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This article examines the relationship between the presence of foreign affiliates and product upgrading by Turkish manufacturing firms. The analysis suggests that Turkish firms in sectors and regions more likely to supply foreign affiliates tend to introduce more complex products, where complexity is captured using a measure developed by Hidalgo and Hausmann ( ). This finding is robust to controlling for omitted variables, sample selection and potential simultaneity bias. It is also in line with the view that inflows of foreign direct investment stimulate upgrading of indigenous production capabilities in host countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goodbye Washington Consensus? More than a decade has passed since economists and policy makers have claimed that the attempt to prescribe a set of measures and policies that will enhance economic development, known as the Washington Consensus, was doomed to failure and is no longer relevant. This paper demonstrates that the Washington Consensus is in fact enforced on states through the interpretation and application o f international investment agreements (IIAs), and specifically the fair and equitable (FET) standard. Using an innovative empirical analysis o f all public investment arbitration awards published until 2015 in which FET claims are discussed (N=120), the results presented here infer that cases involving measures inconsistent with the Washington Consensus have up to a 45 percent higher chance of being found in violation o f FET than other cases (p<.01). A more nuanced analysis that examines the role of specific measures in the outcomes of FET claims, found that only cases involving measures that are inconsistent with the Washington Consensus have a statistically significant higher chance of being found in violation of FET compared to other cases. These findings provide a novel empirical basis for legal professionals and practitioners wishing to understand which measures are unlikely to prevail in investment disputes in the current setting. As tribunals still interpret and implement IIAs in line with the Washington Consensus, it seems that unless IIAs are substantially amended--its effects are here to stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intangible capital is an increasingly important factor of production in advanced economies. Governments in Europe and elsewhere promote investment in intangible assets. However, the potential role of intangibles for business cycles and the international transmission of shocks is not well understood. In this paper, we investigate the international business cycle effects of intangible capital. To this aim, we build an otherwise standard two-country real business cycle model augmented by a production sector for intangibles and allow for the non-rivalrous use of intangible capital in the production of final output goods and new intangibles. We find that a model including intangibles is associated with international co-movement of tangible investment, which is a feature observed in the data that many models fail to produce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the consequences of trade costs on goods and services for the distribution of foreign direct investment ( FDI) across goods and services as well as across countries. The paper employs data on the universe of German FDI abroad which are collected at the firm level and aggregated for the purpose of this paper to two sectors - goods and services - and 79 countries, using data for the year 2005. Key findings are that services trade costs as reflected in the services trade restrictiveness index and bilateral investment treaty membership are the most important policy drivers of the activity of German-owned multinational firms in both goods and services. An increase in services trade restrictions raises goods activity at the expense of services activity. This effect is more pronounced the more important host countries in terms of the German FDI are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilateral investment treaties ( BITs) are legal instruments used by developing and transition countries to provide investor protection and, by extension, promote higher levels of inward foreign direct investment ( FDI). While the link between BITs and FDI has been extensively studied, little is known about the impact of the treaties on different forms of investment. Motivated by this observation, we examine the effects of BITs on vertical and horizontal FDI. We find that BITs are more positively related to vertical than to horizontal FDI. We also find that BITs tend to act as stronger substitutes for better institutions in the case of vertical relative to horizontal investments. The findings inform BIT strategies that are compatible with development objectives in