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2. The China-EU BIT: The emerging "Global BIT 2.0"?
- Author:
- Wenhua Shan and Lu Wang
- Publication Date:
- 08-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Since China and the European Union (EU) announced their decision to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) at the 14th China-EU Summit in February 2012, the two sides have engaged in two rounds of negotiations. If successful, it will be the first standalone EU BIT, a BIT between the world's largest developed economy and the world's largest developing economy, and will occupy a unique place in the history of BIT negotiations.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Bilateral Relations, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China, Europe, and Asia
3. Regional concentration of FDI involves trade-offs in post-reform India
- Author:
- Peter Nunnenkamp, Wan-Hsin Liu, and Frank Bickenbach
- Publication Date:
- 03-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- P. Chidambaram, India's Minister of Finance, claimed that "FDI worked wonders in China and can do so in India." However, China's example may also point to the limitations of foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization in promoting the host country's economic development. FDI in China is heavily concentrated in the coastal areas, and previous studies have suggested that this has contributed to the increasing disparity in regional income and growth since the late 1970s.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China, South Asia, and India
4. The China-United States BIT negotiations: A Chinese perspective
- Author:
- Sheng Zhang
- Publication Date:
- 01-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- The China-US bilateral investment treaty (BIT) negotiations have attracted attention due to the relative size and weight of both economies. Despite broad consensus about the importance of such a treaty, there is considerable debate about its shape and content. The debate is reflected in two recent Columbia FDI Perspectives. Donnelly argued that a China-US BIT should be modeled on the US Model BIT without "splitting the difference between Chinese and US positions", and that the possibility of meaningful BIT negotiations are "really up to China at this point".
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Bilateral Relations, Foreign Direct Investment, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Europe, and Colombia
5. China needs to complement its "going-out" policy with a "going-in" strategy
- Author:
- Karl P. Sauvant and Victor Z. Chen
- Publication Date:
- 05-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- China's rising outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) faces rising skepticism abroad. This is partly the result of the leading role of state-owned enterprises in her OFDI (and the fear that it serves non-commercial purposes), the speed with which this investment has grown, the negative image of the home country in some quarters, and the challenges it poses to established competitors. Moreover, Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) may not always keep in mind that host countries see FDI as a tool to advance their own development and hence seek maximum benefits from it.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
6. The futile debate over a multilateral framework for investment
- Author:
- Axel Berger
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- One of the recurrent debates on international investment rule-making relates to the question whether it is possible to establish a multilateral framework for investment (MFI). Proponents argue that growing foreign direct investment (FDI) from emerging countries, especially China, contributes to a new consensus on global investment rules.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China
7. Go out and manufacture: Policy support for Chinese FDI in Africa
- Author:
- Nikia Clarke
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Energy investments and infrastructure contracts remain prominent in China's Africa engagement. However, investment in manufacturing makes up a significant proportion of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI). Its characteristics–large numbers of smaller transactions by privately owned small and medium-sized firms–make these flows difficult to assess or control. However, China and African governments have an interest in effectively channeling this type of FDI.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Africa and China
8. Three challenges for China's outward FDI policy
- Author:
- Karl P. Sauvant
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Since China adopted its "going out" policy in 2001, her outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) flows have grown rapidly, reaching US$84 billion in 2012 (although the stock remains small). That year, China was the world's third largest outward investor (after the US and Japan). This performance raises all sorts of issues, especially because state-owned enterprises (SOEs) control some three-quarters of the country's OFDI stock. Three challenges are addressed in this Perspective.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, and China
9. Is China's outward investment in oil a global security concern?
- Author:
- Ilan Alon and Aleh Cherp
- Publication Date:
- 10-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- The motivations prompting China's dramatic increase in outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) are not always clear, especially regarding OFDI by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in energy and natural resources. First, both commercial and governmental interests are intertwined, although not necessarily in lock-step. Chinese SOEs listed in the West may worry about the reputational risks to their global corporate citizenship, while government stakeholders may instead focus on diplomatic international relations. Second, subsidies for oil investments may be viewed as serving Chinese national interests and threatening the national security of the host countries. Whether China's OFDI will benefit or harm global energy security, economic development and diplomatic relations is still hotly contested.
