The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment & Investment Attraction
My contributions to the study of the politics of FDI relate to three subthemes: political risk and FDI flows, FDI regulation, and investment facilitation. My early research, which provides a foundation for my scholarship on the nexus of national security and FDI, focuses on the questions of how political risks affect FDI flows, and how governments can mitigate these risks, especially through treaty commitments.
As I concluded my book (see Merging Interests tab), I started a series of related research projects on the politics of investment promotion focused on how state bureaucracies navigate the competing interests of local and international investors. This work examines (1) investment tax incentives, which represent wealth transfers from citizens to MNEs, and (2) investment promotion agencies (IPAs), government agencies that exist to pursue a wide range of investment facilitation activities that generate distributive consequences for state bureaucracies, MNEs, domestic firms, and citizens. In a series of articles published, forthcoming, and under review, I use a variety of research methods including survey experiments, project-level statistical analysis, and quasi-experimental techniques to explore the politics of investment incentives in multiple contexts.
2022. “Explaining Deference: Why and When do Policymakers think FDI needs Tax Incentives?” (with Alexander Slaski) Review of International Political Economy 29(4): 1085-1111. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2021.1885475
2022. “Incentivizing Embedded Investment: Evidence from Patterns of Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America” (with Alexander Slaski) Review of International Organizations 17(1):63-87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-021-09418-0
2016. Bauerle Danzman, Sarah. “Contracting with Whom? The Differential Effects of BITs on Mitigating Sources of Investment Risk.” International Interactions 42(3): 432–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629.2016.1121451
Book Chapters
2022. “Is FDI at a Critical Juncture? Contemplating a Post-COVID Investment Environment” in Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy 2020, edited by Lisa Laches, Lise Johnson, and Jesse Coleman. Oxford University Press, pp. 5-18. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/yearbook-on-international-investment-law-and-policy-2020-9780192862334?cc=us&lang=en&
2020. “Facilitating Sustainable Investment: The Role and Limits of Investment Promotion Agencies.” (with Geoffrey Gertz) in International Trade, Investment, and the Sustainable Development Goals edited by Cosimo Beverelli, Jurgen Kurtz, and Damian Raess. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140-174. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108881364
2019. “The Political Economy of Bilateral Investment Treaties: The Conditional Effects of BITs on FDI Flows and Domestic Politics.” in Research Handbook on Foreign Direct Investment, edited by Markus Krajewski. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 11-38. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/research-handbook-on-foreign-direct-investment-9781785369841.html