Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 04/2012

Different investment treaties, different effects

Clint Peinhardt, Todd Allee

February 2012

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Abstract

Until recently, quantitative assessments of International Investment Agreements (IIAs) have tended to treat them as interchangeable. Such assessments assume that the only measure of investor protections encoded in IIAs is whether a treaty had been signed and/or entered into force. However, the actual investment effects of investment treaties depend greatly on context.