The Hard Laws of the Market: Accounting Juridification and the Demise of Public-Private Partnerships in Europe

Bridging the gap between political economy and the sociology of law, this paper advances the concept of “accounting juridification” to explain the understudied, yet persistent decline of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Europe despite, significant initiatives to promote them. Detailed examination of Eurostat’s legal prerogatives and accounting case law highlights two stages of “accounting juridification”, defined as a process of law’s expansion to the domain of national accounting. Under fragmentary accounting juridification, European accountants decisively supported the PPP market by paving the way for off-balance sheet recording. However, under extensive accounting juridification, they subsequently reduced the attractiveness of PPPs by enshrining a more stringent case law into European law. This analysis contributes to current debates on investment policies in Europe by demonstrating how accounting juridification might impact the domestic implementation of grand strategies. Accordingly, it also sheds new light on the repoliticization of European fiscal rules over the past decade.