Regime Shifting and Regulatory Space: Comment on Professor Markus Wagner's Article

Abstract

Professor Markus Wagner’s article, Regulatory Space in International Trade Law and International Investment Law, 36 U. Pa. J. Int’l L. 1 (2014), is a valiant attempt to deal with a pressing question in international economic law: how the two main regulatory structures of global business – trade and investment – deal with similarly complex questions. By comparing and contrasting how decision-makers within both camps deal with the question of regulatory space or the “degree of regulatory autonomy . . . when making decisions that implicated non-economic values,” Wagner’s piece is a contribution to the bourgeoning debate over the relationship of international trade and international investment laws – a debate that will intensify in coming years as this academic bifurcation becomes less relevant for the reality of global business.

Keywords: international economic law, regulatory structures, global business, international trade, international investment