Sustainable Development and International Investment Law: An Harmonious View from Economics

Published in: Roberto Echandi and Pierre Sauvé (Eds.), Prospects in International Investment Law and Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2013), pp. 317-339.

U. of St. Gallen Law & Economics Working Paper No. 2011-10

14 Pages Posted: 24 Jul 2011 Last revised: 2 Dec 2014

See all articles by Anne van Aaken

Anne van Aaken

Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods; University of Hamburg, Law School

Tobias A. Lehmann

University of St. Gallen - LS: School of Law, Students

Date Written: July 23, 2011

Abstract

International Investment Law (IIL), like international trade law, has an economic rationale as its background. Nevertheless, this economic rationale and the empirical insights into assumed causal links play a much smaller role than in trade law. Whereas in trade law economic insights have found entry into law application, this is true to a much smaller extent in IIL. Furthermore, the political economy rationale has been explored in trade law, but not in IIL. This article aims at filling this gap by surveying the economic insights into the link between foreign investment and sustainable development and suggesting adequate interpretative arguments and places (jurisdictional phase v. merits phase) in investment arbitration. Coupling IIL and economic insights might not only help to ground IIL firmly in the goals it pursues, but also change treaty making and treaty interpretation by putting them on an evidence basis.

Suggested Citation

van Aaken, Anne and van Aaken, Anne and Lehmann, Tobias A., Sustainable Development and International Investment Law: An Harmonious View from Economics (July 23, 2011). Published in: Roberto Echandi and Pierre Sauvé (Eds.), Prospects in International Investment Law and Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2013), pp. 317-339., U. of St. Gallen Law & Economics Working Paper No. 2011-10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1893692 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1893692

Anne Van Aaken (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods ( email )

Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 10
D-53113 Bonn, 53113
Germany

University of Hamburg, Law School ( email )

Johnsallee 35
Hamburg, 20148
Germany

Tobias A. Lehmann

University of St. Gallen - LS: School of Law, Students ( email )

Switzerland

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