- Topic:
- Economics, Emerging Markets, Energy Policy, International Trade and Finance, Oil, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China
10. A new economic nationalism? Lessons from the PotashCorp decision in Canada
- Author:
- Sandy Walker
- Publication Date:
- 08-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- In its World Investment Report 2011, UNCTAD reported that liberalizing investment policy measures taken globally in 2010 outnumbered restrictive measures. Without the benefit of statistics, investors might have drawn the opposite conclusion, witnessing what appears to be a rising tide of national resistance to foreign takeovers: the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board's rejection of a takeover of the Australian Securities Exchange by the Singapore Exchange, Italian concern over a French company's takeover of dairy giant Parmalat and the US Government's requirement that Chinese company Huawei divest certain assets it had acquired from 3Leaf.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Canada, Australia, and Singapore
11. Starting anew in international investment law
- Author:
- M Sornarajah
- Publication Date:
- 07-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- The legitimacy of investment arbitration becomes increasingly questioned, with liberal states like Australia moving away from the regime. Defenders seek to ensure the survival of this regime of asymmetric investment protection, using a variety of techniques. The conservation of the gains of property protection has resulted in novel arguments relating to the existence of a global administrative law and standards of global governance. These arguments seek to preserve an approach associated with the failure of market fundamentalism and global economic crises. As long as the inequity contained in regulatory restraints of the system affected only the powerless states, it operated with vigor; but with powerful states feeling the effects of regulatory restraints of investment treaties, there has been movement away from the earlier premises of the established regime.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- China, India, and Australia
12. A China – US bilateral investment treaty: A template for a multilateral framework for investment?
- Author:
- Karl P. Sauvant and Huiping Chen
- Publication Date:
- 12-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- China is the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) host and home country among emerging markets, the United States among developed countries. As host countries, both seek to maintain policy space to pursue their own legitimate public policy objectives; as home countries, both seek to protect their investors' outward FDI. The development of their bilateral investment treaties (BITs) over the past decade reflects this: Chinese BITs have become more protective of investors, US ones more respectful of host country interests. If agreement is reached between both, it would provide a template for future investment agreements.
- Topic:
- Economics, Emerging Markets, Treaties and Agreements, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
13. Untying the land knot: Turning investment challenges into opportunities for all citizens
- Author:
- Xiaofang Shen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- China, 1980s. Newly embarked on its economic transformation, China opened to foreign direct investment (FDI) to obtain capital, technology and access to world markets. Investors hesitated, however, since national law prohibited access to state-owned land. In reaction, the government introduced a long-term lease system, first tested in special economic zones and later applied across the country. This approach enabled China's phenomenal success in attracting FDI in the years to come; it also paved the way for 500 million urban citizens to gain property rights, which in turn inspired the rural population to ask for the same rights today.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- China
14. Is Chinese FDI pushing Latin America into natural resources?
- Author:
- Miguel Pérez Ludeña
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America is a recent phenomenon. Although the China National Petroleum Corporation and other companies have been present in Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela since the early 1990s, large projects have been pursued only since 2006, following an extended period of high commodity prices. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimated that there were US$ 15 billion of Chinese FDI inflows into Latin America in 2010, 90% of which were in extractive industries. This further contributed to the already high percentage of Chinese FDI flows to the region that are in natural resources. At a time of high economic growth fueled by commodity exports and strong currency appreciation (particularly in Brazil), FDI into extractive industries strengthens the region's specialization in primary products at the expense of manufacturing and other activities.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Natural Resources, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China, Brazil, Latin America, and Peru
15. The unbalanced dragon: China's uneven provincial and regional FDI performance
- Author:
- Karl P. Sauvant, Chen Zhao, and Xiaoying Huo
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Among developing countries, China attracts most foreign direct investment (FDI). Where is this investment located within China, what explains its distribution and what are policy implications? We used UNCTAD's FDI Performance Index to answer the first question. Although developed for countries , it can be applied to sub-national units. It uses provincial GDP to ascertain whether a given territorial unit has received FDI inflows as expected from its economic size. Standardizing the data accordingly reveals three clusters of provinces for 2007-2010 (table 1, figure 1 below): The first cluster encompasses virtually all coastal provinces: they have an index value above 1, i.e. perform better than their economic size would lead one to expect. They account for 9 of the top 11 performers of Mainland China's 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions (“provinces”). The provinces in the middle cluster underperform (index value of 1-0.5). They include 5 central provinces, but also 3 western and 2 coastal provinces. The provinces in the bottom cluster underperform significantly (index value below 0.5), comprising primarily the country's western provinces (8 out of the 10 provinces in this cluster).
