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AbstractThis paper contributes to the debate on the impact of migrant remittances on welfare spending. It empirically examines the influence that remittances have on public social protection (SP) expenditures using macrolevel panel data on a sample of 38 high‐ and middle‐income countries over the period 2005–2014. The paper finds that remittances have a negative influence on public SP expenditures, suggesting that they serve as a private substitute to public SP. The results highlight the importance of remittances to government welfare spending and sustainable development.

In this paper the author empirically examines whether the influence of bilateral investment treaties' political risk guarantees extends to other types of capital flows - FDI, private debt, public debt and portfolio equity. The paper uses panel data on middle and low income countries during the period 1984 - 2011 and adopts LSDV estimation methodology to account for heterogeneity arising from unobserved country, region, and time effects. The paper finds that ratified BITs with OECD countries increase FDI flows and reduce private debt flows. They also tilt the composition of capital flows in favor of FDI. The novelty of the paper stems from its extension of the examination BITs influence beyond FDI and the distinction between private and public debt flows. The paper contributes to the FDI and capital flows literatures.

This paper examines the influence of political risk guarantees of bilateral investment treaties on debt and equity flows using panel data on middle income countries for the period 1984-2011. Adopting system GMM methodology, the paper empirically finds that ratified bilateral investment treaties with OECD countries have a combined positive influence on non-guaranteed debt flows and a direct positive influence on portfolio equity flows. The results highlight the importance of considering political risk guarantees in financial integration, regulation of financial markets and institutions, and capital liberalization.