Researching developing countries a data resource guide for social scientists

User Guide By clicking on the specific indicator of interest, users can view the related data in a table for all countries with available data.. User Guide UNICEF’s statistics and monito

Researching

Developing Countries

Series Editor: Ruth Rikowski(email: Rikowskigr@aol.com)Chandos’ new series of books is aimed at the busy information professional They have been specially commissioned to provide the reader with an authoritative view of current thinking They are designed to provide easy-to-read and (most importantly) practical coverage of topics that are of interest to librarians and other information professionals If you would like a full listing of current and forthcom-ing titles, please visit www.chandospublishing.com.

New authors: we are always pleased to receive ideas for new titles; if you would

like to write a book for Chandos, please contact Dr Glyn Jones on g.jones.2@elsevier.com or telephone +44 (0) 1865 843000

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON

NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO

SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO

Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier

Langford Lane, Kidlington, OX5 1GB, UK

Copyright © 2016 Forrest Daniel Wright Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright

by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).

Notices

Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices,

or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge

in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

ISBN: 978-0-08-100156-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-0-08-100217-9 (Online)

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

For information on all Chandos Publishing

visit our website at http://store.elsevier.com/

Forrest Wright is a Data Manager for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

(GEM) He has published articles and reviews in the Journal of Business and

Finance Librarianship and D-Lib Magazine He possesses a BA in History

from Clark University and a MSLIS from Drexel University He lives in Philadelphia

This book was conceived in large part out of a personal interest in world affairs The other part came out of a need for this type of book aimed at social scientists who study, evaluate, and compare countries Often, social scientists turn to the same data resources (typically the World Bank, UN, and IMF) to analyze countries—particularly developing ones—and may not be aware of other resources covering similar topics Additionally, social scientists may not pay attention to how their research data was collected and transformed, perhaps out of a false belief that all data released by major international organizations is completely reliable, or because accom-panying data notes can be frankly intimidating

This book attempts to address these issues by discussing as many data sources as possible in the social sciences (including the major sources as well as lesser-known ones), and by placing emphasis on the methodology used to develop the data source The hope is that by reading sections of this book, researchers will approach each data source with a richer under-standing of their possible use as well as their potential limitations

To my always supportive parents

Every year, hundreds, maybe thousands of books and articles are written exploring the reason why certain countries develop the way they do Why are some countries rich while others are poor? Why are some countries democracies? Why are some countries demographically and culturally diverse while others are homogenous? And how do you measure a coun-try’s true quality of life?

Social scientists debate these questions (among many others) and have come up with just as many explanations Some prominent examples include Acemoglu and Robinson (2012) who argue that the inclusive-ness of institutions and support for the rule of law explains the difference

in prosperity between nations Diamond (1998) posits that geographic and environmental conditions have fostered the relative development of humans and societies, as opposed to any artificial cultural or governmental explanation While Fukuyama (2014) contends that nation building can-not be transposed from one state to the next; historical developments and other unique circumstances explain why countries develop differently.Other social scientists pay less attention to governance and material prosperity as the primary indicators of a country’s success Instead, they evaluate a country’s development through the relative well-being of its inhabitants and other holistic measures The primary example is of Sen and Nussbaum’s (2011) “capabilities approach” to evaluating a country’s success Beyond material wealth, a nation succeeds when its inhabitants have long and healthy lives, where freethought and creativity are sup-ported, and participation in politics and society is encouraged Wilkinson and Pickett (2010) argue that income equality plays the primary role in determining a country’s success in areas of physical and mental health, vio-lence, and overall cohesion

Whatever the argument or theory, social scientists need to support their work using high-quality data and statistics Today, that task has never been easier as more resources are going online and made accessible within

a reasonable time frame And this does not just apply to the well-known institutional data suppliers like the UN and the World Bank There are many other high-quality databases developed and managed by indepen-dent and nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and think tanks

Going forward, researching and analyzing countries will be much easier as well as more diverse thanks to the surge in data resources going online.This book is for social scientists and students of the social sciences It

is an attempt to guide you through the many data sources available for assessing countries, with an emphasis on developing countries It attempts

to be as inclusive as possible in terms of topics of interest to social tists, as well as diverse as possible on the range of quality data resources for those topics The book also assumes that the user has at least some under-standing of data concepts

scien-Each chapter represents a broad topic of social science research, which is divided by subtopics Most chapters begin with a description of

“General Resources,” which due to their scope cover several aspects of the topic and would be confusing to separate individually In order to help researchers navigate the General Resources section, most entries offer a

“Topics Covered” entry, which provides the user with a sense of the data content available in the resource When the Topics Covered is omitted, it is because the title of the resource is descriptive enough to render such addi-tional notes redundant

This book places a strong emphasis on discussing the sources and methodology used to develop each resource Social scientists (and librar-ians assisting them) should be aware of these elements because the “who, what, and how” of a data resource can seriously impact its overall quality

as well as its appropriateness for a research project Therefore, when sible, each entry typically includes a “Scope and Methodology” section

Researching Developing Countries.

Copyright © 2016 Forrest Daniel Wright Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

by compiling and weighing several human development-related indicators

It should be noted that no one index can fully capture the true state of human development in a particular country The UN itself admits this and encourages users to use several resources as well as understand the possible shortcomings of development data when researching this topic The scope and methodology for each index is discussed in greater detail below

Scope and Methodology

Tables 1–3 in the UN database of the UN’s Human Development site all relate to the UN’s “headline” Human Development Index (HDI) At its core, the HDI strives to measure a country’s average achievements

in three basic areas of human development: living a long and healthy life, having access to knowledge, and having a decent standard of living Accordingly, the composite indicators of a country’s HDI reflect these three goals, which are all weighed equally in its calculation The resulting HDI is based on a 0–1 scale, normalized, where 1 equals a perfect HDI score These indicators include a country’s life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and gross national income (GNI) per capita Both the life expectancy data and GNI were adjusted in the most recent index year, 2013, to reflect new population data collected

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100156-1.00001-8 DOI:

by the UN population division, as well as new purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion rates published by the World Bank The data used for the component indicators of the HDI was collected by the UN’s Department

of Economic and Social Affairs (UNESA) and UNESCO which compile statistics from national statistical offices and other sources; Barro and Lee’s International Educational Attainment Dataset; and from the World Bank and IMF for GNI data

