Investment Protection Along the Belt and Road

This paper examines the level of investment protection for selected countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), based on coding the textual content of 17 investment laws and 648 international investment agreements (IIAs).

The paper finds heterogeneity in the levels of protection provided in the reviewed laws and IIAs, and consequently along the same BRI corridors and projects. Moreover, the current lack of effective enforcement—as shown by past treaty violations and lack of efficient domestic court systems—poses an additional layer of risk for investors