developing and transition countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, the platform for "16 + 1" cooperation was born. The China-CEECs Association of Provincial Governors (the Association) was formed in August 2014. A number of 15 provinces and municipalities from China and 29 provinces (states, cities) from CEECs became founding members of the Association. Until now, the Local Leaders Meeting has been held three times. The local governments and enterprises of "16+1" have used the meetings to promote interconnection, boost trade and investment and work together in energy conservation, environmental protection, clean energy and other areas. In the future, the Association needs to attract more partners into local cooperation in order to pave the way for the connection of the "OBOR" initiative and the "16+1" platform, set the stage for increased friendship and prosperity for China, the CEECs and the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the suitability of including non-legal arbitrators in certain investment arbitrations. It presents different mechanisms that have been used in the investment arbitration context to aid legal arbitrators with scientific-technical issues and contemplates the drawbacks of this external competence. After analyzing various sectors in which non-legal experts provide internal competence (international inspection boards, specialized national courts, commercial arbitration tribunals, and inter-state arbitration tribunals), the article concludes that incorporating arbitrators with scientific-technical competence into international investment tribunals on an ad casum basis may not be such a far-fetched idea. Finally, various de lege ferenda proposals that would achieve the common goal of not barring non-legal 'judges' from the future US-EU investment court are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International investment agreements ( IIAs) often provide for arbitration as the main dispute settlement method, but they rarely regulate mediation. However, this legal landscape is changing rapidly due to the inclusion of clauses contemplating mediation and the adoption of specific rules by international bodies. Investment mediation is presented as a complementary tool that avoids the escalation of conflicts and is more effective and less time consuming and causes less disruption to the investment environment. Against this backdrop, the main aim of this article is to explore recent developments in investment mediation in regional economic integration organizations ( REIOs), focusing on the European Union's experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International arbitration is a recognized way to resolve economic conflicts. This article asks if state-state investment arbitration ( SSIA) is an option for Latin America. It examines the language of investment treaty provisions, cases and arbitral awards involving states, and treaty-making practice in the region. The analysis shows some complementarity between the mechanisms of investor-state arbitration ( ISA) and SSIA; sometimes, the latter is the only option. This article concludes that SSIA is neither a backlash nor a more effective mechanism compared to ISA. SSIA constitutes an opportunity for both home and host Latin American states to balance their investment treaty commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks to explain the emergence of the European Union (EU)'s international investment policy since the 1980s. The article develops two competing explanations. It evaluates whether the Commission acted as policy entrepreneur to consolidate the EU's role in international investment policy or whether European business lobbied for the 'brusselization' of international investment policy making to ensure access to ambitious state-of-the-art international investment agreements. The article traces the EU's involvement in international investment policy through history. It examines policy-making instances, which shaped the EU's de facto competences in international investment negotiations and its legal competences under European law. It finds that Commission entrepreneurship promoted the EU's involvement in international investment negotiations and ultimately ensured due to the procedural particularities of the Convention on the Future of Europe the extension of the EU's legal competences. European business and the Member States did not promote the emergence of the EU's international investment policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores on the commercial arbitration in the Philippines following the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It highlights the international transactions and investments of the ASEAN member states. It also cites the country's efforts to strengthen its commercial disputes management with other partner countries.

