Saturday, November 12, 2011

Broude: Investment and Trade: The 'Lottie and Lisa' of International Economic Law?

Tomer Broude (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem - Law) has posted Investment and Trade: The 'Lottie and Lisa' of International Economic Law? (in New Directions and Emerging Challenges in International Investment Law and Policy, Pierre Sauvé & Roberto Echandi eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
As substantive economic and social phenomena, international trade and investment are inextricably linked. Yet like twins separated at birth, for decades they have been regulated by discrete international legal systems. Despite the historic parting of their respective legal systems, international trade and investment are more closely tied to each other today than ever before, with a significant portion of international trade and investment flows occurring in global supply chains within transnational corporations. However, convergence between trade and investment law is piecemeal, lacking a unifying logic. Taking a relatively compartmentalized issue - the differential treatment of subsidies in trade and in investment - as a case in point, this essay will query whether the continued distinction between trade and investment law, derived from historical and political causes that are no longer relevant, is still justified, or whether it is time to seriously consider consolidating and reconceiving the two fields as one.