It is widely believed that foreign aid may help conflict-affected countries to recover after the termination of conflicts. However, the available empirical evidence supporting this view largely neglects the heterogeneous nature of aid. Drawing on the...

In the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of 2005 and related initiatives donor countries promised to render foreign aid more effective, inter alia, by increasingly concentrating aid on particularly needy recipient countries with relatively good...

It is open to question whether the intensified worldwide competition for FDI has reduced its traditionally strong concentration in a few large and relatively advanced host countries. We calculate and decompose Theil indices to track changes in...

When an investor sues a state for alleged breaches of its obligations under an investment treaty or a trade agreement with investment provisions, all that should matter for who wins the case are the merits of the claim itself. Alas, investor-to-state...

Compelling empirical evidence on whether investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is systematically biased against poor respondent states hardly exists. We focus on disentangling the effects of the respondent state’s per-capita income and the...

The recent boom of investor-state disputes filed under international investment agreements has fueled a controversial academic and policy debate. We study the impact of these compensation claims on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to the...

It has been intensively and controversially discussed whether ‘good’ economic policies and governance in the recipient countries render foreign aid more effective in alleviating poverty and stimulating economic growth. By contrast, the question of...

Based on UNCTAD’s database on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), we find that many cases raised against developing countries are handled by fairly unbiased tribunals. As for ISDS outcomes, the overall ratio of investor wins over state wins is...

This study examines the effects of greenfield FDI and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on government size in host countries of FDI. Using panel data for up to 130 countries for the period from 2003-2011, the study specifically tests the...