IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wus005/6922.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Association of Economic Crises and Investor-State Arbitration Cases

Author

Listed:
  • Bellak, Christian
  • Leibrecht, Markus

Abstract

The number of investor-state arbitration disputes has been on the rise since the mid 1990s. Their determinants are still not fully understood. This study empirically examines the effects of economic crises on investor-state arbitration claims, based on international investment agreements (IIAs). We use a unique dataset containing 961 investor-state arbitration claims covering 132 host (defendant) and 75 home (claimant) countries over the 1986-2017 period. We find that episodes of economic crises are positively and significantly associated with the number of investor-state arbitration cases and we uncover evidence that the type of economic crisis matters. In addition, the positive impact of economic crises on arbitration cases is inversely related to the rule of law in a host country. These results are consistent with the view that governments are prioritizing policy actions aiming at mitigating the negative impact of economic crises over compliance with their obligations in IIAs. From a policy perspective, our results suggest that besides strengthening the rule of law domestically, the IIA system should be reformed with a focus on avoiding a vicious circle, thus shortening the recovery period after economic crises.

Suggested Citation

  • Bellak, Christian & Leibrecht, Markus, 2019. "The Association of Economic Crises and Investor-State Arbitration Cases," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 284, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wus005:6922
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://epub.wu.ac.at/6922/
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Agnello, Luca & Castro, Vitor & Jalles, João Tovar & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2015. "What determines the likelihood of structural reforms?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 129-145.
    3. Bonnitcha, Jonathan & Skovgaard Poulsen, Lauge N. & Waibel, Michael, 2017. "The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198719557.
    4. Agnès Bénassy‐Quéré & Maylis Coupet & Thierry Mayer, 2007. "Institutional Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 764-782, May.
    5. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto, 1996. "Income distribution, political instability, and investment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1203-1228, June.
    6. Nauro Campos & Cheng Hsiao & Jeffrey Nugent, 2010. "Crises, What Crises? New Evidence on the Relative Roles of Political and Economic Crises in Begetting Reforms," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(10), pages 1670-1691.
    7. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    8. Mr. Luc Laeven & Mr. Fabian Valencia, 2018. "Systemic Banking Crises Revisited," IMF Working Papers 2018/206, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Allan Drazen & William Easterly, 2001. "Do Crises Induce Reform? Simple Empirical Tests of Conventional Wisdom," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 129-157, July.
    10. Allee, Todd & Peinhardt, Clint, 2011. "Contingent Credibility: The Impact of Investment Treaty Violations on Foreign Direct Investment," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 401-432, July.
    11. Anne van Aaken & Jürgen Kurtz, 2009. "Prudence or Discrimination? Emergency Measures, the Global Financial Crisis and International Economic Law," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 859-894, December.
    12. Mounir Mahmalat & Declan Curran, 2018. "Do Crises Induce Reform? A Critical Review Of Conception, Methodology And Empirical Evidence Of The €˜Crisis Hypothesis’," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 613-648, July.
    13. Aaron Tornell, 1998. "Reform from Within," NBER Working Papers 6497, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Greene, William, 2010. "Testing hypotheses about interaction terms in nonlinear models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 291-296, May.
    15. Dani Rodrik, 1996. "Understanding Economic Policy Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 9-41, March.
    16. Matthias Busse & Jens Königer & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2010. "FDI promotion through bilateral investment treaties: more than a bit?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(1), pages 147-177, April.
    17. Tim Büthe & Helen V. Milner, 2008. "The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment into Developing Countries: Increasing FDI through International Trade Agreements?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(4), pages 741-762, October.
    18. Weidenmier, Marc, 2010. "This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. By Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009. $35.00," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(3), pages 766-768, September.
    19. Dani Rodrik, 1998. "Globalisation, Social Conflict and Economic Growth," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 143-158, March.
    20. Eduardo Lora & Mauricio Olivera, 2004. "What Makes Reforms Likely: Political Economy Determinants of Reforms in Latin America," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 99-135, May.
    21. Shengwu Shang & Erik Nesson & Maoyong Fan, 2018. "Interaction Terms In Poisson And Log Linear Regression Models," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 89-96, January.
    22. Blake, Daniel J., 2013. "Thinking Ahead: Government Time Horizons and the Legalization of International Investment Agreements," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 797-827, October.
    23. Joshua Aizenman & Yothin Jinjarak & Donghyun Park, 2013. "Capital Flows and Economic Growth in the Era of Financial Integration and Crisis, 1990–2010," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 371-396, July.
    24. Dibiasi, Andreas & Abberger, Klaus & Siegenthaler, Michael & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2018. "The effects of policy uncertainty on investment: Evidence from the unexpected acceptance of a far-reaching referendum in Switzerland," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 38-67.
    25. Pitlik, Hans & Wirth, Steffen, 2003. "Do crises promote the extent of economic liberalization?: an empirical test," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 565-581, September.
    26. Yong Kyun Kim, 2017. "States Sued: Democracy, the Rule of Law, and Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 300-325, March.
    27. Shahryar Minhas & Karen L. Remmer, 2018. "The Reputational Impact of Investor-State Disputes," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(5), pages 862-887, September.
    28. Brambor, Thomas & Clark, William Roberts & Golder, Matt, 2006. "Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analyses," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-82, January.
    29. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 2001. "Throwing Out the Baby with the Bath Water: A Comment on Green, Kim, and Yoon," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(2), pages 487-495, April.
    30. Alberto Alesina & Silvia Ardagna & Francesco Trebbi, 2006. "Who Adjusts and When?The Political Economy of Reforms," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 53(si), pages 1-1.
    31. Nathan W. Freeman, 2013. "Domestic Institutions, Capacity Limitations, and Compliance Costs: Host Country Determinants of Investment Treaty Arbitrations, 1987--2007," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 54-78, January.
    32. Binyam A. Demena & Peter A. G. van Bergeijk, 2017. "A Meta-Analysis Of Fdi And Productivity Spillovers In Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 546-571, April.
    33. Greg Anderson, 2017. "How did investor-state dispute settlement get a bad rap? Blame it on NAFTA, of course," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2937-2965, December.
    34. Simmons, Beth A., 2000. "International Law and State Behavior: Commitment and Compliance in International Monetary Affairs," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(4), pages 819-835, December.
    35. John Williamson, 1994. "The Political Economy of Policy Reform," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 68, April.
    36. John F. Tomer, 2017. "Advanced Introduction to Behavioral Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 16653.
    37. Mr. Fabian Valencia & Mr. Luc Laeven, 2012. "Systemic Banking Crises Database: An Update," IMF Working Papers 2012/163, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Josef C. Brada & Zdenek Drabek & Ichiro Iwasaki, 2021. "Does Investor Protection Increase Foreign Direct Investment? A Meta‐Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 34-70, February.
    2. Priyanka Kher & Dongwook Chun, 2020. "Policy Options to Mitigate Political Risk and Attract FDI," World Bank Publications - Reports 34380, The World Bank Group.

