How do firms assess their institutional environments? Beyond domestic cues, we examine the role of international institutions. In the global investment treaty regime, foreign firms can bring legal claims against sovereign states in international venues for alleged property rights violations. We argue that rulings by international tribunals in favor of or against the state provide domestic observer firms additional cues about property rights protection and the legitimacy of state policy. We compare domestic firms’ assessment of their institutional environment shortly before versus after a tribunal ruling to obtain quasi-random variation in firms’ exposure to international institutions. Analyzing 14,338 firm responses across 16 countries, we find that domestic firms assess their institutional environment favorably when states win and unfavorably when states lose.