On June 6, Washington and Lee law professor Susan Franck will present “The Use of Economics for Empirical Studies in Investment Arbitration” at the DISSETTLE Research Workshop in Milan, Italy. Professor Franck’s presentation will explore the use of empirical methodologies–whether quantitative or qualitative–for the exploration of international investment law. In providing a framework for thinking about how to use quantitative tools, such as those used by economists, political scientists and psychologists, Professor Franck offers a “Seven Step Approach for an Evidence Based Approach” to international economic law. In applying that framework to her own research as one possible application, she will explore basic demographics and test descriptive hypotheses related to investment treaty dispute resolution before moving to test more complicated associative hypotheses about what variables are reliably linked to dispute options.
DISSETTLE is funded by the European Union’s Framework Programme and involves a consortium of high level European universities including the Graduate Institute in Geneva, the University of St. Gallen, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the University of Warsaw and Bocconi University. These institutions have pioneered interdisciplinary work on economics and law and are dedicated to advancing the understanding of jurisprudence emerging from the dispute settlement body of the WTO and bilateral and regional trade agreement regimes.
