Data on Quality of Government

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Data on Quality of Government

• Whats available?
• Where do you get it?
• Pros/ cons?

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Our Website

• http//www.qog.pol.gu.se/
• Data codebook http//www.qog.pol.gu.se/data/QoG_c
  odebook_v15May08.pdf
• Dataset is updated about every 6 months

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Purpose

• To gather as much freely available data on QoG
  and is correlates and compile it into a single,
  easily accessible and user-friendly data files.
• To encourage world-wide interested in the
  determinants of QoG, the effects of QoG, or both
• To encourage cross-national ( time series) tests
  and generalizable findings within good
  governance research.
• To address issues of reliability and validity in
  data we provide ALL available indicators for
  multiple tests.

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Data sets

• Three versions
• Cross-sectional data 190 countries for 2002
  (or closest year available)
• Cross-sec., time series 200 countries from
  1946-2006 (and counting)
• QoG and Social Policy dataset cross-section
  (192 countries) and time series (long-1946-2007
  wide -1970-2005 40 countries)
• Coming sub-national data in federal systems

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Variables Included

• Versions 1 2
• A) What is it? variables corruption, rule of
  law, bureaucratic quality, democracy indicators
• -ex. World Bank indicators, Transparency
  International, ICRG/ PRS Group, Freedom House,
  Polity IV, etc.
• B) How to get it? variables political
  institutions (constitutional differences), legal/
  colonial origin, press freedom,
  ethno-linguistic-religious fractionalization
• C) What you get variables environmental
  indicators, gender equality, economic/ human
  development indicators, social capital such as
  trust in government

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Cont.

• Version 3 (social policy)
• Heavier focus on relationship between QoG and
  social/ public policy and redistribution
  patterns.
• 6 types of variables
• Social policy welfare, social security, etc.
• Tax policy
• Structural conditions income inequality,
  education levels, health conditions, trade,
  unemployment
• Public opinion Eurobarometer, WVS, Eurpean
  Social Survey rates satisfaction with S.P.,
  trust ideology
• Political indicators, instituions election
  results
• QoG what is it variables

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1) Transparency International Corruption
Perceptions Index (CPI)

• Provides annual ranking of countries in terms of
  perceived corruption in 180 countries (0-10).
  Data is averaged between current year and
  previous year - 2008 (20082007)/2
• Focuses on public sector corruption and defines
  it as abuse of public office for private gain
  ex. bribes, embezzlement, etc.
• A composite index - 13 different survey
  conducted by 11 independent IOs. Both business
  people and country analyists/ experts resident
  and non-residents are polled. Their pholosophy
  more sources more reliability

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• For ex. T.I. takes surveys from ADB, AFDB, BTI,
  CPIA EIU, MIG and GI (Western risk assesment
  firms) and combines them with IMD, FH, PERC and
  WEF (residents), creating a standardized score
  st. dev. Includes all countries that have at
  least 3 scores available
• The resident non-resident scores corrolate
• Time series comparisons should be made using a
  countys SCORE not its rank
• Is not able to detect global trends in corruption
• Wide coverage in data not until 1998

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2008 Examples
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World Bank Gov. Indicators (KKZ)

• Covers 6 areas of QoG
• Voice Accountability
• Political instability violence
• Government effectiveness
• Regulatory burden
• Rule of law
• Corruption (graft)
• Another composite index - surveys from 35
  sources and 32 IOs to create an estimate and
  c.i. for each country, bi-annually 212
  countries
• Households, buisness elites, NGOs and pub.
  Sector
• Range from -2.5 to 2.5

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• Standardize each indicator, then aggregate annual
  scores for each country (2002-2007, bi-annually
  1996-2001), weighting more those sources that
  correlate higher (Table 3 in article).
• Has become one of the most widely used by
  scholars and governments (US millennium
  challenge aid prgram 2005).
• Warn that if c.i.s overlap between two
  countries, there is no statisically diff. between
  them across space
• 7 of countries have only 1 source on at least 1
  indicator (down from 15 in 1996)
• Like T.I., cannot reveal any global trends over
  time
• Example of sources and survey questions
• http//papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id
  1148386

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2008 Rankings

• http//info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/worldmap.
  asp

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Additional (free) indicators of QoGin our dataset

• ICRG (PRS Group) 1984-present corruption, r.o.l,
  buro. Figures derived from country experts aimed
  toward internatioanl investment firms rather than
  a wide source of survey respondents (like T.I. or
  W.B.)
• Freedom House 1973-present political rights,
  civil liberties, press freedoms
• Frasier Institute, Heratige Foundation (economic
  and finaicial freedom indices)