Research Paper Number

14/2016

Who Has Benefited Financially from Investment Treaty Arbitration? An Evaluation of the Size and Wealth of Claimants

Authors

Gus Van Harten, Osgoode Hall Law School of York UniversityFollow

View the research paper on SSRN here.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Keywords

Investor-state arbitration, ISDS, compensation, wealth, corporations

Abstract

We collected data on the size and wealth of the foreign investors that have brought claims and received compensation due to ISDS. Our main findings are that the beneficiaries of ISDS, in the aggregate, have overwhelmingly been companies with more than USD1 billion in annual revenue – especially extra-large companies with more than USD10 billion – and individuals with more than USD100 million in net wealth. ISDS has produced monetary benefits primarily for those companies or individuals at the expense of respondent states. Incidentally, we also found that extra-large companies’ success rates in ISDS, especially at the merits stage, exceeded by a large margin the success rates of other claimants. It was evident that ISDS has also delivered substantial monetary benefits for the ISDS legal industry.

Recommended Citation

Van Harten, Gus, "Who Has Benefited Financially from Investment Treaty Arbitration? An Evaluation of the Size and Wealth of Claimants" (2016). Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series. 135.
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/olsrps/135