Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 How Financial Liberalization Led in the 1990s to Three Different Cycles of ‘Manias, Panics and Crashes’ in Middle-Income Countries
- 3 Timing the Mexican 1994–95 Financial Crisis using a Markov Switching Approach
- 4 Exchange Rates, Growth and Inflation: What If the Income Elasticities of Trade Flows Respond to Relative Prices?
- 5 Alternative Measures of Currency and Asset Substitution: The Case of Turkey
- 6 Competitive Diversification in Resource Abundant Countries: Argentina after the Collapse of the Convertibility Regime
- 7 Foreign Portfolio Investment, Stock Market and Economic Development: A Case Study in India
- 8 Transnational Corporations and the Internationalization of Research and Development Activities in Developing Countries: The Relative Importance of Affiliates in Asia and Latin America
- 9 External Debt Nationalization as a Major Tendency on Brazilian External Debt in the Twentieth Century: The Shifting Character of the State during Debt Crisis
- 10 Prudential Regulation and Safety Net: Recent Transformations in Brazil
- 11 Re-crafting Bilateral Investment Treaties in a Development Framework: A Comparative Regional Perspective
11 - Re-crafting Bilateral Investment Treaties in a Development Framework: A Comparative Regional Perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 How Financial Liberalization Led in the 1990s to Three Different Cycles of ‘Manias, Panics and Crashes’ in Middle-Income Countries
- 3 Timing the Mexican 1994–95 Financial Crisis using a Markov Switching Approach
- 4 Exchange Rates, Growth and Inflation: What If the Income Elasticities of Trade Flows Respond to Relative Prices?
- 5 Alternative Measures of Currency and Asset Substitution: The Case of Turkey
- 6 Competitive Diversification in Resource Abundant Countries: Argentina after the Collapse of the Convertibility Regime
- 7 Foreign Portfolio Investment, Stock Market and Economic Development: A Case Study in India
- 8 Transnational Corporations and the Internationalization of Research and Development Activities in Developing Countries: The Relative Importance of Affiliates in Asia and Latin America
- 9 External Debt Nationalization as a Major Tendency on Brazilian External Debt in the Twentieth Century: The Shifting Character of the State during Debt Crisis
- 10 Prudential Regulation and Safety Net: Recent Transformations in Brazil
- 11 Re-crafting Bilateral Investment Treaties in a Development Framework: A Comparative Regional Perspective
Summary
Overview
Definition
UNCTAD (2000) defines Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) as agreements between two countries for the reciprocal encouragement, promotion and protection of investments in each others territories by companies based in either country. BITs constitute to date the most important instrument for the international protection of foreign investment.
While the specific elements of the treaties and the manner of their application differs across countries, typically the coverage of BITs extends to scope and definition of investment, its admission and establishment, national treatment, most favoured nation treatment, fair and equitable treatment, compensation in the event of expropriation, war and civil unrest or other damage to the investment, guarantees of free transfers of funds and recuperation of capital gains, and dispute settlement mechanisms both statestate and investor-state.
Objectives
The proponents of BITs have sought to justify them in terms of the overall benefits in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Cross border investments are seen as an important source of bridging the savings-investment gap and boosting economic growth in developing countries. They are thought to be important mechanisms for effecting technology transfer, employment generation and relaxing constraints on Balance of Payments. Profit remittances on account of foreign equity are related to the performance of investment projects unlike the inflexible repayment obligations of foreign debt. These supposed benefits from FDI have generated an intense competition amongst developing countries.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Capital Without BordersChallenges to Development, pp. 209 - 238Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2010