Investors want to ensure that their investment will be subject to predictable and stable rules and are well-protected from arbitrary government conduct. One fundamental set of tools that governments often use is to provide explicit protection for investments through investment treaties and laws. In a recent working paper, we analyze where BRI countries are in providing protection to investments through these tools, using a database on the near universe of investments laws and International Investment Agreements from 21 sample BRI countries. Following the convention in the legal and international political economy literature, we construct quantitative measures of protection based on coding the textual content of 17 domestic investment laws and 648 international investment agreements. In addition to protection, we include a “balance” analysis on exceptions and carve-outs that explicitly allow States room for legitimate regulatory actions. — blog.wb.org/blogs