Economic Aspects of International Investment Agreements

International investment agreements (“IIAs”) are State-to-State treaties that aim to promote investment, especially foreign direct investment (“FDI”), by protecting foreign investors against host-country policy measures. The first IIAs appeared in the late 1950s, but most of the currently almost 2,700 IIAs in force were formed after the mid-1990s. The vast majority of the agreements are bilateral, but it has become increasingly common for preferential trade agreements to encompass such protections.