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China
16. Economic patriotism: Dealing with Chinese direct investment in the United States
- Author:
- Sophie Meunier
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- China is investing throughout the world, in industries from automobiles to zinc. In the US, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) accounted for only 0.25% of total FDI stock in 2010,but it is likely to increase as China diversifies its holdings and seeks to obtain technology, managerial know-how and easier access to US consumers. As these investments multiply, we expect a few cases to attract negative attention in the media and political arena. Chinese companies are predominately state-controlled, raising the specter that they act to fulfill strategic, rather than profit maximizing, goals. China is also an ideological rival, causing irrational concern that Chinese investment in the US may act as a Trojan Horse of Chinese values and politics --fueled by rational concerns about subsidies, piracy, and economic espionage.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
17. Chinese FDI in the United States is taking off: How to maximize its benefits?
- Author:
- Daniel H. Rosen and Thilo Hanemann
- Publication Date:
- 10-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) grew rapidly in the past decade, but flows to developed economies have been limited. Now China's direct investment flows to the United States are poised to rise substantially. This new trend offers tremendous opportunities for the U. S., provided policymakers take steps to keep the investment environment open and utilize China's new interest productively.
- Topic:
- Climate Change and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
18. The role of multinationals in sparking industrialization: From "infant industry protection" to "FDI-led industrial take-off"
- Author:
- Terutomo Ozawa
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Although not yet fully conceptualized as a new catch-up model in mainstream development economics, the infant industry argument (protectionism designed to replace imports with domestic substitutes) is giving way to a foreign direct investment (FDI)-led model of industrialization.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, and China
19. The coming harmonization of climate change policy and international investment law
- Author:
- Daniel M. Firger
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Developments in climate change policy and international investment law may be ushering in a new era characterized by profound harmonization between the two regimes. Although policy instruments such as the Kyoto Protocol's “Clean Development Mechanism” (CDM) have been in existence for years, it is only relatively recently that the international community has turned to low-carbon foreign direct investment (FDI) and away from command-and-control regulation as the preferred means by which to achieve future greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Meanwhile, states have begun to renegotiate international investment agreements (IIAs) or sign new treaties to take into account policy goals, including climate change mitigation, that extend beyond the regime's traditional preoccupation with investor protection. Though still somewhat tentative, emerging trends in both arenas are thus showing unmistakable signs of convergence.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
20. Are resurging state-owned enterprises impeding competition overseas?
- Author:
- Nilgün Gökgür
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- There are no up-to-date systematic data on the size, composition, ownership structure, and economic weight of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), so we are unable to assess the impact of SOE performance on stakeholders in domestic and overseas markets. Yet there is sufficient evidence of their expansion, especially following the 2008 financial crisis. Emerging markets, led by China, are now increasingly encouraging their SOEs to expand globally as multinational enterprises (MNEs).