Data Source

Human Development Index Table 1 in the UN database, Human

Development Index and Its Components, contains final HDI for 187 countries and additional aggregated regions, as well as data on the HDI’s composite indicators Users will see that the countries are ranked by their HDI score, and grouped by their development status from “very high”

to “low.” The data is presented as a table and can be downloaded as an Excel file Table 2 in the UN database, Human Development Index Trends, provides each country’s HDI score at various time intervals, from 1980

to the present Users have more visualization options for this trending index, including being able to view the data as a map, or by a range of charts Additionally, the data can be downloaded in a range of file formats, including CSV, JSON, XML, RDF, or RSS among others

Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index Table 3 in the

UN database, Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI), attempts to evaluate a country’s achievements in the areas of life expectancy, educational attainment, and income like the HDI, but taking into account how these goals are distributed equal among its entire population This is achieved utilizing a method that “discounts” each indicator’s average value according to various dimensions of inequality (for a full explanation, see

http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/designing-inequality-adjusted-human-development-index-ihdi) The IHDI table then contains each country’s original HDI score, its newly calculated IHDI score, and how much inequality has impacted its score as a percentage of “loss” from the original HDI score Additionally, the IHDI table contains “Coefficient of Human Inequality” figures, which represent the average inequality of health, education, and income of a country, as estimated by averaging the dimen-sions of inequality Users can view IHDI data as a map, or by a range of charts under “visualize.” Additionally, the data can be downloaded in a range

of file formats, including CSV, JSON, XML, RDF, or RSS among others

The World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI) project forms economic and human development data from 214 countries into comparable cross-country indicators The WDI is highly influential

trans-in development circles, and the World Bank’s release of its annual WDI report often catches the eyes of policy makers and journalists The annual WDI report is released in April of each year, while the online database is updated three times a year The WDI is divided into six segments: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links Below I will discuss the “People” section

Scope and Methodology

As part of its annual WDI project, the World Bank provides human development indicators for over 200 countries within the “People” sec-tion Specifically, this series of indicators covers the topics of education, health, jobs, social protection, and gender; as well as population, poverty, and prosperity Many of these indicators are used in measuring the UN’s MDG Depending on the indicator, the WDI may provide disaggregated socioeconomic and gender variables, such as age, gender, and wealth status Most indicators range in coverage from approximately 2000 to 2013 or present, though some vary depending on the scope of the indicator and the data availability The WDI’s most recent release for 2015 includes a new indicator: Shared Prosperity This indicator measures the income of a country’s bottom 40% of wealth population, and calculates its annualized growth rate from a previous baseline year per capita

User Guide

By clicking on the specific indicator of interest, users can view the related data in a table for all countries with available data Typically, each indi-cator contains several related figures either disaggregated by age, gender, and wealth, or in terms of measurement (e.g., GDP per capita and GDP

PPP) Users can download the data table in Excel or PDF at the top right

of the page

Data for the WDI’s “People” indicators is collected from multiple sources For a detailed description of the data sources and methodol-

data.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/wdi-2014-book.pdf) and find the

“About the Data” section under the People chapter

Scope and Methodology

The UN’s DevInfo Database provides the official UN statistics used to monitor countries’ progress toward their MDG These goals cover eight areas related to human development, such as the eradication of poverty, hunger, and preventable diseases; promotion of universal education gender equality; and progress toward sustainability in almost every country and ter-ritory in the world The data is collected from reporting agencies (typically national statistics offices) in each country charged with monitoring MDG Users can view the list of reporting agencies with related links in the DevInfo Catalog (http://www.devinfo.org/libraries/aspx/Catalog.aspx)

User Guide

Users can access the DevInfo data through three search options: Quick Data Search, Topic, and Area The Quick Data Search allows users to search for MDG data by keyword The search box autopopulates as users begin typing Once the user has selected the data they are looking for, they can add it to their “cart” then view the data in a table From the table, users can visualize the data in a variety of charts or download it in Excel Users who may not know what specifically they are looking for can use the Topic search, which allows them to view all the MDGs orga-nized into topics Once a selection is made, they can view the results and again add the data to their “cart” to view it in the table Similarly, the Area search option allows viewers to sort by country, and view the resulting data as a table

Scope and Methodology

UNICEF, a UN program dedicated to providing assistance for children and mothers in developing countries, provides data on children and vul-nerable populations for 195 countries and territories UNICEF collects this data in part through their Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MCIS), which polls households in more than 100 low- and middle-income coun-tries The MCIS is used to develop internationally comparable data on more than 100 indicators assessing children and women’s situation in areas

of education, health, gender equality, rights, and protection The MCIS has been executed four times (1995–1996, 2000–2001, 2005–2006, 2009–2012), and a fifth is currently being completed and should be available in September 2015 Other data provided by the UN is drawn from sources maintained by UNICEF’s network of 140 in-country offices All UNICEF data is updated annually

User Guide

UNICEF’s statistics and monitoring customized tables allow users to view specific data on children and women by country, groups of countries, or regions Next, users can select from a range of indicators, organized by topic and release Users will note that each indicator group contains the

acronym “SOWC,” which stands for State of the World’s Children, an annual

report published by UNICEF that uses this data to identify trends for dren and women of the world Therefore, the years associated with the SOWC reflect that year’s most recently available data Users can select from indicators according to a range of topics The “Basic Indicators” rep-resent some of the more used and all-encompassing indicators, including under-five mortality rates, infant mortality rates, annual number of births, and life expectancy among others Additionally, users can select from 13 other indicator categories, including nutrition, HIV/AIDs, education, and child protection among others, all of which contain several related indi-cators Once a location and indicator (or set of indicators) have been selected, the results are displayed in a table Users can download these results in Excel

chil-Social Progress Imperative

Social Progress Index

http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/data/spi

Topics Covered: Well-being; human needs; opportunity

Scope and Methodology

The Social Progress Imperative represents the international Social Progress Network, which partners institutions and governments in promot-ing social and environmental progress The Imperative’s Social Progress Index measures multiple dimensions of human progress in 131 countries, based on 52 indicators These indicators cover the three dimensions of progress according to the Social Progress Imperative: basic human needs, foundations of well-being, and opportunity These three dimensions are evaluated based on related indicators collected from international organi-zations ranging from the World Health Organization (WHO), Institute for Economics and Peace, and World Bank among many others To see a list of the indicators and their associated data sources used to develop the Index,

http://www.socialprogres-simperative.org/data/spi/definitions) Each indicator is weighed within its social progress component According to the Social Progress Imperative, the Index uses a principal component analysis method to determine how best to weigh each indicator for a holistic assessment of each country Each country is scored on a scale of 0 to 100 by each component of social progress, and then given a total score based on their performance in each

of those components, also on a 0–100 scale The most recent Index was released in 2015 and includes more countries and indicators compared to the 2014 release

