese investors and Cambodian counterparties are a vital feature of the market converting illicit into lawful capital. Our findings have implications for not just compliance professionals but also market entry, sustainable development, anti-bribery, and rule of law. By drawing on theoretical literature including relational contract and guanxixue (the study of guanxi or “social ties”), we scale up our findings to conclude that a focus on legal brokers reveals a social reality that may be more emblematic for most of the world than the existing model.
May 27, 2025 at 3:00 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
Enjoyed reading this review of the late James Scott's 'In Praise of Floods' Like the idea of a flood as a river 'breathing deeply'

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
James C. Scott and the Art of Resistance
The late political scientist enjoined readers to look for opposition to authoritarian states not in revolutionary vanguards but in acts of quiet disobedience.
www.newyorker.com
May 14, 2025 at 3:47 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
More on the storyline of whether the IRA tax incentives will survive, and what this will mean for business investment in clean energy.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/c...
A Clean Energy Boom Was Just Starting. Now, a Republican Bill Aims to End It.
www.nytimes.com
May 13, 2025 at 5:59 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
Change of direction for Nova Scotia law tackling internal barriers to trade. Time limits on licensing process rather than outright mutual recognition, but still questions of what constitutes equivalence in professional training.

www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
Nova Scotia waters down plans to attract workers, showing limits of its ambitions to ease trade barriers
The province initially made waves when it introduced legislation to remove red tape that hindered interprovincial trade
www.theglobeandmail.com
May 12, 2025 at 1:52 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
We are hiring. Come join an amazing group of scholars in the beautiful city of Ottawa. See below for details of Tier II CRC position in Health Care Governance.

carleton.ca/deputyprovos...
Tier II CRC appointment in Health Care Governance, School of Public Policy and Administration (Health Care Governance; Health Policy; Health Services Research; Health Administration) - Office of the D...
About the Position The Faculty of Public and Global Affairs at Carleton University invites applications from qualified candidates for a SSHRC Tier II Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Health Care Governa...
carleton.ca
May 9, 2025 at 4:56 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
New article in Resources Policy. #Openaccess

'Licensing to operate: Understanding variations in regulatory outcomes in the Australian mining sector'

Wrote this one with Lisa Mills & Jennifer Stewart. Thanks to #SSHRC for funding support.

See abstract 👇

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Licensing to operate: Understanding variations in regulatory outcomes in the Australian mining sector
Literature on natural resources has argued that to proceed with the development of a mine, mining companies need a “licence to operate” – the approval…
www.sciencedirect.com
May 3, 2025 at 9:54 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
A sad story on many levels.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/u...
Downtown L.A. Has Seen Its Share of Violence. Then Someone Went After Its Trees.
The authorities said a man used a chain saw to destroy more than a dozen trees in downtown Los Angeles, an attack that saddened and rattled residents and city leaders.
www.nytimes.com
April 26, 2025 at 12:45 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
This was a helpful read.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Battle for the Bros
Young men have gone MAGA. Can the left win them back?
www.newyorker.com
April 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
Pleased to be teaching the #MPPA capstone course again this year. Students are in for a full week focused on internal barriers to trade in Canada. So grateful to all the expert speakers who will be joining the class for two days of talks.
April 18, 2025 at 1:22 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
Removing 'harm' from the ESA means no more consideration of habitat degradation / loss as vector for endangerment.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/c...
Trump Administration Aims to Redefine ‘Harm’ for Endangered Species
Trump officials have proposed changing a decades-old interpretation of a key word in the Endangered Species Act, which would make it much easier to log, build or drill for oil.
www.nytimes.com
April 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
NOAA cuts effects for salmon fisheries.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/c...
NOAA Staffing Cuts Threaten Years of Salmon Harvests
In Washington, where salmon is a multibillion dollar industry, government staff terminations and budget freezes may put salmon production at risk.
www.nytimes.com
April 9, 2025 at 12:00 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
It was a pleasure to attend and participate in this meeting of the UNFSS Academic Advisory Council. Lots to discuss given the rise of geoeconomics.
idos-research.bsky.social IDOS_research @idos-research.bsky.social · Mar 31
Changing Landscapes of #SustainabilityGovernance: What's Next for #VSS? IDOS is co-hosting the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) Academic Advisory Council Meeting 2025 today and tomorrow in Bonn: www.idos-research.de/en/events/de...
April 9, 2025 at 12:47 AM
graemeauld.bsky.social
FYI @greenprofgreen.bsky.social @jenniferhadden.bsky.social @jeffcolgan.bsky.social @jenirisallan.bsky.social @matthoffmann.bsky.social @mattomildenberger.bsky.social @matpaterson.bsky.social @peternewell.bsky.social @stacydvandeveer.bsky.social
reggovjournal.bsky.social Regulation & Governance @reggovjournal.bsky.social · Apr 8
#Specialissue #Greentransitions #Politicaleconomy

'Green Transitions: Rethinking Political Economy in the Context of Climate Change'
by @basakkus.bsky.social & Gregory Jackson