The article review criticisms of the international investment system particularly with respect to its effect on human rights. It further discusses the controversial case of Foresti v. South Africa, involving South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment policies, which regulated the amount of black ownership in the mining industry.

The entry into force of the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) in 2012 brought ASEAN closer towards the realization of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. Nonetheless, a new concern arises regarding the fate of twenty-six Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) that exist among the ASEAN governments. This may raise confusion for the ASEAN governments regarding the applicable standards of investment protection to grant investors. Indonesia was chosen as a case-study because its Investment Coordinating Board recognizes the importance of understanding Indonesia's obligations under the BITs within the context of the ACIA regime, and is in the midst of reviewing its BITs. This paper seeks to provide a better understanding of the interactions between and among these agreements to ensure that the ASEAN governments’ policies comply with their legal obligations. It also provides recommendations on how they could streamline the standards and work towards a single regime of investment protection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present paper presents one of the most discussable approaches in the former communist countries' transition the common relationship between state-led investment and local development concerning the accomplishment of the aims of housing policy. The issue of housing policies and the concept of state-led/ private investment is therefore twofold: first 1. to identify the local. Furthermore, the new housing development enabled in the transition period encouraged the emergence of housing construction undergoing a major reorientation towards the growth of local state budget allocations. Considering the EU integration process, the articles argues that depending on the institutional and political attitude in a given period, the housing policy may rely on one or more compulsory measures as an important part of the implementation process at local level involving legal arrangement in favor of housing development and the measure in which state-led investments variable is connected to the private investments variables. The study points out that housing policy is positively affected by the quality of local public interest, the private sector orientation and infrastructure that under a comparative local budget analysis and implementation, public investment must either increase or decrease the demand for new homes built in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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For more than 50 years, the European Union (EU) was not in charge of international investment agreements; its member states were, and they negotiated more than 1,200 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with third countries. This lack of internal EU cohesiveness created costs for Europe, notably in terms of bargaining leverage over market access and ability to shape international norms. The 2009 Lisbon Treaty formally transferred competence over the negotiations of foreign direct investment (FDI) agreements to the EU, which became in theory a unified actor with respect to both outbound and inbound FDI. However, many political and legal ambiguities surround the true extent of the EU's authority and autonomy over foreign investment. This contribution argues that the surge of Chinese FDI into Europe, which is taking place simultaneously with this transition to a new EU foreign investment regime, has the potential to influence the final shape of this regime by exerting both centripetal and centrifugal pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If development projects are to be effective, a minimum requirement is that the funding reaches its intended destination. Yet the history of international development is replete with examples of this not happening. I argue that there will be fewer problems with corruption or other diversions of funding-which I jointly label capture-in more precisely targeted projects. More well-defined targeting results in superior accountability relationships because there is greater clarity of responsibility, clearer information about outcomes, and improved identifiability of stakeholders. I use an original cross-country, cross-project data set on the incidence of capture in World Bank-funded investment projects to test the theory. The data show a negative relationship between targeting and capture, and I demonstrate that this relationship is robust to a variety of specifications. In addition, I find that there is a higher baseline likelihood of project capture in countries perceived as more corrupt according to commonly used survey-based measures from Transparency International and the Worldwide Governance Indicators, cross-validating those measures and my own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intense debate is currently brewing over the multistate negotiation of the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). The TPPA is likely to be the second largest trade and investment agreement after the European Union, with trillions of investment dollars at stake. However, there is significant controversy and uncertainty over the resolution of investor--state disputes under it. This manuscript evaluates these issues. It concludes with the proposition that states that forsake investor--state arbitrator in favour of domestic courts, among other options, do so at their peril. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of alien, particularly Italian, investment to the development of the medieval English economy has provoked opposing views which hitherto have had to rely chiefly on customs records and evidence of Italian loans to the state for statistical evidence. These, though, vary in their coverage and do not record the inland trade. This article uses the Statute Merchant certificates of debt from 1285 to analyse changing levels of commercial investment by alien and denizen merchants throughout all areas of the kingdom. It shows that Italian investment was declining from the 1280s in line with falling imports of foreign silver. It discusses the causes of this decline, and the effect on alien and denizen credit of imports of counterfeit sterling coins produced by European mints. It relates these financial developments in England, France, and Flanders to the sequence of events which led to English merchants increasing their numbers and mercantile capital at the beginning of the fourteenth century when they were first able to establish their domination of the country's export trade in wool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the political and economic impact of the trade relations of China with Latin America. It highlights an issue on whether or not the rapidly expanding trade and investment relations of China with the developing world are more sustainable than historical relations between developed and developing nations. It also highlights the unique model of China's domestic and international political economy.

This paper has two main objectives: first, to consider country specific determinants that attract services FDI, and second, to compare the importance of these determinants vis-à-vis traditional determinants that attract manufacturing FDI. Using OECD countries as our sample, and 1980 to 2003 as our time period, we consider the determinants of inward FDI in a panel setting. Our results provide empirical evidence to support the view that no new theories may be necessary to explain the determinants of services FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issue whether bilateral investment treaties (BITs) represent the customary international law in the international investment law. It investigates the interaction between BITs and custom. It examines the arguments supporting the view that contemporary custom does not represent the total number of BITs. It also evaluates the significance of identifying the content of custom rule in international investment law.