User Guide

From the Social Progress Index’s homepage, users will see a map color coded to represent each country’s total index score Above the map, users can select the Performance or Data Table tabs for comparative views of how countries fared from best to worst Users looking for specific data

on how each country fared by individual components of social progress can select “By Component” at the top of the page Users can download the entire dataset for 2015 in Excel format by selecting “export” to the right of the page Additionally, the Social Progress Index offers a compan-

socialprogressimperative.org/data/spi/findings)

chil-Scope and Methodology

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) provides comprehensive cation data for nearly 200 countries The 14 categories covered in the UNESCO education database include figures on out-of-school children, participation, progression and literacy rates; educational attainment, inter-national student mobility (study abroad); human and financial resources; school resources and teaching conditions (for Africa only) adult education (for Latin America and the Caribbean only), total school-age population, information on school system entrance age and expected duration There are several indicators within each category that provide disaggregated pop-ulation data such as the age, gender, and level of education, depending on the specific indicator

edu-UIS collects its education data from official national statistical offices who respond to annual questionnaires covering educational topics This data is reviewed and developed into internationally comparable indicators UIS will sometimes generate estimates for missing data when possible, based on information found in other reliable sources of national educa-tion data When this occurs, it is indicated next to the data point with a ǂ symbol to represent a UIS estimate When data is missing in the database entirely, it is most likely because the UIS did not receive all data necessary

to calculate the indicator for that country and year All UIS education data

is updated three times a year to reflect new data points or to revise vious data The database covers from 1970 to the present, though not all countries have data dating back that far

pre-User Guide

Users can access UIS educational data by browsing through the 14 egories mentioned above and selecting individual indicators This brings users to the UIS database where they can view education figures for each country in a table The default view is for 1999 to the present, however

cat-this time range can be expanded by selecting “Time” to the left of 1999 in the table The data can be visualized as a map, bar chart, line graph, or scat-ter plot under the “Draw Chart” menu at the top of the page Users can also view the other education indicators from this screen by selecting from the list of categories on the left All data can be downloaded in Excel, CSV,

Scope and Methodology

The International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement (IEA) is a nongovernmental organization that implements comparative research studies in partnership with nearly 70 IEA member countries, both from the developed and developing world Studies cover a variety of subjects, including math and science, reading literacy, civics, and computer science and information technology Not all members partici-pated in all studies; rather they range from a couple to dozen countries par-ticipating to more than 50, depending on the scope and content study On behalf of its members, the IEA manages and makes accessible the results of international education studies through the IEA Study Data Repository.The IEA Study Data Repository hosts results from CivED, ICCS, ICILS, Joint TIMSS & PIRLS, PIRLS, PrePIRLS, RL II, SITES, TIMSS, TIMSS Advanced, and TED international comparative studies These acro-nyms may not mean much to users outside the world of international education studies, so the following section describes these studies and their scope

Civics Tests: The CivED is a one-time 1999 study on civics for grades 8

and 12; the ICCS (International Civic and Citizenship Education Study)

is an irregularly occurring test, completed once in 2009, and occurring again in 2016 for grades 8 and 9

Computer Science and Technology: The ICILS (International Computer

and Information Literacy Study) is a one-time 2013 study for grade 8; the SITES study (Second Information Technology in Education Study) has occurred in both 2006 and 2013, but does not focus on a specific grade

Mathematics and Science: The TIMSS (Trends in International

Mathematics and Science Study) study occurs every four years, with the most recent results from 2011 (the 2015 is underway) TIMSS includes results from grades 4 and 8 TIMSS Advanced measures mathematics and physics competency for students in their final year of secondary school It has occurred in 1995 and 2008, with a 2015 module underway

Reading Literacy: The PIRLS (Progress in International Reading

Literacy Study) study occurs every five years, with the most recent results from 2011 (a 2016 study is in preparation) PIRLS assesses literacy for grade 4 students

User Guide

Users can access the study data by selecting “Search” from the IEA Study Data Repository This brings them to the list of studies mentioned above

By clicking on the particular study, the user can choose the grade and year

of study they’d like to view, as well as the countries and scoring tion system they’d like to compare Once these selections are made, the data can be downloaded in SAS or SPSS format, along with supporting documentation The user can name the download, add it to their basket, then click “View Basket” to download the actual files

classifica-Barro Lee Educational Attainment Dataset

http://www.barrolee.com/

Topics Covered: International students; educational attainment

The Educational Attainment Dataset developed by well-known omists Robert J Barro and Jong-Wha Lee provides data on educational attainment for 146 countries from 1950 to 2010 The data is disaggre-gated by sex, and is divided into five-year age intervals The data for this dataset was collected from a range of censuses and surveys as compiled

econ-by UNESCO, Eurostat, and other sources According to Barro and Lee, missing educational observations have been estimated by forward and backward extrapolations of the available data For a full description of the dataset and its methodology, users should consult Barro and Lee’s explana-

data-set is regularly updated when new data is made available, as evidenced by recent updates highlighted on the site’s homepage

Users can access the Barro and Lee data by selecting “Data Query”

at the top of the page The user is then given two options: Full Dataset, which allows users to download educational datasets (to be discussed);

or Country Report, where users can view all available education data at the individual country level, using filters for time, gender, age group, and education level The Full Dataset option allows users to download cross- country education data in one of three categories: attainment for popula-tion aged 15 and over, 25 and over, or by age group in five-year intervals Each of these categorical datasets can be downloaded in Excel, CSV, or State file format.

