We argue that firms with foreign operations misallocate capital and underperform when they face political instability abroad. We develop and test a dynamic model of firm capital allocation under foreign political instability. The model shows that as a political regime becomes less stable, independently of whether the regime becomes less business-friendly or more business-friendly, firms invest sub-optimally (firms either over-invest or under-invest), and their marginal qs diverge further from an optimal level. Using elections and textual analysis of local media during national elections, we construct a novel index of political instability. We find that U.S. firms and industries with a greater exposure to election-induced political instability experience disruptions of investment efficiency which lead to lower valuations and lower Total Factor Productivity. Therefore, international trade is a significant conduit of foreign political instability into U.S. markets.
{"title":"Foreign Risk - Domestic Problem: Capital Allocation and Performance under Political Instability","authors":"Burcin Col, A. Durnev, A. Molchanov","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2056114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2056114","url":null,"abstract":"We argue that firms with foreign operations misallocate capital and underperform when they face political instability abroad. We develop and test a dynamic model of firm capital allocation under foreign political instability. The model shows that as a political regime becomes less stable, independently of whether the regime becomes less business-friendly or more business-friendly, firms invest sub-optimally (firms either over-invest or under-invest), and their marginal qs diverge further from an optimal level. Using elections and textual analysis of local media during national elections, we construct a novel index of political instability. We find that U.S. firms and industries with a greater exposure to election-induced political instability experience disruptions of investment efficiency which lead to lower valuations and lower Total Factor Productivity. Therefore, international trade is a significant conduit of foreign political instability into U.S. markets.","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"144 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123274324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Many developing countries display remarkably high degrees of urban concentration that are incommensurate with their levels of urbanization. The cost of excessively high levels of urban concentration can be very high in terms of overpopulation, congestion, and productivity growth. One strand of the theoretical literature suggests that such high levels of concentration may be the result of restrictive trade policies that trigger forces of agglomeration. Another strand of the literature, however, points out that trade liberalization itself may exacerbate urban concentration by favoring the further growth of those large urban centers that have better access to international markets. The empirical basis for judging this question has been weak so far; in the existing literature, trade policies are poorly measured (or are not measured, as when trade volumes are used spuriously). Here, new disaggregated tariff measures are used to empirically test the hypothesis. A treatment-and-control analysis of pre- versus post-liberalization performance of the cities is also employed in liberalizing and non-liberalizing countries. It is found that (controlling for the largest cities that have ports and, thus, have better access to external markets) liberalizing trade leads to a reduction in urban concentration.
{"title":"Trade and Cities","authors":"Cem Karayalçin, H. Yilmazkuday","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2149567","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2149567","url":null,"abstract":"Many developing countries display remarkably high degrees of urban concentration that are incommensurate with their levels of urbanization. The cost of excessively high levels of urban concentration can be very high in terms of overpopulation, congestion, and productivity growth. One strand of the theoretical literature suggests that such high levels of concentration may be the result of restrictive trade policies that trigger forces of agglomeration. Another strand of the literature, however, points out that trade liberalization itself may exacerbate urban concentration by favoring the further growth of those large urban centers that have better access to international markets. The empirical basis for judging this question has been weak so far; in the existing literature, trade policies are poorly measured (or are not measured, as when trade volumes are used spuriously). Here, new disaggregated tariff measures are used to empirically test the hypothesis. A treatment-and-control analysis of pre- versus post-liberalization performance of the cities is also employed in liberalizing and non-liberalizing countries. It is found that (controlling for the largest cities that have ports and, thus, have better access to external markets) liberalizing trade leads to a reduction in urban concentration.","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129524948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Historically India is the largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses. Although it is the world’s largest pulses producer, Indiahas been importing 3-4 million tons (MT)of pulses every year to meet its domestic demand. However, during