Bounded Rationality and Economic Diplomacy

The Politics of Investment Treaties in Developing Countries

AvLauge N. Skovgaard Poulsen

Häftad, Engelska, 2017

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Beskrivning

Modern investment treaties give private arbitrators power to determine whether governments should pay compensation to foreign investors for a wide range of sovereign acts. In recent years, particularly developing countries have incurred significant liabilities from investment treaty arbitration, which begs the question why they signed the treaties in the first place. Through a comprehensive and timely analysis, this book shows that governments in developing countries typically overestimated the economic benefits of investment treaties and practically ignored their risks. Rooted in insights on bounded rationality from behavioural psychology and economics, the analysis highlights how policy-makers often relied on inferential shortcuts when assessing the implications of the treaties, which resulted in systematic deviations from fully rational behaviour. This not only sheds new light on one of the most controversial legal regimes underwriting economic globalization but also provides a novel theoretical account of the often irrational, yet predictable, nature of economic diplomacy.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2017-04-06
Mått:153 x 230 x 14 mm
Vikt:400 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:264
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9781107552012

Utforska kategorier

Ekonomisk politik inom Ekonomi och Ledarskap

Mer om författaren

Lauge N. Skovgaard Poulsen is a Lecturer in International Political Economy at University College London.

Recensioner i media

'Well before the current hype in Europe over investor-state dispute settlement, Poulsen pioneered the view that many countries signed up to investment protection treaties in less than rational ways. This book provides careful, country-specific evidence in support, with eye-opening stories from across the world, ranging from Pakistan and Ghana to the Czech Republic, Costa Rica and South Africa. Countries simply assumed the economic benefits of investment treaties and underestimated the possibility and costs of legal claims. World Bank and UN officials promoted the treaties and so did Western lawyers and advisors. Debunking the rational premise of much of the academic scholarship, this book should be compulsory reading for a new generation of policymakers and scholars alike, if only to avoid the mistakes of the past and find better ways to address today's increasingly complex challenges of economic diplomacy.' Joost Pauwelyn, Graduate Institute, Geneva

Innehållsförteckning

Preface: the curious case of Pakistan; 1. Unanticipated consequences; 2. Bounded rationality and the spread of investment treaties; 3. A difficult beginning; 4. Promoting investment treaties; 5. A less then rational competition; 6. Narcissistic learning; 7. Letting down the guard: a case study; 8. Expanding the bounds of rationality in the investment regime.