- Topic:
- Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- Africa and China
21. Inward FDI in Israel and its policy context
- Author:
- Yair Aharoni
- Publication Date:
- 01-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- In the first four decades of its existence, Israel was not successful in attracting inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) despite attempts to do so. In the past two decades, Israel have become a haven for multinational enterprises (MNEs) that have taken advantage of its unique assets – among them a skilled, educated workforce and cutting-edge research-and-development (R) capabilities – by establishing production lines or R centers and acquiring dozens of successful start ups. Israel's IFDI stock sharply increased from US$ 4.5 billion in 1990 to US$ 71.3 billion in 2009. It is expected that IFDI will further accelerate following Israel's accession to the OECD in May 2010 and as more firms from emerging market economies, including China and India, will come to appreciate its characteristics as an ideal locational choice. Israel also weathered the global economic crisis well, even though IFDI declined sharply. Israel actively encourages IFDI, mainly in high technology areas. In 2010, the Government also created special incentives to attract research centers of financial institutions.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, Foreign Direct Investment, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- China, Middle East, India, and Israel
22. U.S. BITs and financial stability
- Author:
- Kevin P. Gallagher
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Almost immediately after taking office, the Obama administration charged the U.S. Department of State's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy with reviewing the U.S. Model bilateral investment treaty (BIT). The group established a sub-committee of business groups, labor and environmental organizations, and a handful of academic experts and tasked it to make official recommendations for reforming U.S. investment treaties. When completed, the Obama Administration hopes to proceed with official negotiations with China, India, Vietnam, and possibly Brazil.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, India, Brazil, and Vietnam
23. International investment law and media disputes: a complement to WTO law
- Author:
- Luke Eric Peterson
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- The recent high-stakes dispute between Google and China over censorship and cyber-security has spawned renewed discussion of the international trade law protections that internet and media companies may enjoy. Less recognized, however, is a perhaps more powerful legal tool in the arsenal of internet and media companies engaging in cross-border investment s, namely international investment law.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Mass Media, and Law
- Political Geography:
- China
24. Will China relocate its labor-intensive factories to Africa, flying-geese style?
- Author:
- Terutomo Ozawa and Christian Bellak
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- China has developed increasingly close economic relations with Africa in its quest for oil and minerals through investment and aid. The World Ban k recently called upon China to transplant labor-intensive factories onto the continent. A question arises as to whether such an industrial relocation will be done in such a fashion to jump-start local economic development—as previously seen across East Asia and as described in the flying-geese (FG) paradigm of FD.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa and China
25. What will an appreciation of China's currency do to inward and outward FDI?
- Author:
- Karl P. Sauvant and Ken Davies
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- What will an appreciation of the Chinese yuan do to China's inward and outward direct investment? The discussion so far has been almost exclusively about the impact on China's trade balance. But it is at least as important to see what effect it may have on the country's inward foreign direct investment (IFDI), which plays such a crucial role in China's economic development, and its outward FDI (OFDI), which is receiving increased attention worldwide.
- Topic:
- Economics, Foreign Exchange, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China
26. Indian FDI falls in global economic crisis: Indian multinationals tread cautiously
- Author:
- Jaya Prakash Pradhan
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Just over a year ago, outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from India seemed to be on a path of rapid and sustained growth. Its annual average growth of 98% during 2004–07 had been unprecedented , much ahead of OFDI growth from other emerging markets like China (74%), Malaysia (70%), Russia (53%), and the Republic of Korea (51%), although from a much lower base. Much of this recent growth had been fuelled by large-scale overseas acquisitions, however, and it faltered when the global financial crisis that started in late 2007 made financing acquisitions harder.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Foreign Direct Investment, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, Malaysia, India, and Korea
27. A new geography of innovation – China and India rising
- Author:
- Gert Bruche
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- With some delay, the internationalization of business R is following the globalization of production. Starting on a small scale during the 1970s and 1980s, the emergence of globally distributed R networks of multinational enterprises (MNEs) accelerated rapidly in the 1990s. The “globalization of innovation” was facilitated and driven by a complex set of factors, including changes in trade and investment governance, improved intellectual property rights through TRIPS, the growing ease and falling cost of communicating and traveling around the globe, and the concomitant vertical industry specialization and unbundling of value chains. The growing and sustained level of cross-border M was one major direct driver, often having the effect that merged firms inherited multiple R sites in a number of countries.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China, India, and Asia
28. Indian FDI falls in global economic crisis: Indian multinationals tread cautiously
- Author:
- Jaya Prakash Pradhan
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Just over a year ago, outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from India seemed to be on a path of rapid and sustained growth. Its annual average growth of 98% during 2004–07 had been unprecedented , much ahead of OFDI growth from other emerging markets like China (74%), Malaysia (70%), Russia (53%), and the Republic of Korea (51%), although from a much lower base. Much of this recent growth had been fuelled by large-scale overseas acquisitions, however, and it faltered when the global financial crisis that started in late 2007 made financing acquisitions harder.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Foreign Direct Investment, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, South Asia, Malaysia, and Korea