the last decade, growth in pulses production has increased significantly. India achieved a record output in pulses production at 18.1 MT in 2010-11 with an all-time high production achieved in chickpea (8.25 MT), moong (1.82MT) and urad (1.74 MT). Even though pulses production increased significantly during the last decade, continuing the faster growth is a bigger challenge for researchers, extension agencies and policy makers. For some crops such as oilseeds, earlier experience shows most of the success is short lived if we don’t align production technology with policy support (Reddy 2009). Still, the productivity of pulses in India (694 kg/ha) is lower than most of the major pulse producing countries and yield potential attained at research stations and on-farm demonstrations. The brief discusses strategies followed to increase pulses production in the last decade and the way forward to sustain the increased production. It also examines the factors behind the fast growth in production of pulses in recent years with chickpea in Andhra Pradesh as an example. Introduction of chickpea crop into non-traditional areas like south Indian states is an example of technological and institutional breakthrough to be replicated in other crops. Introduction of chickpea into black cotton soils, availability of plenty of rabi fallow lands, adoption of short duration and high yielding varieties like KAK- 2 and JG-11, and well developed land lease market to facilitate large scale mechanization to cope with labor shortage in villages are some of the contributing factors for the expansion of chickpea area into south Indian states. It highlighted the importance of (i) successful government programs like National Food Security Mission in increasing pulses production, (ii) development and distribution of improved seed through semi-formal seed systems and farmers participatory varietal selection (FPVS) , (iii)emphasis on abiotic and biotic stress management to increase stability in area and yields through integrated approach (iv) increased availability of subsidised improved seed, micronutrients like sulphur, gypsum, popularization of herbicides and farm machinery to cope with labor shortages, and lastly (v) developing market information systems and warehouse infrastructure, enhancing credit availability, establishing markets with state-of-the-art post harvest management and cold storages
{"title":"Enabling Pulses Revolution in India","authors":"A Amarender A. Reddy, M. Bantilan, G. Mohan","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2240347","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2240347","url":null,"abstract":"Historically India is the largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses. Although it is the world’s largest pulses producer, Indiahas been importing 3-4 million tons (MT)of pulses every year to meet its domestic demand. However, during the last decade, growth in pulses production has increased significantly. India achieved a record output in pulses production at 18.1 MT in 2010-11 with an all-time high production achieved in chickpea (8.25 MT), moong (1.82MT) and urad (1.74 MT). Even though pulses production increased significantly during the last decade, continuing the faster growth is a bigger challenge for researchers, extension agencies and policy makers. For some crops such as oilseeds, earlier experience shows most of the success is short lived if we don’t align production technology with policy support (Reddy 2009). Still, the productivity of pulses in India (694 kg/ha) is lower than most of the major pulse producing countries and yield potential attained at research stations and on-farm demonstrations. The brief discusses strategies followed to increase pulses production in the last decade and the way forward to sustain the increased production. It also examines the factors behind the fast growth in production of pulses in recent years with chickpea in Andhra Pradesh as an example. Introduction of chickpea crop into non-traditional areas like south Indian states is an example of technological and institutional breakthrough to be replicated in other crops. Introduction of chickpea into black cotton soils, availability of plenty of rabi fallow lands, adoption of short duration and high yielding varieties like KAK- 2 and JG-11, and well developed land lease market to facilitate large scale mechanization to cope with labor shortage in villages are some of the contributing factors for the expansion of chickpea area into south Indian states. It highlighted the importance of (i) successful government programs like National Food Security Mission in increasing pulses production, (ii) development and distribution of improved seed through semi-formal seed systems and farmers participatory varietal selection (FPVS) , (iii)emphasis on abiotic and biotic stress management to increase stability in area and yields through integrated approach (iv) increased availability of subsidised improved seed, micronutrients like sulphur, gypsum, popularization of herbicides and farm machinery to cope with labor shortages, and lastly (v) developing market information systems and warehouse infrastructure, enhancing credit availability, establishing markets with state-of-the-art post harvest management and cold storages","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115341055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Greater Coherence in Global Economic Policymaking: Progress and Prospect","authors":"Chien-Huei Wu","doi":"10.1007/978-3-642-40913-4_4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40913-4_4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"99 