TITLE:
BITs and FDI Revisited: A Matching Approach
AUTHORS:
Terence K. Teo
KEYWORDS:
Bilateral Investment Treaties, Foreign Direct Investment, Coarsened Exact Matching
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Political Science,
Vol.11 No.2,
April
30,
2021
ABSTRACT: Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) are legal agreements between two
governments with the goal of protecting and attracting FDI. However, existing
research on whether BITs fulfill their intended purpose remains mixed. I argue
that the empirical analysis of BITs must statistically account for the
selection into BIT signing to identify the effects of BITs on FDI. Using a
matching approach, I find that BITs do attract FDI.