BUILDING MARKETS? NEOLIBERALISM, COMPETITIVE FEDERALISM, AND THE ENDURING FRAGMENTATION OF THE AMERICAN MARKET by BENEDIKT SPRINGER A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Political Science and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2018 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Benedikt Springer Title: Building Markets? Neoliberalism, Competitive Federalism, and the Enduring Fragmentation of the American Market This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Political Science by: Dr. Craig Parsons Chairperson Dr. Gerald Berk Core Member Dr. Lars Skålnes Core Member Dr. Bruce Blonigen Institutional Representative and Sara D. Hodges Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2018 ii © 2018 Benedikt Springer iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Benedikt Springer Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science June 2018 Title: Building Markets? Neoliberalism, Competitive Federalism, and the Enduring Fragmentation of the American Market Why do interstate barriers persist and proliferate in the US and go unnoticed by neoliberal policy-makers, while in other places, like the EU, they get systematically addressed? I challenge the common assumption that the EU is trying but failing to emulate the single market created in the US a long time ago. I show that in many ways, the EU has adopted more liberal rules for the exchange of goods and services across its members states than the US has in effect across its state borders. Focused on the US, I assemble a wide-ranging set of evidence for this assertion ranging from federal policies pursued by conservative administrations since the 1980s and conservative think tank scholarship to an in-depth study of mobility and market barriers in the construction industry. To explain this, I develop two arguments. Firstly, I argue that American and European free-marketeers fundamentally conceptualize markets differently, with American conservatives seeing them as the natural product of government-non- intervention, and European officials seeing them has a deliberate creation of central authority. This leads to different market building strategies with differential effectiveness. At the same time, I argue that the fragmentation and decentralization of the party and interest representation system in the US incentivizes state by state and sector by sector thinking and dis-incentivizes political action—leaving the bigger picture, i.e. interstate iv barriers, unchanged. Especially interest groups struggle to articulate preferences for inter- state or cross-sectoral cooperation due to organizational incentives. Applying a Bayesian process-tracing logic to mostly within-case and some cross- case evidence, I test conventional structural and institutional theories against my account. Tracing the lack of mobilization of conservative policy-makers and agenda-setters around federal market authority since the 1980s, and interviews with firms, regulators, and legislators about interstate barriers in the construction industry, clearly demonstrate how their imagination of markets prevents a single market building agenda top-down while institutional structures prevent it bottom-up. This is a novel argument, speaking to broader debates about the socially- constructed nature of markets. Studying the US, shows that interstate barriers and local protectionism flourish when no central authority deliberately creates ‘free markets’. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Benedikt Springer GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene University of Tübingen, Germany DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Political Science, 2018, University of Oregon Master of Science, Political Science, 2015, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, Economics, 2011, University of Tübingen AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Comparative Politics, US Politics, European Integration, Federalism, Economic Regulation, Economic Policy Ideas PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Teaching and Research Assistant, University of Oregon, 2012-2018 Instructor, University of Oregon, 2017 Undergraduate Academic Advisor for Incoming Freshmen and Transfer Students, University of Oregon, 2017 Research Assistant, Tübingen, 2009-2011 Intern Assistant to Senator Jeff Merkley, U.S. Senate, 2012 Personal Assistant, District Mayor Ulrike Zich, Stadt Stuttgart, 2007-2008 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2012-2018 Blackman Memorial Scholarship, University of Oregon, Fall 2017 vi Scholarship to Attend Graduate Student Research Workshop on the EU, EU Research Center, University of Washington, April 2016 Conference Travel Scholarship, University of Oregon, March 2016 W. C. Mitchell Graduate Summer Research Scholarship, University of Oregon, Summer 2015 Conference Travel Scholarship, University of Oregon, February 2015 Tuition and Travel Grant for the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research at the University of Michigan, Department of Political Science, University of Oregon, Spring 2014 Conference Travel Scholarship, University of Oregon, April 2014 Scholarship of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation, Germany, to Study Abroad in the United States, 2011-2012 Scholarship of the City of Stuttgart, Germany, to Support Local Government and Engage Citizens in Local Politics, 2007-2008 PUBLICATIONS: Hoffman, Leif, Springer, Benedikt, and Craig Parsons. 2016.” Europe’s Liberal Centralism, America’s Illiberal Localism.” Paper Presented at: Conference of the Council for European Studies, Philadelphia, PA, April 14-17, 2016. Springer, Benedikt. 2016. “Comparing the Creation of Single Markets in Federations. How Neoliberalism in the US Undermines the Creation of Competitive Markets against its own Goals.” Paper presented at: 57th Annual Convention of the International Studies Associations, Atlanta, GA, March 16-19, 2016. Springer, Benedikt. 2015. “Preconditions for Trade Liberalization? How (US) Federalism Inhibits Progress Toward Liberalization of Government Procurement.” Paper presented at: 56th Annual Convention of the International Studies Associations, New Orleans, LA, February 18-21, 2015. Springer, Benedikt. 2014. “The Affinity and Interaction of Higher Education and Welfare State Regimes: The Cases of Germany and the US.” Paper presented at: Annual Meeting of the Pacific North West Political Science Association, Bend, OR October 9- 11, 2014. Springer, Benedikt. 2014. “Divergence in Higher Education Systems-The Political Economy of Learning; Germany, Sweden, and United States of America.” Paper vii presented at: Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 3-6, 2014. Springer, Benedikt. 2014. “Divergence in Higher Education Systems - The Political Economy of Learning; Germany, Sweden, and United States of America.” Paper presented at: Graduate Student Research Forum of the University of Oregon, March 7, 2014. Springer, Benedikt, Dittes, Sophia, and Carla Schweigert. 2011. “Die Protestbewegung gegen Stuttgart 21: Eine qualitative Analyse der Mobilisierungsmechanismen und Framingstrukturen” [Case Study of a Protest Movement - A Qualitative Evaluation of Successful Mobilization]. University of Tübingen, http://hdl.handle.net/10900/47876. Schmid, Josef, and Benedikt Springer. 2010. “Das Ganze ist mehr als die Summe seiner Lichtgestalten” [Social Scientific Analysis of the Soccer World Cup in 2010]. WIP Working Paper 46, University of Tübingen, https://tinyurl.com/ydbrpd6o. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express appreciation to all of those who have played key roles in realizing this dissertation project. First and foremost, I owe an incredible debt of gratitude to Dr. Craig Parsons. He has not only continuously mentored and advised me, but also supported me and believed in this project when I had given up. He has been the best dissertation chair, one can hope for. I would also like to thank Dr. Gerald Berk for his personal support, encouraging conversations, and discussions about the great Oregon outdoors. When I was overly excited about one way of thinking about an issue, he often provided the necessary grounding in other perspectives, thereby making this project more whole. I am also extremely grateful to Dr. Lars Skålnes for spending hours to help me sharpen and improve my analysis, as well as reminding me to not forget about the economic fundamentals and theories. I would also like to express gratitude to Dr. Bruce Blonigen, who agreed to serve as committee member for a dissertation that strayed far beyond the orthodoxies of economics research. I am also extremely grateful to numerous other graduate students and faculty in the Political Science Department that have offered me intellectual, social, and moral support. The process of writing a dissertation has been an incredible struggle, mental challenge, but also personal growth process for me. Beyond academics, Graduate School made me realize what is and what is not important to me, taught me much about my own identity, and demonstrated to me the importance of personal connections and relationships. As immigrant to the US, the wider-Eugene rock climbing community has become my quasi-family, who has supported me through all the ups and downs. Without them, this project would have never been realized.