IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/worlde/v44y2021i8p2284-2302.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can the G20 serve as a launchpad for a multilateral investment agreement?

Author

Listed:
  • Axel Berger
  • Wan‐Hsin Liu

Abstract

The international system for the governance of foreign investments is highly fragmented consisting mainly of bilateral agreements. With the adoption of nine guiding principles for global investment policy‐making in 2016, some observers argue that the G20 can actually serve as a launchpad for negotiations of a multilateral investment agreement. This paper provides empirical evidence on the question of whether the contents of international investment agreements (IIAs) have gradually converged to facilitate the multilateralisation of investment rules. We find that IIAs negotiated among non‐G20 countries are more similar to each other than those concluded by G20 countries in general and even more so since 2000 in particular. This result calls into question the premise that the G20 can serve as the most suitable forum to initiate multilateral negotiations on multilateral investment rules. Instead, an extended analysis using different country grouping criteria suggests that the Member States of the European Union may be a more suitable alternative in this regard. Here, the EU can jointly take a leading role in facilitating related negotiations on multilateral investment rules.

Suggested Citation

  • Axel Berger & Wan‐Hsin Liu, 2021. "Can the G20 serve as a launchpad for a multilateral investment agreement?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 2284-2302, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:44:y:2021:i:8:p:2284-2302
    DOI: 10.1111/twec.13114
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.13114
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/twec.13114?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nunnenkamp, Peter & Pant, Manoj, 2003. "Why the economic case for a multilateral agreement on investment is weak," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 4323, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Srividya Jandhyala & Witold J. Henisz & Edward D. Mansfield, 2011. "Three Waves of BITs," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 55(6), pages 1047-1073, December.
    3. Mark S. Manger & Clint Peinhardt, 2017. "Learning and the Precision of International Investment Agreements," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(6), pages 920-940, November.
    4. Bonnitcha, Jonathan & Skovgaard Poulsen, Lauge N. & Waibel, Michael, 2017. "The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198719557.
    5. Skovgaard Poulsen,Lauge N., 2015. "Bounded Rationality and Economic Diplomacy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107119536, October.
    6. Wolfgang Alschner & Dmitriy Skougarevskiy, 2016. "Mapping the Universe of International Investment Agreements," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 561-588.
    7. Andreas Dür & Leonardo Baccini & Manfred Elsig, 2014. "The design of international trade agreements: Introducing a new dataset," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 353-375, September.
    8. Dür, Andreas & Baccini, Leonardo & Elsig, Manfred, 2014. "The design of international trade agreements: introducing a new dataset," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59179, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Dolzer, Rudolf & Schreuer, Christoph, 2012. "Principles of International Investment Law," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780199651801.
    10. Drezner, Daniel W., 2016. "The System Worked: How the World Stopped Another Great Depression," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190263393.
    11. van Harten, Gus, 2007. "Investment Treaty Arbitration and Public Law," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199217892.
    12. Nunnenkamp, Peter & Pant, Manoj, 2003. "Why the case for a multilateral agreement on investment is weak," Kiel Discussion Papers 400, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    13. Julien Chaisse, 2012. "Promises and Pitfalls of the European Union Policy on Foreign Investment--How will the New EU Competence on FDI affect the Emerging Global Regime?," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 51-84, March.
    14. Schill,Stephan W., 2009. "The Multilateralization of International Investment Law," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521762366, October.
    15. Frank Bickenbach & Wan-Hsin Liu, 2018. "Chinese Direct Investment in Europe – Challenges for EU FDI Policy," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 19(04), pages 15-22, December.
    16. Edward M. Graham, 2000. "Fighting the Wrong Enemy: Antiglobal Activists and Multinational Enterprises," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 91, January.
    17. N Jansen Calamita, 0. "Multilateralizing Investment Facilitation at the WTO: Looking for the Added Value," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 973-988.
