This comment on Alan Sykes Article "Economic 'Necessity' in International Law" on AJIL UNBOUND discusses the application of necessity clauses from an economic perspective especially in light of the incentives of investors, who are the third party beneficiaries of the investment treaty/contract....

I. Background. 1 Introduction -- 2 A century of capital flows -- II. Capital account liberalization. 3 Capital account liberalization : what do the cross-country studies tell us? -- 4 When does capital account liberalization help more than it hurts? with Carlos Arteta and Charles Wyplosz -- III....