The Interplay between National and International Law - its Economic Effects Drawing on Four New Indicators

39 Pages Posted: 22 Aug 2006

See all articles by Stefan Voigt

Stefan Voigt

University of Hamburg - Institute of Law & Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Date Written: August 2006

Abstract

This paper analyzes whether the interplay between national and international law has any discernible effects on economically relevant variables. The specific aspects dealt with include (i) the difficulty of delegating competence to international bodies in the first place, (ii) the difficulty of reversing delegation decisions, (iii) the way that international law is transformed into the domestic legal order, and (iv) the potential role of national courts in drawing upon international law. The paper asks whether institutional arrangements corresponding with these aspects have effects on a country's risk rating which is used as a proxy for credibility. Credibility affects investment and growth. It is hypothesized that the role attributed to international law in domestic legal orders can improve the credibility of nation-state governments. The paper presents a new database containing information on the respective institutional arrangements in 56 countries. The database can also be used to assess the long-lasting discussion of "monism vs. dualism" empirically. Both the difficulty-of-delegating and the role-of-national-courts indicators have fairly robust effects on credibility. Monist orders do, however, not confer any more credibility on governments than dualist ones.

Keywords: Delegation of Competence, Credibility, Dilemma of the Strong State, International Organizations, International Law, Municipal Law, Monism, Dualism

JEL Classification: F02, F21, H11, K33, P26

Suggested Citation

Voigt, Stefan, The Interplay between National and International Law - its Economic Effects Drawing on Four New Indicators (August 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=925796 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.925796

Stefan Voigt (Contact Author)

University of Hamburg - Institute of Law & Economics ( email )

Johnsallee 35
Hamburg, 20148
Germany
+49-40-428385782 (Phone)
+49-40-428386794 (Fax)

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

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