Regulating Cross-Border Data Flows: A Law and Economics Perspective on cross-border insolvency data assets
As data becomes an increasingly valuable asset in the digital economy, its treatment in cross-border insolvency proceedings raises pressing legal and economic challenges. This article analyzes the regulatory governance of cross-border data assets through a law and economics lens, focusing on how data is conceptualized, valued, and transferred during insolvency across jurisdictions. It examines the tension between maximizing economic efficiency in asset recovery and respecting divergent national rules on data privacy, localization, and sovereignty. Employing tools such as cost-benefit analysis, transaction cost theory, and game theory, this study evaluates how current legal fragmentation, in both insolvency frameworks and data governance regimes, generates inefficiencies, legal uncertainty, and risks of opportunism. This paper assesses existing mechanisms such as the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency and emerging data governance regimes, proposing institutional solutions that reduce coordination failures. It advocates for a harmonized, risk-sensitive framework that aligns insolvency law with evolving cross-border data regulation, ensuring both creditor protection and data integrity in a globalized digital economy.