This intends to be a very “empirical” paper. We want to let the facts (legal facts, but facts nevertheless) speak by themselves. We simply present them in an organized way and limit to the minimum our own comments. The overall objective is to show, “by getting the legal facts right”,...

Business travels are a key driver of growth as they contribute to knowledge diffusion and innovation. They are also a relevant component of services trade. This paper analyzes the determinants of business travels expenditure in Italy, where this phenomenon is relevant and it is concentrated in...

This paper provides new insights in the link between distance and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in OECD countries. We find that the impact of distance on flows and stocks of FDI, controlling for exports, is negative and strongly significant, in line with gravity models, whereas in a standard...

Following China's "One Belt One Road" global economic expansion strategy, Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) along with state-owned, large corporations are increasingly seeking business opportunities internationally. Little is known about the process of small firms' international...

The paper aims at studying the potential accommodation of the concept of sustainable development within the regime of international law regulating foreign direct investment (FDI). Reconciliation of international investment law and sustainable development is part of the current awareness of...

States can defend themselves in cases alleging that they have violated investment treaty obligations on the grounds that situations of economic crisis required that they take emergency action. Likely defenses are the customary international law doctrines of necessity and force majeure, although...

This study aims to explore the ‘clash of cultures’ between international investment law and international cultural law. When countries pursue economic growth, their policy makers may have an incentive to lower cultural standards to promote economic activities. If states nonetheless maintain...