Do the European Union’s Bilateral Investment Treaties Matter?

CEPS Working Document No. 333, July 2010

15 Pages Posted: 29 Jul 2010

Date Written: July 26, 2010

Abstract

This working paper addresses a number of policy-relevant issues regarding the EU’s bilateral investment treaties (BITS), namely, whether the EU’s BITs have a significantly positive impact on outflows; and which member states and which BIT partners have had a significant experience after the implementation of the BIT. The author finds that both OECD BITs and EU BITs have a statistically significant and positive impact on FDI outflows. This result is robust to the inclusion of variables such as privatisation proceeds that control for the level of economic reform, the level of trade linkages, the level of democratic freedom and a measure of risk of expropriation among other standard controls. A number of policy implications of these findings are also considered.

Keywords: Investment Treaties, BITS, Outflows, FDI, EU BIT, Economic Reform

Suggested Citation

Guerin, Selen Sarisoy, Do the European Union’s Bilateral Investment Treaties Matter? (July 26, 2010). CEPS Working Document No. 333, July 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1650095

Selen Sarisoy Guerin (Contact Author)

Trinity College Dublin ( email )

College Green
Dublin 2
Dublin, Co.Dublin
Ireland

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