| EIU Country Risk Service (1996+) | Continuously updated political, economic, and financial risk analysis for countries. Useful for measuring sovereign risk. |
| EIU Markets Indicators and Forecasts | Data begins in 1990 and forecasts out 5 years. In addition to social and economic indicators, includes summary measures of economic, market, and political risk. Under "Series" divided into 3 areas: politics, institutions and regulations, country credit risk, and business operations risk. |
| Political Risk Yearbook/International Country Risk Guide JA1.P644 (current volumes in DR) (8 volume set) |
As of 2018, 140 countries are monitored. Represents an "attempt to bridge the gap between the academic world and the real world of politics, government, and economics". The data portion of International Country Risk Guide can be found in countrydata.com. Data is back to 1984. Country forecasts provide: a map, highlights of the year, current data, the most likely, 2nd most likely, and 3rd most likely five-year regime scenarios, players to watch, and political players. Country conditions provide: investment climate (overview, policies, legal framework, infrastructure, political violence, corruption, international agreements, and labor contracts), climate for trade (trade barriers, international agreements), and background geography, history, social conditions, government, political conditions, foreign relations). See the definitions and methodology. Princeton's print holdings begin in 2002 but there is back coverage (select) through Nexis Uni Dates back to April 1, 1987. Dates of coverage vary by country. |
| Economic Freedom of the World Data | Fraser Institute assessment includes 5 major areas: (1) size of government: expenditures, taxes, and enterprises; (2) legal structure and security of property rights; (3) access to sound money; (4) freedom to trade internationally; and (5) regulation of credit, labor, and business. Data back to 1970. "The Fraser Institute is an independent non-partisan research and educational organization based in Canada." "The Fraser Institute is a registered non-profit organization. We depend entirely on donations from people who understand the importance of impartial research and who support greater choice, less government intervention, and more personal responsibility." |
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Cross-National Time-Series Data Archive |
Economic, social, and political indicators of nations and empires of the world including countries and empires that no longer exist. Select data goes back to 1815. |
| DataGov Governance Indicators Database | User-friendly interface for accessing most of the publicly available indicators related to governance. Contains approximately 800 governance indicators produced by 25 different sources for a global sample of countries whose coverage depends on the source. These indicators are produced by multilateral organizations, NGOs, private firms, and academic institutions. Can contribute to the assessment of governance performance, the identification of priority areas for reform and donor investment, and the analysis of the impact of country reform efforts. |
| Index of Economic Freedom HB95 .I48 (current volume in DR); 1995+ |
Includes country-by-country analysis on 186 countries and data on trade policy, fiscal burden, governmental intervention, monetary policy, foreign investment, banking and finance, wages and prices, property rights, regulation, and black market. Published by the Heritage Foundation (a conservative non-partisan think tank) in cooperation with Dow Jones. Data is available free of charge online. Detailed methodology is provided in the print volume along with topical essays. Scores range from 1 to 5 with 1 being best. The Heritage Foundation defines economic freedom as "the absence of government coercion or constraint on the production, distribution, or consumption of goods and services beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty itself". Datastream has the full run. Contained in the economics module of Datastream in WRDS. |
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Freedom House Country Ratings |
"Freedom House is a clear voice for democracy and freedom around the world. Founded nearly sixty years ago by Eleanor Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, and other Americans concerned with the mounting threats to peace and democracy, Freedom House has been a vigorous proponent of democratic values and a steadfast opponent of dictatorships of the far left and the far right." Since 1972, Freedom House has published an annual assessment of the state of freedom by assigning each country and territory the status of "Free," "Partly Free," or "Not Free" by averaging their political rights and civil liberties ratings. The print version is Freedom in the World. JC571.xG3 (current volume in DR). Also see their ceased publication (2004-2012), Countries at the Crossroads (JC423.C7196) that covered fewer countries but provided more in depth coverage. Also produces Freedom of the Press and Freedom on the Net. |
| Transparency International | Transparency International is "the only international non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption, brings civil society, business, and governments together in a powerful global coalition." In addition to news and special reports, ongoing surveys on various types of corruption including a global corruption barometer, a bribe payers survey, and a corruption perceptions index. Publishes Global Corruption Report which presents chapters on various forms of corruption as well as country reports for approximately 40 countries. (current edition in DR; older in Firestone Noncirculating) JF1081.G56 Also publishes the Bribe Players Index which "evaluates the supply side of corruption - the likelihood of firms from the world’s industrialised countries to bribe abroad." The Corruption Perception Indices are also available in Datastream as annual time series typically starting in 2012. |
| Governance Indicators | World Bank study providing aggregate governance research indicators for over 200 economies for 1996-2017, for 6 dimensions of governance: voice and accountability; political stability and absence of violence; government effectiveness; regulatory quality; rule of law; control of corruption. |
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Sustainable Governance Indicators. (SGI) (Bertelsmann Stiftung) |
Cross-national survey of governance in the OECD. Identifies reform needs and highlights forward-looking practices, while offering full access to the data underlying 147 indicators. |
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Global Competiveness Report. |
Recent years can be found at the World Economic forum website. In addition specialized reports on financial development, trade, information technology, travel and tourism, private equity, education, and certain regions of the world can be found at the same website. Volumes back to 1996 are located in the Trustees Reading Room under call number HG1414 .G572q. |
