Self-defeating austerity entails �perverse effects� of fiscal consolidation such that fiscal indicators deteriorate. Inter alia, this depends on the size of the fiscal multiplier as Keynes (1933. The Means to Prosperity. London: Macmillan) underlined. We find that the government expenditure multiplier was less than 1 in 1930s� Britain. Austerity was not self-defeating in the long…

This study investigates theimpact of joint-stock bank son the rationalization of the British interwar steel industry. A new panel data set of steel firm characteristics covering 1920�1938 is used to document rationalization and bank involvement, including interlocking directorships, with both found to bemore extensive than previously thought. A set of all potential amalgamation pairs is cr…

The article presents and discusses estimates of social and economic indicators for Italy and its regions in benchmark years roughly from Unification to the present day: life expectancy, education, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at purchasing power parity, and the new Human Development Index (HDI).Abroad interpretative hypothesis, based on the distinction between �active� and …

The recent financial crisis has placed the concept of fiscal dominance at the center of current debates on macro-prudential policies. However, empirical evidence of fiscal dominance, understood as fiscal policy driving monetary policy, has been mixed, especially for low inflation countries. The literature hypothesizes that institutional constraints are the reason for the failure to connect defi…

Newly assembledmacroeconomic statistics for early modern Portugal reveal one of Europe�s most vigorous colonial traders but one of its least successful growth records.Was the empire a blessing or a drag to the economy? Using an estimated dynamic model, we conclude that intercontinental trade had a substantial and increasingly positive impact on economic growth. In the heyday of colonial e…

Domestic courts generally have the ability to hold a litigant in contempt and fine or even imprison the litigant to encourage cooperation with a court order and ensure the orderly administration of justice. Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention) arbitration, however, is self-contained and denationalized, operating out…

In March 2015, the Government of India made the text of its revised draft model treaty available to the public. This new model treaty departs considerably from India�s earlier model treaty, India�s existing treaties and model treaties drafted by other countries. However, the limited commentary published so far presents mixed views. As a large developing country with growing economic p…

The purpose of provisional measures in the context of arbitration pursuant to the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and National of Other States (ICSID Convention) is to preserve the theoretically existing rights of the requesting party in circumstances of urgency and necessity pending the final determination of the dispute. Under the ICSID Rules of Procedure fo…

In the authors� view, the present focus in investment treaty arbitration on pecuniary remedies to the virtually complete exclusion of non-pecuniary remedies is somewhat surprising given a tribunal�s power to award the latter and in light of the expectations of the drafters of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID C…

The ICSID Convention was originally designed to facilitate the settlement of disputes between host States and foreign investors. Its preamble states that �while such disputes would usually be subject to national legal processes, international methods of settlement may be appropriate in certain cases�. The jurisdictional requirements are laid down in Article 25(1) of the ICSID Conventi…