See special issue introduction 👇

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
ABSTRACT Although political economy (PE) has long engaged with environmental issues, climate change has remained at the margins of the field until very recently. This article argues that fully addressing the transformative challenges brought up by climate change requires a fundamental rethinking of core PE concepts related to the state, distributional struggles, economic growth, varieties of capitalism, and markets. Rather than treating the state as a neutral regulator or market facilitator, we conceptualize the green state as actively structuring transitions through mitigation policies, adaptation strategies, and the governance of just transition conflicts. Green transitions generate new distributional conflicts—within and across countries, between incumbent and emerging industries, and among social groups with unequal exposure to climate risks and transition costs. Climate policy also challenges growth-centered economic models, raising questions about the viability of green growth versus degrowth strategies. Different varieties of capitalism are evolving in response, with distinct institutional pathways shaping the speed and character of transition efforts. Finally, we critique market-based approaches that assume price mechanisms alone can drive decarbonization, highlighting the role of non-economic values, institutional constraints, and distributional struggles in shaping green markets. By linking climate change to core debates in comparative and international political economy, we identify new research agendas for understanding the uneven and contested pathways of green transitions across economic systems. This article, along with the others in this special issue on Greening the Economy: Toward a New Political Economy, aims to bridge some of these critical gaps.
April 8, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Graeme Auld
reggovjournal.bsky.social
Volume 19, issue 2 is now out. 📖

See the table of contents 👇
Issue includes a special issue on 'Greening the Economy: Toward a New Political Economy'

Other articles on #lobbying #implementation #intermediaries #procurement

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17485991...
Green Transitions: Rethinking Political Economy in the Context of Climate Change Basak Kus, Gregory Jackson Pages: 287-302 First Published: 07 April 2025 From a cultural to a distributive issue: Public climate action as a new field for comparative political economy Hanna Schwander, Jonas Fischer Pages: 303-328 First Published: 20 August 2024 Tackling toxins: Case studies of industrial pollutants and implications for climate policy Tim Bartley, Malcolm Fairbrother Pages: 329-348 First Published: 10 September 2024 Financialization and an emerging “green investor state”: Examining China's use of state-backed funds for green transition Kasper Ingeman Beck, Mathias Larsen Pages: 349-369 First Published: 21 August 2024 Historical Foundations of Green Developmental Policies: Divergent Trajectories in United States and France Ritwick Ghosh, Stephanie Barral, Fanny Guillet Pages: 370-382 First Published: 08 October 2024 Picking Losers: Climate Change and Managed Decline in the European Union Timur Ergen, Luuk Schmitz Pages: 383-398 First Published: 06 March 2025 Climate Politics in Latin America: The Cases of Chile and Mexico Isik D. Özel Pages: 399-421 First Published: 05 March 2025 Digitalization and the green transition: Different challenges, same policy responses? Marius R. Busemeyer, Sophia Stutzmann, Tobias Tober Pages: 422-447 First Published: 03 September 2024 Decarbonization under geoeconomic distress? Energy shocks, carbon lock-ins, and Germany's pathway toward net zero Milan Babić, Daniel Mertens Pages: 448-468 First Published: 19 September 2024 Fossil Capital in the Caribbean: The Toxic Role of “Regulatory Havens” in Climate Change Jose Atiles, David Whyte Pages: 469-481 First Published: 12 February 2025 The Development of Carbon Markets in Upper-Middle-Income Countries Pieter E. Stek, Renato Lima-de-Oliveira, Thessa Vasudhevan Pages: 482-495 First Published: 05 March 2025 The Rise of Investor-Driven Climate Governance: From Myth to Insti…
April 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
A reminder that climate change cannot be ignored when trying to address other pressing policy issues, like housing.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/n...
In 15 Years, 80,000 Homes in the New York Area May Be Lost to Flooding
The metro region’s housing shortage is acute. But by 2040, dozens of neighborhoods and suburbs are likely to have lost thousands of homes to floods, a new report found.
www.nytimes.com
April 7, 2025 at 6:40 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
This is an inspiring initiative from UofT colleagues.

wedidit2050.ca
We Did It!?
wedidit2050.ca
April 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Graeme Auld
reggovjournal.bsky.social
#Earlyview #Openaccess

'Taking Eco-Social Risks Seriously: Explaining the Introduction of Compulsory Insurance for Natural Hazards'
by @anneparth.bsky.social

#risk #naturalhazards #insurance #quietpolitics

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
ABSTRACT Given the ongoing climate crisis, the frequency and severity of natural disasters are increasing. These events result in enormous reconstruction costs, pose a high burden on state budgets, and potentially drive homeowners into private insolvency. One policy instrument for collectively covering such costs is a compulsory insurance scheme for natural hazards. As the impact of natural disasters is uneven, introducing mandatory insurance regulation has a range of social and financial implications. While some European countries have introduced compulsory schemes, others have adopted different policy responses. Taking this variation as the main puzzle, I consider what factors can explain the introduction of compulsory insurance for natural hazards. Building on public risk and quiet politics literature, I identify several factors and test these against three empirical cases: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This analysis finds that focusing events are necessary for policy change, but the position and power of interest groups, as well as exogenous shocks within the EU context, were also crucial to explaining the introduction, rejection, and even termination of compulsory insurance schemes for natural hazards.
April 3, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Graeme Auld
reggovjournal.bsky.social
#Earlyview #Openaccess

