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31. EU investment agreements and the search for a new balance: A paradigm shift from laissez-faireliberalism toward embedded liberalism?

Author:
Catharine Titi
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
In July 2012, in an internal document, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade suggested that future EU investment agreement s (EUIAs) should incorporate regulatory flexibility in the same way in which EU free trade agreements (FTAs) safeguard parties' policy space. Since it is expected that a number of treaties on the EU's negotiating agenda will be concluded in the near future, and given the policy shift that has already taken place in Canada and the US, it is time to start thinking about a new balance in a move away from investment treaties' traditional laissez-faire liberalism toward WTO law's embedded liberalism, a model whereby liberalization is embedded within a wider framework that enables public regulation in the interest of domestic stability.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, World Trade Organization, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Europe and Canada

32. Inward FDI in the United States and its policy context

Author:
Lucyna Kornecki
Publication Date:
02-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
Inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) represents an integral part of the United States (U.S.) economy, with its stock growing from US$ 83 billion in 1980 to US$ 3.5 trillion in 2011. The United States, which had earlier been primarily a home for multinational enterprises (MNEs) rather than a host for affiliates of foreign MNEs, has become a preferred host country for FDI since the 1980s. Foreign MNEs have contributed robust flows of FDI into diverse industries of the U.S. economy, and total FDI inflows reached US$227 billion in 2011, equivalent to 15% of global inflows, the single largest share of any economy. Inflows of FDI, with a peak of US$ 314 billion in 2000 and another of US$ 306 billion in 2008, have been an important factor contributing to sustained economic growth in the United States. The recent financial and economic crises negatively impacted FDI flows to the United States and opened a period of major uncertainty. The effectiveness of government policy responses at both the national and international levels in addressing the financial crisis and its economic consequences will play a crucial role for creating favorable conditions for a rebound in FDI inflows.
Topic:
Economics, Human Rights, International Trade and Finance, Foreign Direct Investment, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States and North America

33. Is China's outward investment in oil a global security concern?

Author:
Ilan Alon and Aleh Cherp
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
The motivations prompting China's dramatic increase in outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) are not always clear, especially regarding OFDI by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in energy and natural resources. First, both commercial and governmental interests are intertwined, although not necessarily in lock-step. Chinese SOEs listed in the West may worry about the reputational risks to their global corporate citizenship, while government stakeholders may instead focus on diplomatic international relations. Second, subsidies for oil investments may be viewed as serving Chinese national interests and threatening the national security of the host countries. Whether China's OFDI will benefit or harm global energy security, economic development and diplomatic relations is still hotly contested.
Topic:
Economics, Emerging Markets, Energy Policy, International Trade and Finance, Oil, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
China

34. State-controlled entities as "investors" under international investment agreements

Author:
Jo En Low
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
A review of the definition of “investor” and investor-state dispute resolution clauses in 851 international investment agreements (IIAs) reveals that, except in two, state controlled entities (SCEs) (sovereign wealth funds and state-owned enterprises (SOEs)) have equivalent standing to their purely private counterparts as investors under such IIAs.
Topic:
Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment

35. Absent from the discussion: The other half of investment promotion

Author:
Lise Johnson
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
As UNCTAD highlighted over a decade ago and again recently in its Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development, home-country measures (HCMs), like host-country commitments regarding the protection of foreign investors, are tools of promoting foreign investment. Nevertheless, the vast bulk of investment treaties, which state the promotion of foreign investment as their objective, overlook the potential role of HCMs and focus rather singularly on setting out the obligations of host countries regarding the treatment of foreign investors. Even recent agreements and model investment treaties that should represent “next generation” practices incorporating accumulated learning about the impacts and effectiveness of these treaties remain relatively devoid of any obligation for governments to facilitate or promote the quantity and quality of outward investment that many countries want and need for sustainable development.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment

36. A new economic nationalism? Lessons from the PotashCorp decision in Canada

Author:
Sandy Walker
Publication Date:
08-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
In its World Investment Report 2011, UNCTAD reported that liberalizing investment policy measures taken globally in 2010 outnumbered restrictive measures. Without the benefit of statistics, investors might have drawn the opposite conclusion, witnessing what appears to be a rising tide of national resistance to foreign takeovers: the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board's rejection of a takeover of the Australian Securities Exchange by the Singapore Exchange, Italian concern over a French company's takeover of dairy giant Parmalat and the US Government's requirement that Chinese company Huawei divest certain assets it had acquired from 3Leaf.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
United States, China, Canada, Australia, and Singapore

37. A good business reason to support mandatory transparency in extractive industries

Author:
Julien Topal and Perrine Toledano
Publication Date:
08-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
Transparency demands in extractive industries are tied to the complex paradoxical correlation between significant resource endowment and poverty in many resource dependent countries. Citizens of these countries and international investors alike only have limited means to scrutinize money-flows between governments and companies, disrupting accountability mechanisms.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment

38. Attracting FDI through BITs and RTAs: Does treaty content matter?

Author:
Peter Nunnenkamp, Martin Roy, Axel Berger, and Matthias Busse
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
It may appear all too obvious that the extent to which foreign direct investment (FDI) is attracted by bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and regional trade agreements (RTAs) depends on the strength of key investment provisions. Still, BITs and RTAs have typically been treated as black boxes in prior empirical literature, ignoring two important legal innovations: investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) and pre-establishment national treatment (NT) provisions.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment

39. Starting anew in international investment law

Author:
M Sornarajah
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
The legitimacy of investment arbitration becomes increasingly questioned, with liberal states like Australia moving away from the regime. Defenders seek to ensure the survival of this regime of asymmetric investment protection, using a variety of techniques. The conservation of the gains of property protection has resulted in novel arguments relating to the existence of a global administrative law and standards of global governance. These arguments seek to preserve an approach associated with the failure of market fundamentalism and global economic crises. As long as the inequity contained in regulatory restraints of the system affected only the powerless states, it operated with vigor; but with powerful states feeling the effects of regulatory restraints of investment treaties, there has been movement away from the earlier premises of the established regime.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
China, India, and Australia

40. Roll out the red carpet and they will come: Investment promotion and FDI inflows

Author:
Torfinn Harding and Beata Javorcik
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
Foreign direct investment flows to developing countries are hindered by many factors. Two of these factors -- the mere lack of information and red tape -- could be easily remedied through investment promotion efforts.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment