Originally from Pro-Arbitration Revisited: A Tribute to Professor George Bermann from his Students Over the Years

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There is consensus around the positive impact that international commercial arbitration can have on the investment climate of countries’ economy. Among other benefits, international commercial arbitration contributes to reducing or overcoming the institutional gap between institutions and businesses, positively influences countries’ investment location determinants, and helps them to attract and retain foreign investments. The positive effects of international commercial arbitration are generally greater in countries that present higher regulatory risks for private entities. In those countries, the availability of international commercial arbitration is particularly valuable as it allows companies to resolve disputes without having to deal with potentially inefficient domestic litigation proceedings. 

The desiderata of arbitration regimes, the criteria to achieve them... The mere existence of an international commercial arbitration regime (arbitration regime) does not automatically produce economic benefits for the country’s economy. Many jurisdictions already allow companies to arbitrate their disputes via international commercial arbitration, even if there is no connection with that country. Hence, there is no guarantee that establishing an arbitration regime will lead private entities to settle their disputes in that jurisdiction, or that the arbitration regime will significantly improve the location determinants of that country. How to achieve economic benefits through international commercial arbitration, however, is not entirely clear. From a policy perspective, efforts have been made to identify the features which make an arbitration regime more suitable to maximize economic benefits.