'Impact Assessment as Agenda-Setting: Procedural Politicking and the Mobilization of Bias in the European Union's Audiovisual Media Services Directive'
By @eleanorbrooks.bsky.social & @kat-lauber.bsky.social

#RegGov #BetterRegulation

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
ABSTRACT Though often framed as a technocratic tool, impact assessment is a core element of the political agenda-setting process. In this article, we show that decisions about what is subject to legislative debate are made during impact assessment; specifically, during the drafting of the assessment report. Using a social process tracing methodology, we analyze the removal from the agenda of provisions for stronger alcohol advertising rules during the revision of the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive. We identify and test three possible explanations for this non-decision, drawing on material not previously in the public domain, and exploring how procedural politicking in the context of the EU's Better Regulation agenda shapes the drafting process. Concluding that the non-decision on alcohol advertising regulation was most likely prompted by combined political pressure from within and outwith the Commission, we argue for greater attention to impact assessment as a tool for mobilizing bias and agenda-setting.
March 14, 2025 at 9:55 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
Looking forward to reading these papers, particularly the first article 'Technology and International Environmental Cooperation' (by @frabitz.bsky.social) Reminds me of earlier work on role of tech in functioning of private regulation (www.cambridge.org/core/journal...)
March 11, 2025 at 8:48 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
A pleasure to share this post about my excellent colleague's work. 👇
pubpolicychina.bsky.social Dr. Annemieke van den Dool @pubpolicychina.bsky.social · Sep 27
This recent @psjeditor.bsky.social article by Anna Kopec shows how people who experience homelessness participate in politics. Activities include voting & informing/advising general public, peers, government & other relevant organisations to bring about change. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ps
This is a screenshot of the article mentioned in the tweet. The title is "The interactive effects of policies: Insights for policy feedback theory from a qualitative study on homelessness."
March 11, 2025 at 6:45 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
A post about an older paper. This one is an assessment of why some Canadian fish stocks do better, the same, or worse than expected, & what else might explain this divergent performance. #fisheries #openaccess

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Abstract Despite progress in the management of assessed fish populations, many countries lag behind international commitments to restore overexploited stocks to healthy abundances. Here we use a mixed-methods positive deviance approach, also known as ‘bright spot’ analysis, to understand what drives the successful governance of exploited species by learning from positive outliers, or ‘deviants’. We use Canada as a case study, identifying factors driving the abundance of 230 commercially exploited fish and invertebrate populations, of which only 28% were classified at healthy abundance in 2022. We first applied a generalized linear model to test how diverse socio-ecological fishery attributes relate to stock health. We found healthier stocks are positively and significantly correlated with certain management regions, more selective gears, eco-certification, and high fishery value. Counterintuitively, healthier stocks were also associated with high inherent fishing vulnerability and the absence of reference points. We then used fishery expert surveys and interviews to investigate the social and institutional characteristics of stocks healthier than expected, given their circumstances. We found that fisheries targeting these positive outliers have lower conflict among users, balanced stakeholder involvement in data collection and decision-making, and improved accounting of mortality sources. Lessons from these positive deviants can be applied to improve underperforming management systems that are struggling to reverse overexploitation in Canada and elsewhere. More generally, we suggest that a positive deviance approach, already used in public health, could be a promising tool to learn about successful fisheries management interventions, and the diverse actors responsible for ensuring these interventions are successful.
March 8, 2025 at 8:59 PM
graemeauld.bsky.social
An older piece. But increasingly relevant given the more uncertain and increasingly fragmented future for AI governance & regulations.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Governing AI through ethical standards: learning from the experiences of other private governance initiatives
A range of private actors are positioning varied public and private policy venues as appropriate for defining standards governing the ethical implications of artificial intelligence (AI). Three ide...
www.tandfonline.com
March 6, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Graeme Auld
reggovjournal.bsky.social
#Earlyview #Openaccess

'Picking Losers: Climate Change and Managed Decline in the European Union'
by @trgn.bsky.social & @luukschmitz.bsky.social
#Climatechange #industrialpolicy #RegGov #EU

Abstract below 👇

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
ABSTRACT Decarbonization forces societies to cope with the restructuring and outright unwinding of assets, firms, workers, industries, and regions. We argue that this problem has created legitimacy for industrial policies managing the reallocation of resources. We illustrate this dynamic by documenting incremental state-building in the European Union, an administration institutionally tilted toward regulatory statehood and the making of the Single Market in energy since the 1990s. European greening policies, we argue, have incrementally lessened the primacy of regulatory tools and have introduced a plethora of instruments to accelerate green restructuring and carbon unwinding. Best understood as a process of multi-sited institutional layering, the European Union increasingly appears to complement financial and regulatory instruments to effect green energy transitions with the management of decline in targeted regions and sectors, based on targeted funds and targeted transition planning.
March 6, 2025 at 3:56 PM