IESET.
Hypotheses·trade·bilateral_investment_treaty_fdi_flow

Bilateral investment treaties predict higher FDI inflows, especially in countries with weaker domestic rule of law.

PARTIALengine/runs/bilateral_investment_treaty_fdi_flow

PARTIAL — coef=-5.758e-16, p=7.77e-06; effect magnitude effectively zero

confidence cueThe result is useful, but not decisive. Treat it as a clue, not a settled conclusion.

policy briefMixed or noisy

In ordinary language

When countries open more of the economy to trade and competition, do people end up with better long-run income or productivity outcomes?

plain answer

The evidence is suggestive but not decisive. coef=-5.758e-16, p=7.77e-06; effect magnitude effectively zero

why it matters

This matters because trade claims should change belief only when they survive a pre-declared empirical test.

how the test works

It compares 1 country or place units from 1990 to 2023, using a panel fe design, with fixed effects for country and year.

what was measured
What changed
  • Treatment var
What we checked
  • Outcome var
what this does not prove

A single test is not the whole truth. It narrows the claim under a specific sample, time period, and method. Strong policy conclusions need the pattern to survive nearby tests, alternative data, and serious objections.

verification

No evidence packet has been generated yet.

Results

engine/runs/bilateral_investment_treaty_fdi_flow
1007550250199020072023GLOBAL
illustrative sketch · run pending
No coefficients yet. When the model fires, this chart will show outcome_var across 1 sampled countries over 1990–2023.
The shapes above are stylised — none of the lines are real data.
Placeholder for bilateral_investment_treaty_fdi_flow. Published chart will be generated from engine/runs/bilateral_investment_treaty_fdi_flow/chart_data.json.

Pre-registration

registration ordering unverified
first-spec commit 4c8ce8e · 2026-07-18T22:11:21Z
run generated · 2026-06-29T17:54:35Z
Run timestamp predates this path's first git-add commit (rebase, rename, or pre-git local run). Spec hash is still the path's first-add commit — not repository HEAD — but ordering is not a clean pre-registration proof.

Bilateral investment treaties predict higher FDI inflows, especially in countries with weaker domestic rule of law.

Falsification criterion — what would disprove this

set before the run · honoured after

This hypothesis is considered falsified if:

SUPPORTED if coefficient > 0 and p < 0.10

formal test & threshold
test:      bilateral_investment_treaty_fdi_flow_placeholder_test

Method

Template
panel_fe
Fixed effects
country, year
Clustering
country
Sample
1 countries · 1990 – 2023
Evidence type
associational

Data

VariableSourceTransform
outcome_var
outcome
world_bank_wdi:NY.GDP.PCAP.KDtier 2
log
treatment_var
treatment
fraser_efw:summary_indextier 4
level
log_gdp_pc
control
world_bank_wdi:NY.GDP.PCAP.KDtier 2
log

● ready  · ● pending  · ● reconstruct-needed

Detailed result card

Result card — bilateral_investment_treaty_fdi_flow

Verdict: PARTIAL — coef=-5.758e-16, p=7.77e-06; effect magnitude effectively zero

Pre-registration

  • Claim: Bilateral investment treaties predict higher FDI inflows, especially in countries with weaker domestic rule of law.
  • Falsification rule: SUPPORTED if coefficient > 0 and p < 0.10
  • Falsification test: bilateral_investment_treaty_fdi_flow_placeholder_test

Estimate

  • Method: linearmodels.PanelOLS
  • Coefficient (treatment): -5.758e-16
  • Std error: 1.286e-16
  • p-value: 7.77e-06
  • Observations: 3446, countries: 138
  • Within R²: 1
  • Fixed effects: entity=True, time=True
  • Clustering: country

Variables resolved

  • world_bank_wdi:NY.GDP.PCAP.KD → outcome_var (outcome, publisher=world_bank_wdi, n=12104)
  • fraser_efw:summary_index → treatment_var (treatment, publisher=fraser_efw, n=4557)
  • world_bank_wdi:NY.GDP.PCAP.KD → log_gdp_pc (controls, publisher=world_bank_wdi, n=12104)

Generated by scripts/run_panel_fe.py at 2026-06-29T17:54:35+00:00

Authored framework. Read the transparency note.