This study tests whether cooperation between securities regulators influences global market integration. I measure cooperation using arrangements between securities regulators that enable enhanced cross-border enforcement, better regulatory decisions, and reduced compliance obligations for cross-border activities. These arrangements-formed at different times for different country pairs-are associated with an 11% increase in cross-border investment. I find similar increases using other proxies for market integration. Cross-border investment and market integration thus depend, in part, on regulators working together to extend legal and institutional capacities across borders. This reframes our understanding of the role of institutions in global capital markets.

We investigate the effect of cross-border regulatory cooperation in the enforcement of securities laws on global-mutual-fund portfolio allocations. Our research design exploits a shock to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight of foreign firms cross-listed on a US stock exchange around the signing of the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU), a non-binding, information-sharing arrangement between global securities regulators. In signatory countries, foreign investment in US-cross-listed firms increases by $110 billion relative to non-cross-listed firms. The strongest effects are for investors facing greater information asymmetries, those from countries closely linked to the US, and non-US foreign investors, suggesting significant spillover effects from international regulatory cooperation.