HEALTH

World Health Organization

Global Health Observatory Data Repository

http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main

Topics Covered: Millennium Development Goals; mortality; public health; urban health; diseases; infectious diseases; injuries; violence; child health; health systems

Scope and Methodology

The WHO, an agency of the UN, is often the go-to organization for global health data For data-driven users, the WHO provides a massive data repository called the Global Health Observatory (GHO) covering a range of topical categories, including: health-related MDG, mortality fig-ures, public health and environment, health equity, urban health, neglected tropical diseases, substance abuse and mental health, infectious diseases, violence, HIV/AIDs, and tuberculosis among other topics Within each category, users can view specific indicators and datasets The repository covers all 193 member states of the WHO Most countries have data from the mid-1990s onwards, however some countries provide data going back

to the late 1970s The data on each topic has been collected primarily from official registers and surveys from each member state Datasets in the repository are updated regularly to reflect the most recent available data

User Guide

Depending on the dataset, users will either be able to view the data in a straightforward table format, or will have to view the data via an exter-nal site (with a link provided) For example, within the category, Urban Health, users can navigate to “Health Risk Factors” to view tobacco con-sumption data according to education level, sex, and wealth for WHO countries, presented in a table While in the category Infectious Diseases,

and the dataset “Influenza virological surveillance data since 1995,” users are linked to the WHO’s FluNet database Similarly, depending on the dataset, users can typically download their results data in Excel or CSV format, as well as HTML, XML, and JSON formats The WHO has also developed an application program interface (API) for its GHO data.

Demographic and Health Surveys Program

StatCompiler

http://www.dhsprogram.com/Data/

Topics Covered: International health surveys; household health surveys; fertility; family planning; diseases; nutrition; gender

Scope and Methodology

The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program, funded ily by US Agency for International Development (USAID) and imple-mented by ICF International, collects and disseminates data on health and population trends in developing countries through detailed surveys These surveys, called DHS, are administered in-country and typically include 5000 to 30,000 households per sample The DHS surveys cover the topics of fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, gender, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and nutrition Each survey iteration selects from new households and some questions may change over time (in this instance, the coded variable for the old question is not reused, so as to avoid confusion

primar-in studies over time) The survey results are coded, then weighed and culated to develop nationally representative indicators (for a detailed dis-cussed of data collection and methodology, please visit the Data Collection

sur-veys have been conducted in around 90 countries Some countries have submitted surveys very recently, while others have not submitted a survey

in over a decade or longer Users can view the type and dates of surveys submitted by each country in the “Where We Work” section of the site (http://www.dhsprogram.com/Where-We-Work/Country-List.cfm) This might be a good starting point if users want to get a sense of what data is even available for their country of interest

User Guide

indicators developed for DHS survey responses From the homepage, users can choose to display the data as a table, column chart, line graph,

thematic map, or scatter plot Within, users can select a country or group

of countries, and then associated indicators covering the areas of fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, gender, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and nutrition Users can select from a list of the most popular indicators used by researchers, or search for them via a search function or through a list of categories The results page displays the data and offers some addi-tional visualization functions to further filter the data The results data can

be downloaded in Excel

For users looking for the raw data used to develop the DHS indicators, the DHS offers a list of available datasets that users can download (http://www.dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm) Within each country, there are zipped raw files in a variety of formats (STATA, SPSS, SAS, and flat file format) available for download Datasets not available in this list can be requested for access, which may or may not be granted depend-ing on the purpose of the research To do so, users must register at: http://www.dhsprogram.com/data/new-user-registration.cfm

INCOME INEQUALITY AND POVERTY

Scope and Methodology

The OECD provides two indicators, Income Inequality and Poverty Rates, for OECD member countries In order to accurately compare inequality and poverty figures between countries, household income has been defined as the total income received by a household less current taxes and transfers, and adjusted for size so that a 1:1 equivalence exists between countries’ households Income data is collected by the OECD through a standardized questionnaire submitted to individual countries’ statistical offices For a list of each country’s exact source of household income data, users should consult the metadata page for this database: http://www.oecd.org/social/soc/IDD-Metadata.pdf

Inequality Indicators The Income Inequality Indicator offers a series

of household income figures designed to demonstrate various levels of

inequality The default view is a chart of Gini coefficients for each OECD country, a measurement scale of 0 to 1, where 0 represents complete equality of income in a country and 1 represents 1 person having all of the income in a particular country Users can also view the ratio of the highest household income levels compared to the lowest and median household levels These views are available by selecting from one of the interdecile measures under “Perspectives.” The data ranges from 1974 to

2011 (most recent date available), though not all countries have data for the earlier years The data can be visualized in a chart or table format and downloaded as an Excel file

Poverty Indicators The Poverty Rates Indicator provides ratios of the

number of people whose income falls below the poverty line, which as a blunt measure is considered half the median household income of the total population Users can view the poverty rate of an OECD country for the total population or for only people of ages 0–17 (under the “Perspectives” button) The data ranges from 1974 to 2011 (most recent date available), though not all countries have data for the earlier years The data can be visualized in a chart or table format and downloaded as an Excel file

Scope and Methodology

The UN’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) identifies and measures the multiple deprivations experienced by households and individuals in poverty The MPI is based on household surveys in 91 countries cover-ing the topics of health, education, and standard of living, where certain criteria constitute a “deprivation” of poverty For health, the criterion for deprivation is having at least one household member who is malnour-ished or a child who has died; for education, it is having no household member who has completed six years of school, as well as having at least one school-age kid who is not attending school; and for standard of living, any of the following criteria constitutes deprivation: not having electricity, clean water, adequate sanitation, clean fuel sources for cooking, a dirt floor, and not owning a mode of transportation Each of these components

indicators is calculated and weighed within the categories of health, cation, and standard of living for all households in a country The result-ing MPI value for a country represents the mean deprivation scores for all households in a survey, so an MPI of 0.33 (or 33%) means that households

edu-in that the population edu-in that country is very likely to suffer from at least one deprivation of poverty MPI values from closer to 0 means low levels

of multidimensional poverty in a country, while those higher than 0.5 means severe levels of poverty The calculation of MPI is a bit complicated,

so for a full description of methodology, users are encouraged to read the technical notes, section 5, here: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr14_technical_notes.pdf)

User Guide

Table 6 on the UN’s Human Development Data site, MPI, contains 91 countries, with their corresponding MPI value and the most recent year of household survey data available Because not all surveys are administered

at the same time, it is difficult to make cross-country comparisons, and for that reason the countries are not “ranked” like the UN’s HDI table In addition to MPI values, each country in the table possesses correspond-ing poverty figures, including the intensity of deprivation (representing the level of MPI within only poor households, a subset of the entire popula-tion), population near multidimensional poverty, population in severe pov-erty, and the contribution of education to poverty The MPI data can be downloaded as an Excel file

