双边投资协议对外商直接投资的促进作用——多还是少？外文原文.pdfVIP

Rev World Econ (2010) 146:147–177 DOI 10.1007/s10290-009-0046-x ORI GIN AL PA PER FDI promotion through bilateral investment treaties: more than a bit? • • ¨ Matthias Busse Jens Koniger Peter Nunnenkamp Published online: 2 February 2010 Kiel Institute 2010 Abstract Policy makers in developing countries have increasingly pinned their hopes on bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in order to improve their chances in the worldwide competition for foreign direct investment (FDI). However, the effective- ness of BITs in inducing higher FDI inflows is still open to debate. It is in several ways that we attempt to clarify the inconclusive empirical findings of earlier studies. We cover a much larger sample of host and source countries by drawing on an extensive data set on bilateral FDI flows. Furthermore, we account for unilateral FDI liberal- ization, in order not to overestimate the effect of BITs, as well as for the potential endogeneity of BITs. Employing a gravity-type model and various model specifica- tions, including an instrumental variable approach, we find that BITs do promote FDI flows to developing countries. BITs may even substitute for weak domestic institu- tions, though probably not for unilateral capital account liberalization. Keywords FDI Multinational corporations Bilateral investment treaties JEL Classification C33 F21 F23 1 Introduction Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows are widely perceived to be superior to other types of capital inflows. Apart from offering additional investment resources, FDI may help host countries foster economic development by offering access to ¨ M. Busse J. Koniger ¨ Department of Economics, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitatsstrasse 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany