Recently published: The Effect of Treaties on Foreign Direct Investment: Bilateral Investment Treaties, Double Taxation Treaties and Investment Flows

The Effect of Treaties on Foreign Direct Investment: Bilateral Investment Treaties, Double Taxation Treaties and Investment Flows (Oxford University Press, 2009), edited by Karl P. Sauvant and Lisa E. Sachs.

In recent years, the treaties and strategies promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) have changed dramatically. In particular, countries have liberalized their FDI laws and have entered into bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and double taxation treaties (DTTs) to attract such investment. The basic purpose of these treaties is to signal to investors that investments will be legally protected under international law in case of political turmoil and to mitigate the possibility of double taxation of foreign entities. But the actual effect of BITs and DTTs on the flows of foreign direct investment has been debated. The Effect of Treaties on Foreign Direct Investment is a comprehensive assessment of the performance of these treaties in this respect, and presents the most recent literature on BITs and DTTs and their impact on foreign investment flows.

The Table of Contents and the Introduction are both available on the publication page of the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment website: http://vcc.columbia.edu/pubs/