LibGuides: Country Research: Topics

Corruption

Transparency International
This international NGO (non-governmental organization) provides several resources for researching corruption including the Corruption Perceptions Index, Global Corruption Barometer, and Global Corruption Reports.
The World Bank: Enterprise Surveys about Corruption
“The indicators…capture the prevalence of different types of bribery in 139 countries. The results are based on surveys of more than 131,000 firms. A database query tool is available to help you better understand the prevalence of corruption across various firm subgroups. You can also generate graphs to compare countries.”
The World Bank: World Governance Indicators
Aggregate and individual governance indicators for six dimensions of governance: Voice and Accountability; Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism; Government Effectiveness; Regulatory Quality; Rule of Law; Control of Corruption.

Doing Business

A.M Best Rating Services: Country Risk
A.M. Best defines country risk as the risk that country-specific factors could adversely affect an insurer's ability to meet its financial obligations. As part of evaluating country risk, A.M. Best identifies the various factors within a country that may directly or indirectly affect an insurance company.

Countries are placed into one of five tiers, ranging from Country Risk Tier 1 (CRT-1), denoting a stable environment with the least amount of risk, to Country Risk Tier 5 (CRT-5) for countries that pose the most risk and, therefore, the greatest challenge to an insurer's financial stability, strength and performance. The Country Risk Tier (CRT) reflects A.M. Best’s assessment of three categories of risk: Economic, Political, and Financial System Risk.
A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index
The A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index® is an annual survey of global business executives that ranks markets that are likely to attract the most investment in the next three years. In contrast to other backward-looking data on FDI flows, the FDI Confidence Index provides unique forward-looking analysis of the markets investors intend to target for FDI in the coming years.
Coface: Economic Studies
Coface is a global credit insurance and risk management consulting firm.
Includes:
-Country Risk Assessment: 160 country assessments, drawn up on the basis of macroeconomic, financial and political data,
-Sector Risk Assessment: 13 sectors, from six geographical regions, are assessed every quarter based on Coface's expertise and financial data published by more than 6,000 listed companies. The credit risk statistical indicator simultaneously synthesizes the evolution of five financial indicators (changes in revenue, profitability, the net debt ratio, cash flow, and claims observed by the Coface network).
Credendo: Country Risk and Insights
Credendo is a European credit insurance group. Credendo's Country Risk and Insights tool includes a risk assessment for every country and continent. Use this to monitor important risk parameters, compare countries and continents, and dive into relevant alerts, risk analyses and background stories.

Factiva This link opens in a new window
Factiva includes Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Country Commerce reports for select countries. These reports outline business regulations unique to a country, describe how a country's laws work in practice, and provide a practical business reference to investing, licensing and trading in the global economy.

Full coverage is available for the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Venezuela. Coverage of Austria and Portugal has been discontinued

To retrieve EIU Country Commerce reports from Factiva:
- In the Source field, begin typing Economist Intelligence Unit and select Economist Intelligence Unit - Country Commerce from the suggestion list
- In the Free Text Search box, type "country commerce [your country]" - be sure to include the quotation marks
- adjust Date field as desired

International Trade Administration: Country Commercial Guides
Market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business customs for over 125 countries prepared by trade and industry experts at U.S. embassies worldwide.
Lex Mundi: Guides to Doing Business
The Lex Mundi Guides to Doing Business series offers valuable, information-packed resources prepared by its premier member law firms that provide an in-depth look at business, economic, political and cultural trends in more than 100 jurisdictions around the world.
World Bank: Doing Business
The World Bank's "Doing Business" project provides objective measures of business regulations for local firms in 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational level.
World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report
Featuring the Global Competitiveness Index, the Report assesses the competitiveness landscape of 137 economies, providing unique insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity.

Economic/Financial/Trade Statistics

Brookings: Export Monitor
Since 2010, the Brookings Export Monitor has estimated goods and services exports as part of a Global Cities Initiative, which seeks to strengthen the international competitiveness and connections of cities and metro areas.
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Includes Export Profiles for dozens of U.S. metropolitan areas and ability to view or download export data at the county, metro, state, or national level,.

Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS) This link opens in a new window
Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) presents the value of merchandise exports and imports disaggregated according to a country's primary trading partners. DOTS covers all IMF member states, some non-member countries, the world, and major areas, with annual data beginning in 1947 and monthly and quarterly data beginning in 1960, available as exportable data tables that are predefined or customizable using an online query tool, or as downloadable yearbook or quarterly issues of the Direction of Trade Statistics publication.
Keywords: export, import, trade
Europa World Year Book This link opens in a new window
Europa World is the online version of the Europa World Year Book, a source of information on world-wide affairs. First published in 1926, the year book covers political and economic information in over 250 countries and territories, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
Select a country, territory, or region or use the "Comparative Statistics" section to compare tables and charts of international statistics.
Keywords: country, macroeconomics

Eurostat
National and regional economic and social indicators for the European Community and its member states.
FRED: International Data
Part of Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database available from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Select the Countries category to view data available for that country.
Global Market Finder
Use this interactive tool from the U.S. Census Bureau to analyze export markets for U.S. goods by product and destination. Filter by country and year. View the data as a table or graph.

International Financial Statistics (IFS) This link opens in a new window
International Financial Statistics (IFS) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) presents international statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance including balance of payments, commodity prices, exchange rates, fund position, government finance, industrial production, interest rates, international liquidity, labor statistics, money and banking, national accounts, population, and prices. IFS covers 194 countries and areas, with data available starting in 1948 for many IMF member countries, with exportable data tables that are predefined and available by country or indicator or customizable using an online query tool.
Keywords: banking, country, exchange rate, finance, financial, investment, interest rate, labor, money, national accounts, price, trade

International Monetary Fund: Country Information
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
Prepared by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, The National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) is an annual series that surveys significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports. The report provides, where feasible, quantitative estimates of the impact of these foreign practices on the value of U.S. exports. Information is also included on actions taken to eliminate barriers.
The Observatory of Economic Complexity
The Observatory of Economic Complexity from MIT is a visualization engine for international trade data.

UN Comtrade This link opens in a new window
Repository of official international trade statistics and analytical tables, providing selected trade series from 30 specialized data sources for all available countries and areas recognized by the United Nations (more than 170 countries/areas). Includes import and export statistics detailed by commodity/service category and partner country, with time series data from 1962.
Keywords: country, export, import, trade

UNCTADstat
All statistics of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are harmonized and integrated into UNCTADstat. Includes Country Profiles, a Data Center, and the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics.
World Bank: Global Consumption Database
The Global Consumption Database positions itself as "the most comprehensive data source to date on consumer spending patterns in developing countries." Includes data on household consumption in developing countries, based on national household surveys.

Other Statistics

Social Progress Index
The Social Progress Index assesses a country's social and environmental health through 51 indicators focused on life outcomes and divided across three dimensions of social progress: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity. Developed by Social Progress Imperative, a global nonprofit organization, the Index is "a comprehensive measure of real quality of life, independent of economic indicators...designed to complement, rather than replace, economic measures such as GDP."