The Political Economy of Gold Mining: An Analysis of Canadian Gold Mining Transnational Corporations’ Dominance in Latin America in Relation to U.S. Mining Corporations

This paper explores the Political Economy of gold mining and particularly, the prevalence of Canadian mining firms in Latin America in relation to U.S. firms. In order to understand how and why Canadian TNCs have become so dominant, this research examined mainstream explanations from Transaction Cost Economics and Historical Institutionalism perspectives. The study argues that such explanations are limited due to their underlying biases and assumptions that produce reductionist analysis of complex phenomena. In an effort to improve upon such reductionist analyses, the current paper applies French Régulation theory and its concept of ‘mode of régulation’ (MoR) in order to analyze how distinct, yet interconnected ‘Institutional Forms’—mainly the ‘form of state’, ‘form of competition’, and the ‘insertion of the state into the international regime’—characterize Latin America’s gold mining industry. Using Guatemala and Peru as illustrations, the findings suggest that an analysis of the MoR of the gold mining industry provides a more holistic and systematic (yet not deterministic) explanation than TCE and Historical Institutional explanations, that acknowledges the totality of relevant actors and the confluence of historically situated political, social and economic forces that shape the gold mining industry, and Canadian firms’ place within it.