Introduction

On the impact of BITs, earlier work by UNCTAD (the l998 BITs study and the discussion in WIR03) also found little systematic econometric evidence on the impact of BITs on FDI flows. But that does not necessarily mean that there is none. For one, we know that the principal determinants of FDI flows are economic variables (growth, size of markets, infrastructure, skills etc) -- and they may well wash out the regulatory ones. It is also difficult to ascertain what the signaling function of these treaties is and to what extent they are a seal of good house-keeping, so to ...