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Contracting with Whom? The Differential Effects of Investment Treaties on FDI

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  • Sarah Bauerle Danzman

Abstract

Under what conditions can governments use international commitments such as Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) to attract foreign direct investment (FDI)? Although numerous studies have attempted to answer this question, none considers how investment treaties may have heterogeneous affects across industry. I argue BIT effect is strongest when the obsolescing bargaining problem between firms and governments is most protracted, namely, when FDI relies on strong contracts between firms and states. Using a time series cross-sectional data set of 114 developing countries from 1985 to 2011, I find BITs are associated with increases in infrastructure investment, an industry particularly reliant on the sanctity of government contracts, but not with total FDI inflows. Moreover, BITs with strong arbitration provisions display the strongest statistical effect on infrastructure investment, while BITs that do not provide investors with such protections are not associated with increased investment. My results have implications for both scholarship on the relationship between governments and multinational firms as well as for the study of international institutions more broadly. To properly ascertain the effects of international treaties and institutions, scholars should consider not just whether institutions constrain or inform—or matter at all—but also the extent to which the targets of institutions have heterogeneous responses to them.

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  • Sarah Bauerle Danzman, 2016. "Contracting with Whom? The Differential Effects of Investment Treaties on FDI," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 452-478, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:ginixx:v:42:y:2016:i:3:p:452-478
    DOI: 10.1080/03050629.2016.1121451
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kirkegaard, Jacob Funk, 2012. "Transactions: A New Look at Service Sector Foreign Direct Investment in Asia," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 318, Asian Development Bank.
    2. Jennifer Tobin & Susan Rose-Ackerman, 2003. "Foreign Direct Investment and the Business Environment in Developing Countries: the Impact of Bilateral Investment Treaties," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 587, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Elsig, Manfred & Ganeson, Kirthana & Jusoh, Sufian & Lugg, Andrew, 2024. "Why is there no investor-state dispute settlement in RCEP? Bargaining and Contestation in the Investment Regime," Papers 1436, World Trade Institute.
    4. Ganga, Paula & Kalyanpur, Nikhil, 2022. "The limits of global property rights: Quasi-Experimental evidence from the Energy Charter Treaty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

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