Scope and Methodology

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) strives to measure a country’s level

of gender inequality in the areas of reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market participation To develop a country’s GII value, UN uses maternal mortality ratios and adolescent birth rate as proxy indicators of

reproductive health; share of seats held by females in a country’s ment as well as secondary education participation indicators for empower-ment; and finally, female labor market participation rates GII values range from 0 to 1, with 0 representing full equality for women The UN collects maternal mortality rates from their Maternal Mortality Estimation Group (MMEIG), which represents a joint statistical collaboration between the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the World Bank; adolescent birth rates from the UNDESA; educational statistics from both UNESCO as well as Barro and Lee’s International Educational Attainment Dataset; parliamen-tary participation rates from the International Parliamentary Union; and labor participation rates from the International Labor Organization (ILO).

parlia-User Guide

Table 4 of the UN’s Human Development Site, Gender Inequality Index (GII), contains final GII scores for most of the 187 countries in the table The countries are ranked according to their HDI ranking, accompanied

by their corresponding GII value and performance on the indicators noted above The data can be downloaded as an Excel file

Scope and Methodology

The Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) strives to measure the gender gap in countries The GDI is similar to the GII, however it makes more explicit comparisons between female and male achievements to assess a country’s gender gap The UN accomplishes this by comparing health outcomes, measured by female and male life expectancy at birth; education, measured by female and male expected years of schooling for children, as well as female and male mean years of schooling for adults of ages 25 and older; and command over resources, measured by female and male estimated earned income To develop GDI, the UN calculates each country’s HDI, for men and women separately, and therefore the GDI is represented as the “ratio of female to male HDI” in the table This ratio is expressed on a scale of 0 to 1, where 1 represents full parity The data for life expectancy rates is collected from UNDESA, data on education from

UNESCO as well as Barro and Lee’s International Educational Attainment Dataset, and economic data from the ILO, UNDESA, and World Bank.

FINANCIAL ACCESSIBILITY

International Monetary Fund

Financial Access Survey

Topics Covered: Financial inclusion; financial access for nerable populations; mobile banking; physical banking; bank accounts; loans; debt

vul-Scope and Methodology

The IMF’s Financial Access Survey (FAS) database provides data on households and business’ ability to access financial services The FAS cur-rently contains financial accessibility for 189 countries, dating from 2004

to 2013 The data is collected from surveys distributed by the IMF, which cover both the geographical outreach and use of financial services The geographical outreach indicators include the number of financial institu-tions, branches (excluding branches), ATMs, and mobile money outlets

in a given country The financial services indicator covers the number of depositors, deposits accounts, borrowers, and loan accounts; as well as the value of outstanding deposits, loans, and mobile money accounts It should

be noted that in 2014, the IMF began surveying and reporting on mobile banking access, which has become increasingly popular (and important) in many developing countries that do not have a strong enough financial sys-tem to support many traditional banks

User Guide

Users can access the FAS by selecting its box from the IMF’s Data Portal (http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm) and selecting “More” on the bottom right This brings users to the FAS’ homepage, where one can

choose from several options for viewing the data The “Data by Country” option brings users to a page with several dashboards displaying common indicators of financial access within a specific country, including deposit accounts with commercial banks per 1000 adults; loan accounts with commercial banks per 1000 adults; and ATMs per 1000 square kilometers Users can change the displayed country at the top left of the page, and the year (dating to 2004) at the top right corner of the page Users can also choose “Data by Indicator” from the FAS’ homepage, which allows users to view financial accessibility indicators via an interactive map, coun-try list, and tree map visualizations The default indicator view is the num-ber of commercial banks, however users can select from a range of other indicators (mentioned above: geographic outreach and use of financial ser-vices), as well as from the year 2003 to 2014.

Users can also choose “Data Reports,” which allows you to view vidual time series data by individual countries or multiple countries for comparison The FAS Country Level Key Indicators report allows users

indi-to view the data for all indicaindi-tors and sub-indicaindi-tors of financial sibility from 2004 to 2013 Users can switch the country view by select-ing from the drop-down menu next to “country” at the top of the page The Cross-Country report allows viewers to look at every country’s data for individual indicators, from 2004 to 2013 Users also have the option to view the data at different aggregate levels, including the World Bank’s clas-sifications of economic development, the UN’s regional classification, IMF department grouping, World Economic Outlook grouping; and “other groupings” such as the OECD, G7 and G20, and Eurozones among others Users can download FAS data in CSV or MDB format, selecting from a list of countries and indicators by clicking on the “Bulk Download” but-ton at the top right of the FAS’ homepage

vul-The Global Findex Database (also known as the Financial Inclusion Database) provides information on how individuals in 140 countries save, borrow, make payments, and manage risks The Global Findex data is based

on the responses of 150,000 people surveyed in 140 countries, tered by Gallup, Inc The survey randomly selects respondents from a target population of civilian, noninstitutionalized people of age 15 and above The results form the basis of the Findex indicators, which cover

adminis-a radminis-ange of finadminis-anciadminis-al inclusion topics, including: the percentadminis-age of the population with a bank account (divided into total population, female, young adult, and rural population), with debt and credit cards, with mobile banking accounts, and that has saved for a variety of life events (school, retirement, opening a business) The most recent data was released

in 2014, and contains over 100 indicators covering data collected in 2011 and 2014

Users can view data in dashboard format according to the following criteria: by country, region, income group (income grouping of the coun-try), or topic (age, gender, or income) Depending on the selection, users are taken to a dashboard view of the data, with key indicators presented

in table and chart visualizations These visualizations can be changed to display other financial inclusion indicators, such as the ones discussed above Users have multiple options for downloading the data The first is

to access the Global Findex Database within the World Bank’s DataBank This allows users to filter the data by country or by aggregate country classifications, including by country income levels or geographic regions;

as well as by Series (also called “Topic”) and time (from 2011 to the most recent available data) Once the users have selected their filter criteria, they can opt to view their data in a table, chart, or map format The data can be downloaded in Excel, CSV, or tabbed TXT format The other download

http://micro-data.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/global-findex), which allows users

to download either the entire Findex Database, or by specific country in Excel format

