Democratization and Foreign Direct Investment Liberalization, 1970–2000

Despite the central role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in global economic integration, we lack explanations for why countries restrict FDI inflows. This article analyzes the sources of FDI liberalization using a comprehensive new data set of national foreign ownership restrictions spanning over 90 countries for the period 1970–2000. Analyses of this data show that democratization contributes to greater FDI openness. Democratization elevates the political influence of labor, the primary beneficiary of unrestricted FDI inflows. Democracies restrict six percent fewer of their manufacturing and service industries as compared to nondemocracies. This finding is robust to several controls for alternate explanations including economic crises, coercion, and diffusion; alternate measures of both democracy and foreign ownership restrictions; and a variety of model specifications. This article elucidates the political economy foundations of the contemporary world economy

Babies across Borders: The Political Economy of International Child Adoption

This article analyzes the determinants of international child adoption. We argue that prospective parents' desire to reduce transaction costs and ensure a successfully completed adoption influences adoption flows. Drawing on dyadic panel data over the period 1991–2010, we fit hurdle models to identify sending-country and dyad characteristics that correlate with adoption flows. We show that an international agreement designed to ensure the integrity of adoption depresses foreign adoptions by raising transaction costs. By contrast, adoption is more likely when sending countries have a high-quality regulatory environment and when colonial or migration ties exist within the dyad. Our findings highlight the impact of transaction costs on transnational, non-market exchange, expand political economy models of migration, and emphasize the importance of private international law in international relations

Babies across Borders: The Political Economy of International Child Adoption

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