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123680757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Without transparency, trade agreements are just words on paper. Transparency as disclosure allows economic actors and trading partners to see how rules are implanted; transparency in decision-making ensures fairness and peer review. In the first section of this paper, I discuss the logic of transparency in general and the motivation for its use in the trading system. Considerable information on WTO transparency mechanisms is available in the Minutes and annual reports of the various WTO bodies, and in the Director-General's annual overview of the trading system, but comparative analysis is not easy. In the second section, therefore, I develop a framework in which different transparency mechanisms can be compared to each other using the metaphor of three generations in the evolution of transparency in the trading system as a means of explaining how transparency works in the WTO. For sunshine to work, at least two things must happen. Information must be made available, and Members have to use it. Probing the extent to which Members comply with their notification obligations, in the third section, and their efforts to improve the notification process, allow an assessment of their commitment to being transparent. In the fourth section I consider how WTO committees are used to ensure that Members are accountable for their commitments, including to notify. Since the committees differ, I use the metaphor of the great pyramid of the legal order to compare committees to each other. Assessment of whether these mechanisms work underpins observations in the conclusion on whether more sunshine is needed, and efforts underway to improve existing mechanisms.
{"title":"Letting the Sun Shine in at the WTO: How Transparency Brings the Trading System to Life","authors":"Robert Wolfe","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2231394","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2231394","url":null,"abstract":"Without transparency, trade agreements are just words on paper. Transparency as disclosure allows economic actors and trading partners to see how rules are implanted; transparency in decision-making ensures fairness and peer review. In the first section of this paper, I discuss the logic of transparency in general and the motivation for its use in the trading system. Considerable information on WTO transparency mechanisms is available in the Minutes and annual reports of the various WTO bodies, and in the Director-General's annual overview of the trading system, but comparative analysis is not easy. In the second section, therefore, I develop a framework in which different transparency mechanisms can be compared to each other using the metaphor of three generations in the evolution of transparency in the trading system as a means of explaining how transparency works in the WTO. For sunshine to work, at least two things must happen. Information must be made available, and Members have to use it. Probing the extent to which Members comply with their notification obligations, in the third section, and their efforts to improve the notification process, allow an assessment of their commitment to being transparent. In the fourth section I consider how WTO committees are used to ensure that Members are accountable for their commitments, including to notify. Since the committees differ, I use the metaphor of the great pyramid of the legal order to compare committees to each other. Assessment of whether these mechanisms work underpins observations in the conclusion on whether more sunshine is needed, and efforts underway to improve existing mechanisms.","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133707620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Multinational Firms and the Structure of International Trade","authors":"Pol Antràs, S. Yeaple","doi":"10.1016/B978-0-444-54314-1.00002-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-54314-1.00002-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127987468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Countries with diversi ed export baskets take advantage of various bene ts, which are said to foster and stabilize economic growth directly and through indirect channels (e.g. reduced income volatility, positive externalities, spillover e ects). This is especially important in the context of developing economies. However, identifying the true determinants of export diversifi cation is di cult as there exists no comprehensive theoretical or empirical framework to capture all potential factors in their entirety. This paper uses Bayesian Model Averaging to uncover the true long-term roots of export diversi cation among 43 potential determinants,and thus 2 potential models. Our results suggest that only four factors are important in predicting export diversi cation levels over the long run: natural resource rents as a percentage of GDP (100 % posterior inclusion probability), primary school enrollment rates (96 %), population size (25 %), and foreign direct investment levels (17 %). Many prominent candidates turn out to be insigni cant in determining diversi cation levels. Neither policy-related variables (e.g. tari s, freedom from trade regulations or democracy) nor macroeconomic factors (such as trade openness, terms of trade or domestic investment levels) nor geographical remoteness (whether the country is an island or landlocked) play a role. Various robustness checks con rm our results.