The article reports on the effects of investment treaties on unilateral state regulation on climate change. A multilateral approach in implementation of regulations on the emission of greenhouse gases has been problematic. However, a unilateral approach, wherein individual countries impose bans and policies on certain products raises issues regarding laws of investment treaties. The article provides an analysis of investment treaty laws.

We examine performance, and persistence in the performance, of UK ‘ethical’ or SRI funds and find that performance appears to be time-varying, showing that conclusions on performance itself are influenced by whether a static or time varying model is employed. Given evidence that many UK funds which claim to be international in nature may exhibit home bias in their portfolio allocations, we also propose a new measure for performance of international funds that allows for this and show that such recognition has important implications for the conclusions drawn with respect to these funds. We find evidence that supports persistence in performance, particularly at longer time horizons. There is some evidence that for domestic funds, past ‘winning’ SRI funds outperform ‘losing’ SRI funds to a greater extent than their control portfolio counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper forms one of a series examining aspects of transfer pricing from a Japanese perspective. In earlier work the authors examined prevalent allegations that global companies, especially Japanese multinationals, operated transfer pricing policies to the deliberate disadvantage of host countries by artificially locating profits in jurisdictions where a tax advantage could be obtained. There would appear to be considerable evidence to suggest that obtaining a tax advantage is not the primary reason for adopting any particular transfer pricing policy. This is especially true in the case of certain Japanese companies, the transfer pricing policies of which result in effective transfers of profits back to their home base in Japan, where tax rates are relatively high. In earlier work it was initially suggested that this homeward transfer of profits was a consequence of following different costing principles and operating within a different business culture. This paper will explore further these reasons and attempt to analyse why such companies actively seek to undertake foreign direct investment, yet do not exploit transfer pricing opportunities in ways which have been open to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides a comprehensive overview of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) sponsored by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Proposed content of the Agreement; Tensions surrounding the negotiations; Environmental and social concerns raised by this issue.

Examines the lessons learned from the negotiations on investment issues in the 1994 Uruguay Round and subsequently in the World Trade Organization. Steps in the negotiations of the Trade-Related Investment Measures and General Agreement on Trade in Services; Elements of the Uruguay negotiations; Reference to the Multilateral Agreement on Investment in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Reports the multinational examination of international equity and bond investment with currency hedging. Diversification of international portfolio; Interrelationship on the value of currency and securities; Analysis on the foreign financial investment.

Focuses on the investment cooperation between member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance within the process of socialist economic integration. Definition and significance of investment cooperation; Coordination of investments in projects serving common interests; Important experiences gained during the construction of the wood-fiber processing plant at Ust-Ilimsk in the Soviet Union.

Evaluates the effectiveness of joint investment activity by Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Provision of adequate supplies of scarce products to the world market; Forms for the construction of joint undertakings within the CMEA; Need to secure supplies of some important mineral raw materials during 1950s.

The article focuses on the dispute settlement and investment provisions in U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA). It states that Chapter 10 of the PTPA set up an elaborated rule of protections for both parties' investors including the investment disciplines, agreements, and nation treatment in accordance with international law. It says that provisions regarding the effect of U.S. investment agreements are included in the PTPA while broad interpretations of fair and equitable treatment as well as full protection and safety are rejected by the agreement. Moreover, it discloses that Article 10.1 of the agreement clarifies transparency of proceedings, requires non-disclosure of information on the proceeding, and directs tribunal to conduct public headings.

Read this month's special features on Poland, Mexico and Technology and tax [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the enactment of legislation for OECD's multilateral instrument (MLI), hybrid mistmatch rules, company tax rate reduction and cross-border financing, and managed investment trusts (MITs) and stapled structures in Australia. Topics discussed include tax developments for inbound and outbound investments, the Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) Action Plan, and integrity measures for MITs legislation.