CRIME AND DRUGS

Scope and Methodology

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) provides statistics on several aspects of drug use, crime, and criminal justice for nearly 200 countries in total Through their database, users can select drug statis-tics, which includes usage information by drug type and their prevalence among specific populations, as well as drug price information and statis-tics on drug-related seizures by country or region Additionally, users can select crime and criminal justice statistics, which covers crime statistics by type of crime (assault, kidnapping, sexual violence, and theft among oth-ers), as well as detailed homicide statistics, including classification by vic-tim’s gender, the circumstances in which they were killed (during robbery,

by family member), weapons used during homicides, and gang-related killings Finally, the database’s criminal justice statistics contains informa-tion on the gender and age status (adult or juvenile) of persons brought into formal contact with the police, numbers on persons prosecuted and convicted by gender–age status, and resident status (resident or foreign cit-izen), numbers on persons detained by gender–age status, and resident sta-tus; and finally, systems resources, which provide data on police numbers, judges and magistrates, prison staff, all classified by totals or by gender.The UNODC populates its database via several data sources Primarily, data is obtained through member countries submitted to the UNODC’s Annual Report Questionnaire (ARQ) Some countries regularly submit the ARQ, while others are more sporadic Other data is collected through national surveys in conjunction with national governments or from inter-national organization sources such as the InterAmerican Drug Abuse Control Commission, European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, and the WHO among others The data is subjected to the UNODC’s methodology to promote comparability between countries when possible Users will note however that depending on the topic, some developing countries have a number of missing observations

User Guide

When users access the UNODC’s database they can select a drug- or crime-related topic from the left side This will prompt a search window where users can choose to view specific data by location (country or region), year (ranging from the 1990s to the present, depending on the topic), and by source of the data Once the users make their selections, the data can be displayed “as a report” in table format, or can be downloaded

as PDF or Excel

AGING AND OLDER POPULATIONS

Help Age International

Global AgeWatch Index

http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/

Topics Covered: Older populations; older population rights; pensions; life expectancy

Scope and Methodology

Help Age International, an NGO dedicated to human rights for older populations, provides a Global AgeWatch Index, which assesses 91 coun-tries’ ability to care for its older population in the domains of income security, health, capabilities, and in providing an enabling environment The Index currently includes 96 countries and is only in its second itera-tion as of 2015 (the index premiered in 2013) The Index was developed using indicators provided by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Bank, WHO, International Labour Organization, UNESCO, and Gallup World Poll Indicators are normalized to fall between 0 and 100 for comparative purposes, and then each indicator is weighted depending

on its relative importance for the quality of life of the older population as determined by Help Age International (For a detailed description of the Index’s methodology, users should consult the Methodology Report 2013 within the “choose report” in the middle of the page.)

User Guide

Users can view the AgeWatch data either at the country level or through comparative visualizations By country, AgeWatch provides a “report card” detailing how the country fares according to several indicators, includ-ing life expectancy after 60, healthy life expectancy after 60, percent-

number totals Users looking to compare countries have several options including a rankings table and map, as well as a “compare countries” tool, which allows users to chart how countries perform in the four domains of income security, health, capabilities, and in providing an enabling environ-ment compared to their peers AgeWatch also offers a Social Pensions tool which plots the years in which each country began offering pensions to their older population on a timeline from 1890 to the present Users can only download AgeWatch’s full report under “Download Index 2014” at the top right of the page; they cannot download the underlying data

INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY

International Telecommunications Union

Information and Communications Technology Statistics

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx

Topics Covered: Telecommunications; access to cations; cell phone usage and services; access to Internet; Internet usage

telecommuni-Scope and Methodology

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a specialized agency

of the UN, provides comprehensive statistics on information and cations technology (ICT) for nearly 200 countries ITU collects two types

communi-of data: telecommunications/ICT data from national telecommunication ministries and regulatory authorities covering fixed-telephone networks, mobile-cellular services, Internet/broadband traffic, revenues and invest-ment, and prices of ICT services; and household ICT data from national statistical offices covering household access and individual use of ICT

User Guide

Users have several options to access the ICT data Under “Aggregate Data” users can download time series data from 2005 to 2014 as an Excel file, containing topical telecommunications and household ICT data orga-nized by categories of “World,” “Developed,” and “Developing” coun-tries; or by geographic region Users looking for telecommunications and household ICT data by specific country can select “Time Series by Country” from ITU’s Statistics page This option allows users to down-load individual country data, in time series from 2005 to 2014 (when data

is available), by the topical categories of fixed-telephone subscriptions, mobile-cellular subscriptions, percentage of individuals using the Internet, fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions, core indicators on access to and use

of ICT by households and individuals, and gender ICT statistics All data is available for download in Excel file format

HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS

*Note: There are many household surveys administered in ing countries, therefore describing each one is beyond the scope of this book Several of the following sources provide researchers with links and descriptions of quality household surveys

develop-International Household Survey Network

IHSN Survey Catalog

http://catalog.ihsn.org/index.php/catalog

Topics Covered: Household surveys; longitudinal data; oping countries

devel-The International Household Survey Network (IHSN) acts essentially

as a catalog depository for many international organizations that ister household surveys It is managed by representatives of several major international organizations such as the United Kingdom Department for International Development, UN, WHO, and World Bank The IHSN’s cat-alog provides users with links and short descriptions to over 5000 house-hold datasets representing 204 countries from 1890 to the present Users can search the catalog by keyword or variable description It is recom-mended that users consult the “?” button in the search box for a descrip-tion of search techniques as it strays somewhat from Boolean operators Users can also filter by year, data restriction, or by country The country filter allows users to search by country name, income bracket, or region.Within each household dataset entry, users can find additional infor-mation on the specific data source Within the entry, the survey produc-ers and sponsors are listed (when known), as well as metadata on when the dataset was recorded in the IHSN catalog and how many page views

admin-it has Addadmin-itionally, users can download accompanying tion and view more detailed notes on the survey under the tab “Study Description.” Finally, a link to the actual data can often be found under the “Microdata” tab of the dataset entry

documenta-Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development

Data from Developing Countries

to household survey datasets comprise the bulk of the available datasets

Some of the household datasets described and linked to in the repository include the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), which will release a new wave of data in 2016; the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS); the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), a longitudinal survey that will release its 2011–2012 second round results soon; the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH), which collected longitudinal data in several rounds from 1998 to 2012; and the South African National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), which just released its third wave of longitudinal data among dozens of others Some of the datasets, as users will note, do not provide publicly available data, and users will have to contact the organization or individual running the survey.

Researching Developing Countries.

