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4 - The Effects of Non-Trade Provisions in Trade Agreements on Bilateral FDI

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2023

Miriam Manchin
Affiliation:
Politecnico di Milano
Laura Puccio
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Aydin B. Yildirim
Affiliation:
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
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Summary

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have been estimated to increase bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) between the signing countries. There is, however, significant heterogeneity between PTAs, and, with increasing frequency, several non-trade issues (NTIs) are also incorporated into PTAs. These include provisions on political and civil rights, economic and social rights, and environmental protection measures. Given the overall intrinsic heterogeneity in PTAs, it is relevant to analyse which of their characteristics are driving the increase in bilateral FDI flows after signing a trade agreement. The chapter uses a structural gravity model of FDI to empirically test the specific relation between non-trade provisions contained in preferential trade agreements with bilateral FDI. It is found that NTI provisions have, if any, a positive relation with bilateral FDI. The civil and political rights (CPR) index has a positive, significant and robust relation with bilateral FDI. However, the other two indicators, economic and social rights (ESR) and environmental protection (EP), usually have positive coefficient signs, but they are not robust to different specifications. The policy implications of these results are that we do not find any negative relation between including more and/or stronger non-trade provision in trade agreements and FDI flows.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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