    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. Romain Duval & Davide Furceri & Jakob Miethe, 2021. "Robust political economy correlates of major product and labor market reforms in advanced economies: Evidence from BAMLE for logit models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(1), pages 98-124, January.
    2. Markus Leibrecht & Joelle H. Fiong, 2017. "Economic Crises and Globalisation as Drivers of Pension Privatisation: an Empirical Analysis," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2017-05, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    3. Agnello, Luca & Castro, Vitor & Jalles, João Tovar & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2015. "What determines the likelihood of structural reforms?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 129-145.
    4. Mounir Mahmalat & Declan Curran, 2018. "Do Crises Induce Reform? A Critical Review Of Conception, Methodology And Empirical Evidence Of The €˜Crisis Hypothesis’," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 613-648, July.
    5. Markus Leibrecht & Hans Pitlik, 2014. "Generalised Trust, Institutional and Political Constraints on the Executive and Deregulation of Markets," WIFO Working Papers 481, WIFO.
    6. Prato, Carlo & Wolton, Stephane, 2013. "Rational Ignorance, Elections, and Reform," MPRA Paper 68638, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Dec 2015.
    7. Leibrecht, Markus & Pitlik, Hans, 2015. "Social trust, institutional and political constraints on the executive and deregulation of markets," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 249-268.
    8. Salih BARIŞIK & Kubilay ERGEN, 2023. "Heterogenous Effects of the Determinants of Pro-market Reforms: Panel Quantile Estimation for OECD Countries," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(2), pages 36-51, June.
    9. Prato, Carlo & Wolton, Stephane, 2018. "Rational ignorance, populism, and reform," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 119-135.
    10. Andréasson, Hannes & Elert, Niklas & Karlson, Nils, 2013. "Does Social Cohesion Really Promote Reforms?," Ratio Working Papers 211, The Ratio Institute.
    11. Hamza Bennani, 2015. "Dissecting the brains of central bankers: The case of the ECB’s Governing Council members on reforms," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 141, pages 97-114.
    12. Shengquan Wang & Rong Luo, 2024. "Income distribution, financial liberalisations and banking stability: Theory and international evidence," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 2837-2864, July.
    13. Elias Brumm & Johannes Brumm, 2017. "Reform Support In Times Of Crisis: The Role Of Family Ties," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1416-1429, July.
    14. Orkun Saka & Yuemei Ji & Paul De Grauwe, 2021. "Financial Policymaking after Crises: Public vs. Private Interests," CESifo Working Paper Series 9131, CESifo.
    15. Castro, Vítor & Martins, Rodrigo, 2021. "Government ideology and economic freedom," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 73-91.
    16. Saka, Orkun & Ji, Yuemei & De Grauwe, Paul, 2021. "Financial policymaking after crises : Public vs. private interests," BOFIT Discussion Papers 10/2021, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    17. Falvey, Rod & Foster, Neil & Greenaway, David, 2012. "Trade Liberalization, Economic Crises, and Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(11), pages 2177-2193.
    18. Saka, Orkun & Ji, Yuemei & De Grauwe, Paul, 2021. "Financial policymaking after crises: Public vs. private interests," BOFIT Discussion Papers 10/2021, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    19. Hlaing, Su Wah & Kakinaka, Makoto, 2018. "Financial crisis and financial policy reform: Crisis origins and policy dimensions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 224-243.
    20. Peter Huber & Thomas Leoni & Hans Pitlik, 2013. "Reforming Welfare States. WWWforEurope Deliverable No. 1," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 47022, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic crises; International Economic Law; Investment Agreements; International Arbitration; International Relations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F55 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Institutional Arrangements
    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law

    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:wiw:wus005:6922. 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: WU Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://research.wu.ac.at/ .

    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.