Copyright © 2016 Forrest Daniel Wright Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

trans-in development circles, and the World Bank’s release of its annual WDI report often catches the eyes of policy makers and journalists The annual WDI report is released in April of each year, while the online database is updated three times a year The WDI is divided into six segments: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links Below I will discuss the Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links sections as they relate to economics

World Development Indicators—Economy Topics Covered: Economic growth; manufacturing; exports; imports; con- sumption; income; savings; government finance and spending; exchange rates; balance of payments

The Economy section provides indicators covering measures of economic performance and stability as well as broader measures of income and savings adjusted for pollution, depreciation, and resource depletion Specifically, the WDI Economy section contains 17 indicators, generally spanning from 2000 to 2013 (as of the 2015 WDI), though have longer

macro-or shmacro-orter time spans If users click “4 Economy” from the WDI tables, they’ll see the related indicators drop down, covering general economic topics such as growth output, structure of manufacturing, structure of demand, growth of consumption, central government finances, expen-ditures and revenues, and balance of payments, current accounts among others If the user clicks on one of the indicators they are taken to a table list of all 214 countries and the corresponding indicators Within each

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100156-1.00002-X DOI:

indicator table, multiple related indicators are provided For example, the growth of output indicator includes growth figures of each country’s GDP,

as well as the agricultural, industrial, manufacturing, and service sectors

of the economy Some content highlights include the “Towards a broader measure of national income” indicators, which contain figures on gross national income (GNI), consumption of fixed capital, and national income adjusted for resource depletion, as well as the “structure of demand” indi-cator, which contains figures on how several elements of the economy contribute to overall demand Each indicator’s data can be downloaded in Excel format by clicking “download Excel” at the top right of the page Users are encouraged to consult the metadata file associated with each indicator if they have any questions on definitions or caveats by selecting the “download metadata” button at the top right of the page

Data for the WDI’s “Economy” indicators is collected from multiple sources For a detailed description of the data sources and methodol-

data.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/wdi-2014-book.pdf) and find the

“About the Data” section under the Economy chapter

World Development Indicators—States and Markets Topics Covered: Private sector; business confidence; taxes; military spending; transport services; information; science and technology

The States and Markets section of the WDI provides indicators measuring the performance and role of both the private and public sectors

in a country’s economy Specifically, the section contains 14 indicators covering topics such as the private sector in the economy, stock mar-kets, tax policies, transport services, and science and technology among others The time span of each indicator generally spans from 2000 to 2013, though some indicators include figures from 2014 If the user clicks on a specific indicator they’ll be taken to a table view for 214 countries with their related figures Within each indicator table, multiple related indicators are provided For example, the Tax Policies indicator contains figures on the tax revenue collected by the central government, the number of pay-ments, the time to prepare, file and pay taxes, the commercial profits from taxes, labor’s tax and contributions, other taxes, and the total tax rate Some content highlights include the “Military expenditures and arms transfers” indicator, which contains figures on military expenditure, arm forces per-sonnel, and arms transfers Each indicator’s data can be downloaded in

Excel format by clicking “download Excel” at the top right of the page Users are encouraged to consult the metadata file associated with each indicator if they have any questions on definitions or caveats by selecting the “download metadata” button at the top right of the page.

Data for the WDI’s “States and Markets” indicators is collected from multiple sources For a detailed description of the data sources and meth-odology for calculation, please consult the WDI’s most recent report (http://data.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/wdi-2014-book.pdf) and find the “About the Data” section under the States and Markets chapter

World Development Indicators—Global Links Topics Covered: Trade growth; commodity prices; tariffs; external debt; global financial flows; aid dependency; global people movement; travel and tourism

The Global Links section of the WDI provides indicators measuring the flow and value of trade, finances, and people in 214 countries Specifically, the section contains 14 indicators covering the growth of merchandise trade, commodity prices, tariff barriers, external debt, aid dependency, movement of people across borders, and travel and tourism The periods covered by the indicators differ depending on the indicator Some provide figures for 1 year, while others for multiple years, generally from 2000 to

2013 If the user clicks on a specific indicator they’ll be taken to a table view for 214 countries with their related figures Within each indicator table, multiple related indicators are provided For example, the growth of merchandise trade indicator includes figures on export and import vol-ume, export and import value, and net barter terms of trade index Some content highlights include the primary commodity prices indicator which contains prices on a variety of commodities where the baseline price of the commodity is set to 2010 prices equaling 100 Each indicator’s data can be downloaded in Excel format by clicking “download Excel” at the top right

of the page Users are encouraged to consult the metadata file associated with each indicator if they have any questions on definitions or caveats by selecting the “download metadata” button at the top right of the page

Data for the WDI’s “Global Links” indicators is collected from tiple sources For a detailed description of the data sources and methodol-

data.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/wdi-2014-book.pdf) and find the

“About the Data” section under the Global Links chapter

International Monetary Fund

International Financial Statistics

http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm

Topics Covered: National accounts; labor markets; prices; ernment spending; balance of payments; reserves; trade; exchange rates

gov-Scope and Methodology

The IMF International Financial Statistics (IFS) database offers sive data on GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, payments balances, exports, imports, external debt, capital flows, and commodity prices among other topics for over 194 countries IFS data is collected from IMF mem-ber countries, plus the countries and territories of Anguilla, Aruba, China, PR: Hong Kong; China PR: Macao; Montserrat; and the Netherlands Antilles Most of the 194 countries follow one of the two recommended IMF guidelines for data submission The first level, the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), is intended for countries with “less devel-oped statistical systems.” Countries following this standard are required to designate an individual “data collection coordinator” who focuses on pro-ducing a core set of macroeconomic indicators While the second level, the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), is intended for member countries with developed statistical systems seeking access to international capital markets Countries following this standard must implement specific data quality measures, and then make deadlines for the submission of all data series According to the IMF, over 95% of its members participate in the GDDS or the SDDS A third level, SDDS Plus for countries with “sys-tematically important financial sectors” is forthcoming (Wright, 2015)

exten-User Guide

Users can access the IFS by selecting its box from the IMF’s Data Portal (http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm) and selecting “More” on the bottom right This takes users to the IFS homescreen, which provides sev-eral options for accessing the data Users can view the data by country

or indicator, or through their own query Within the “Data by Country” page, users can view four indicators (GDP, CPI, exchange rates, and unemployment rates) for individual countries covering recent years At the top of the screen users can scroll through other countries to view Within the “Data by Indicator” page, users can view a list of countries by indica-tor for individual years, from 2000 to 2014 The default view is real GDP

as a percentage, however users can select a range of other indicators at the top of the page, including labor markets, prices, balance of payments, and international reserves among others Users looking for more specific data over a longer time series should select the “Data Query” option This takes users to a table data view which can be customized by row or column for display, and then filtered according to the time period, country, or indica-tor Users can view data as far back as 1850 for certain countries, through