    18. Caroline Henckels, 2016. "Protecting Regulatory Autonomy through Greater Precision in Investment Treaties: The TPP, CETA, and TTIP," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 27-50.
    19. Gilbert Gagné & Jean-Frédéric Morin, 2006. "The Evolving American Policy on Investment Protection: Evidence from Recent FTAs and the 2004 Model BIT," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 357-382, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tarald Gulseth Berge & Øyvind Stiansen, 2023. "Bureaucratic capacity and preference attainment in international economic negotiations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 467-498, July.
    2. Yoram Z. Haftel & Alexander Thompson, 2018. "When do states renegotiate investment agreements? The impact of arbitration," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 25-48, March.
    3. Seungjun Kim, 2023. "Protecting home: how firms’ investment plans affect the formation of bilateral investment treaties," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 667-692, October.
    4. Stephen R. Buzdugan, . "The global governance of FDI and the non-market strategies of TNCs: explaining the “backlash” against bilateral investment treaties," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    5. Soo Yeon Kim, 2021. "Investment commitments in PTAs and MNCS in partner countries," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 415-442, November.
    6. Florencia Montal & Carly Potz-Nielsen & Jane Lawrence Sumner, 2020. "What states want: Estimating ideal points from international investment treaty content," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(6), pages 679-691, November.
    7. Eric Neumayer & Peter Nunnenkamp & Martin Roy, 2016. "Are stricter investment rules contagious? Host country competition for foreign direct investment through international agreements," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(1), pages 177-213, February.
    8. James Hollway & Jean-Frédéric Morin & Joost Pauwelyn, 2020. "Structural conditions for novelty: the introduction of new environmental clauses to the trade regime complex," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 61-83, March.
    9. Lauge N. Skovgaard Poulsen & Emma Aisbett, 2011. "When the Claim Hits: Bilateral Investment Treaties and Bounded Rational Learning," Crawford School Research Papers 1105, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    10. Henry Jiménez Guanipa & Natalia Castro Niño & Wilfredo Robayo Galvis, 2020. "Emergencia climática : Prospectiva 2030 : XXI Jornadas de Derecho Constitucional. Constitucionalismo en transformación. Prospectiva 2030," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1273, October.
    11. Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2004. "Corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investment: new paradigm, latest fad, or ingenious plot?," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 4322, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    12. Soumyajit Mazumder, 2016. "Can I stay a BIT longer? The effect of bilateral investment treaties on political survival," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 477-521, December.
    13. Tuuli-Anna Huikuri, 2023. "Constraints and incentives in the investment regime: How bargaining power shapes BIT reform," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 361-391, April.
    14. Christoph Mödlhamer, 2020. "Innovativeness and the design of intellectual property rights in preferential trade agreements: A refinement of the North–South explanation," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(4), pages 329-348, December.
    15. Wani, Mr. Nassir Ul Haq & Rehman, Mr. Noor, 2017. "Determinants of FDI in Afghanistan: An Empirical Analysis," MPRA Paper 81975, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 May 2016.
    16. Rahel Aichele & Gabriel Felbermayr, 2016. "The Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal (TPP): What Are the Economic Consequences for In- and Outsiders?," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 16(04), pages 53-64, January.
    17. Cornelius Hirsch & Harald Oberhofer, 2017. "Bilateral Trade Agreements and Trade Distortions in Agricultural Markets?," WIFO Working Papers 531, WIFO.
    18. Kox, Henk L.M. & Rojas Romasgosa, Hugo, 2019. "Gravity estimations with FDI bilateral data: Potential FDI effects of deep preferential trade agreements," MPRA Paper 96318, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Wen Yue & Qingxia Lin & Siyu Xu, 2023. "Investment effect of regional trade agreements: an analysis from the perspective of heterogeneous agreement provisions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Robert Basedow, 2021. "The EU's International Investment Policy ten years on: the Policy‐Making Implications of Unintended Competence Transfers," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 643-660, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:44:y:2021:i:8:p:2284-2302. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0378-5920 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.