{"title":"The Roots of Export Diversification","authors":"Michael Jetter, Andrés Ramírez Hassan","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2193650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2193650","url":null,"abstract":"Countries with diversi ed export baskets take advantage of various bene ts, which are said to foster and stabilize economic growth directly and through indirect channels (e.g. reduced income volatility, positive externalities, spillover e ects). This is especially important in the context of developing economies. However, identifying the true determinants of export diversifi cation is di cult as there exists no comprehensive theoretical or empirical framework to capture all potential factors in their entirety. This paper uses Bayesian Model Averaging to uncover the true long-term roots of export diversi cation among 43 potential determinants,and thus 2 potential models. Our results suggest that only four factors are important in predicting export diversi cation levels over the long run: natural resource rents as a percentage of GDP (100 % posterior inclusion probability), primary school enrollment rates (96 %), population size (25 %), and foreign direct investment levels (17 %). Many prominent candidates turn out to be insigni cant in determining diversi cation levels. Neither policy-related variables (e.g. tari s, freedom from trade regulations or democracy) nor macroeconomic factors (such as trade openness, terms of trade or domestic investment levels) nor geographical remoteness (whether the country is an island or landlocked) play a role. Various robustness checks con rm our results.","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129955170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article places international trade law in the context of the rapid increase in economic growth and globalization over the last 60 years that is reducing poverty and expanding the middle class in most nations of the world. This economic and cultural integration of markets and peoples has been stimulated by two major factors: first, the increase in technological innovation in transport, information technology and manufacturing processes and second, the removal of legal barriers to the flow of goods, capital and knowledge around the globe stimulated by successive rounds of trade negotiations at the GATT and later the WTO.The arguments for and against globalization are analyzed within the context of the history of economic ideas and with an understanding that there are tradeoffs because not all people benefit from these rapid changes. While technological innovation spurs economic growth, the full benefits cannot be realized unless technology and the resulting products are widely available through trade. The world trade regime has evolved to significantly remove barriers to trade, provide a forum to settle trade disputes, and develop uniform legal standards to resolve disputes. The chapter forecasts a further increase in the trend toward one world market, the convergence of wage rates for manufactured products and many services, the continued rise of the middle class in emerging economies and a movement toward greater international governance driven by increased pressure for uniform laws to reduce uncertainty and for international forums to reduce inconsistency in application.
{"title":"Trade, Globalization and Economic Policy","authors":"J. Kelly","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2191073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2191073","url":null,"abstract":"This article places international trade law in the context of the rapid increase in economic growth and globalization over the last 60 years that is reducing poverty and expanding the middle class in most nations of the world. This economic and cultural integration of markets and peoples has been stimulated by two major factors: first, the increase in technological innovation in transport, information technology and manufacturing processes and second, the removal of legal barriers to the flow of goods, capital and knowledge around the globe stimulated by successive rounds of trade negotiations at the GATT and later the WTO.The arguments for and against globalization are analyzed within the context of the history of economic ideas and with an understanding that there are tradeoffs because not all people benefit from these rapid changes. While technological innovation spurs economic growth, the full benefits cannot be realized unless technology and the resulting products are widely available through trade. The world trade regime has evolved to significantly remove barriers to trade, provide a forum to settle trade disputes, and develop uniform legal standards to resolve disputes. The chapter forecasts a further increase in the trend toward one world market, the convergence of wage rates for manufactured products and many services, the continued rise of the middle class in emerging economies and a movement toward greater international governance driven by increased pressure for uniform laws to reduce uncertainty and for international forums to reduce inconsistency in application.","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116020743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There is strong evidence that different income groups consume different bundles of goods. This evidence suggests that trade liberalization can affect welfare inequality within a country via changes in the relative prices of goods consumed by different income groups (the price effect). In this paper, I develop a framework that enables us to explore the role of the price effect in determining welfare inequality. There are two core elements in the model. First, I assume that heterogenous in income consumers share identical but nonhomothetic preferences. Secondly, I consider a monopolistic competition environment that leads to variable markups affected by trade and trade costs. I find that trade liberalization does affect the prices of different goods differently and, as a result, can benefit some income classes more than others. In particular, I show that the relative welfare of the rich with respect to that of the poor has a hump shape as a function of trade costs.
{"title":"Trade Liberalization and Welfare Inequality: A Demand‐Based Approach","authors":"A. Tarasov","doi":"10.1111/j.1467-9442.2012.01724.x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9442.2012.01724.x","url":null,"abstract":"There is strong evidence that different income groups consume different bundles of goods. This evidence suggests that trade liberalization can affect welfare inequality within a country via changes in the relative prices of goods consumed by different income groups (the price effect). In this paper, I develop a framework that enables us to explore the role of the price effect in determining welfare inequality. There are two core elements in the model. First, I assume that heterogenous in income consumers share identical but nonhomothetic preferences. Secondly, I consider a monopolistic competition environment that leads to variable markups affected by trade and trade costs. I find that trade liberalization does affect the prices of different goods differently and, as a result, can benefit some income classes more than others. In particular, I show that the relative welfare of the rich with respect to that of the poor has a hump shape as a function of trade costs.","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127851629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since the 1990s, the number of preferential trade agreements has exponentially risen – many of which encompass provisions relating to the regulation of foreign investment. By the end of 2010, over 300 of such preferential trade and investment agreements [PTIAs] were in existence. This paper looks at how and why PTIAs combine trade- and investment-related provisions and analyzes the impact of that combination on both international trade and international investment law. The author has opted to approach this issue from three angles: first, the differences between PTIAs and classic bilateral investment treaties [BITs] are examined in order to determine which, if any, (dis)advantages are created through the establishment of a regime of international investment law based on PTIAs as compared to regulating investment under separate agreements. The second angle focuses on the question whether PTIAs are heralding a more unified international economic regime through the integration of international investment and trade law; or whether this combination creates unnecessary friction in the light of the different objectives of each respective field. It will be argued that the structural differences between the international trade and investment regime do not necessarily render the quest for unity illusory. The third and final angle assesses the potential implications of a unified approach on the investment regime. More specifically it is submitted that PTIAs could bring about a more comprehensive regulation of foreign direct investment that (i) is less focused on the post-establishment phase of investments, thereby allowing for coordination between trade and investment rules regulating the liberalisation of the services market, and (ii) is better able to balance State/investor rights and duties, with special focus on policy coherence, regulatory flexibility and facilitating development.
{"title":"Preferential Trade and Investment Agreements and the Trade/Investment Divide: Is the Whole More than the Sum of Its Parts?","authors":"F. Baetens","doi":"10.5771/9783845250533-91","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845250533-91","url":null,"abstract":"Since the 1990s, the number of preferential trade agreements has exponentially risen – many of which encompass provisions relating to the regulation of foreign investment. By the end of 2010, over 300 of such preferential trade and investment agreements [PTIAs] were in existence. This paper looks at how and why PTIAs combine trade- and investment-related provisions and analyzes the impact of that combination on both international trade and international investment law. The author has opted to approach this issue from three angles: first, the differences between PTIAs and classic bilateral investment treaties [BITs] are examined in order to determine which, if any, (dis)advantages are created through the establishment of a regime of international investment law based on PTIAs as compared to regulating investment under separate agreements. The second angle focuses on the question whether PTIAs are heralding a more unified international economic regime through the integration of international investment and trade law; or whether this combination creates unnecessary friction in the light of the different objectives of each respective field. It will be argued that the structural differences between the international trade and investment regime do not necessarily render the quest for unity illusory. The third and final angle assesses the potential implications of a unified approach on the investment regime. More specifically it is submitted that PTIAs could bring about a more comprehensive regulation of foreign direct investment that (i) is less focused on the post-establishment phase of investments, thereby allowing for coordination between trade and investment rules regulating the liberalisation of the services market, and (ii) is better able to balance State/investor rights and duties, with special focus on policy coherence, regulatory flexibility and facilitating development.","PeriodicalId":285675,"journal":{"name":"PSN: International Trade Policy (Topic)","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124698846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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