2050 (projected) The data can also be displayed in a variety of chart mats, including bar, bubble, line, and scatter charts among others Users can download IFS data in CSV or MDB format, selecting from a list of countries and indicators by clicking on the “Bulk Download” button at the top right of the page

The OECD provides data on national income for OECD members

to select other countries Users can select from five indicators related to national income, including value added by activity, GNI, net national income, net lending/borrowing by sector, and savings rate

Value Added by Activity The value added by activity indicator

pro-vides data on the contribution of various sectors to the share of income

in a particular country These sectors include agriculture, industry, utilities, and other service activities According to the OECD, the percentage of each sector is calculated by dividing the value added in each sector by its total value added The data dates from 1971 to 2014, though most coun-tries do not have data until the mid-1990s The data on value added by activity comes from the OECD’s National Accounts at a Glance database Users can view the data in chart, map, or table format, and can download

it in Excel format

Gross National Income The GNI indicator provides data on the

GNI for OECD and select other countries The data comes from the OECD’s Aggregate National Accounts database Users can view the GNI for countries by US dollars per capita, or by country totals in millions of

US dollars The data dates from 1960 (for some countries) to 2014 Users can view the data as a chart, interactive map, or table, and can be down-loaded in Excel.

Savings Rate The saving rate indicator provides data on the

house-hold savings rate for OECD and other select countries as a percentage

of GDP from 1970 to 2014 The data comes from the OECD’s National Accounts at a Glance database Users can view the data as a chart or table and can download it in Excel format

The Conference Board

Total Economy Database

Scope and Methodology

The Conference Board’s Total Economy Database (TED) provides annual data on GDP, population, employment, hours, labor quality, capital ser-vices, labor productivity, and total factor productivity for over 100 coun-tries in the world The data spans from 1950 to 2013 (as of March 2015), but is updated annually The data has been collected for numerous sources, depending on the topic For example, for employment figures, TED com-piles data Eurostat, the World Bank, the ILO, OECD, and the GGDC 10-Sector Database For a detailed explanation of data sources, users should consult the “Sources and Methods” tab on the TED page

User Guide

TED’s data is located under the “Data” tab From this page, users can download the key findings of the database, or the actual data files in Excel format Users can choose from the following four TED dataset files: Output, Labor, and Labor Activity, 1950–2013; Growth Accounting and Total Factor Productivity, 1990–2013; Regional Aggregates, 1990–2014; and All Data (in a flat CSV file)

Output, Labor, and Labor Activity, 1950–2013 This dataset file

contains over a dozen sheets covering total GDP, GDP per capita, tion, employment, hours worked, and labor productivity for 123 countries The total GDP, GDP per capita, and labor productivity (labeled “LP” in the dataset) figures are all represented in two separate currencies The first

popula-is GK (Geary-Khampopula-is, a hypothetical international currency representing the same purchasing power parity of the US dollar in 1990), and the sec-ond is EKS (a pricing method developed by Elteto, Koves, and Schultz,

asp?ID=5525)

Growth Accounting and Total Factor Productivity, 1990–2013

This dataset contains growth figures, represented as percentages, for GDP, labor composition, labor quantity, capital services, contribution of labor to GDP, contribution of capital to GDP, and the shares of labor to productiv-ity for 123 countries As noted, all figures are represented as percentages, either positive or negative, in time series for each country from 1990 to 2013

Regional Aggregates, 1990–2014 This dataset file contains growth

figures, represented as percentages, for GDP, employment, labor ity, and total factor productivity for several regions and country classifica-tions The geographic aggregate regions include the United States, Europe, Euro Area, Japan, China, India, Latin America, Middle East, Africa; and Russia, Central Asia, and Southeast Europe The other country classifica-tions include mature economies, other developing Asia (excluding China and India), Emerging Market and Developing Countries, the EU classes, and the OECD member countries

productiv-Penn World Table

http://www.rug.nl/research/ggdc/data/pwt/

Topics Covered: GDP; purchasing power parity

Scope and Methodology

The Penny World Table (PWT) is a dataset containing relative levels of income, output, inputs, and productivity for most developed and develop-ing countries The PWT is updated every couple of years; the most recent version, PWT 8.0, was released in July 2013 and provides data on 167 countries from 1950 to 2011 The PWT aims to capture the “real” GDP

of countries using purchasing power parities (PPP), which converts the currency of all countries into a common currency This allows users to measure the relative price levels between different economies The PWT collects data from the World Bank’s International Comparison price sur-veys, as well as national accounts data from individual countries to pro-duce its dataset.

The PWT methodology has been criticized over the years for using only a single benchmark year to calculate PPP, as well as for underestimat-ing or even ignoring certain factors that impact national accountings With this in mind, version 8.0 has encompassed several changes from previous versions First, version 8.0 includes multiple benchmark years so that, for example the GDP data on 1980 is based on PPP data from 1980, while more recent years are based on a 2005 benchmark—the most recent avail-able Second, version 8.0 incorporates adjusted trade units that take into account the quality of products, creating a new variable, “real GDPo,” which measure relative productive capacity across countries Lastly, PWT for the first time includes total factor productivity level measures, using new measures of physical and human capital inputs

User Guide

Users have several options to access PWT data The first, under the

“Selective Data Access” heading allows users to query the dataset,

real GDP data using national-accounts growth rates across countries;

capacity among countries; as well as DA and GA variables, which sent development account and growth accounting methods for analyz-ing living standards and growth over time, respectively Once a variable view is selected, the user is taken to a new page, where they should click

repre-“adjust criteria” to view the selectable data points for analysis Users can select from several topical data points, then by country or countries (under

“Regions”), and by time period (under “Period”) Once these data points have been selected, users can click “results.” From the results page, the user can select “Export to XLSX” to download the data in Excel format It should be noted that the user interface, at least in April 2015, was a bit dif-ficult as the results did not appear on-screen This may be fixed in time In the meantime, users can at least export their selections to Excel

Below the “Selective Data Access” heading from the PWT release page, users can also choose to download the full dataset in Stata, Excel,