A Project for the World Bank conducted by
Aymo Brunetti |
Beatrice Weder |
use http://econ.bc.edu/wb/wdrdata.dta
|
[ Introduction ] [The Questionnaire [The Survey ] [The Data ] [Papers] |
This page collects results from our ongoing survey research supported by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The centerpiece of this research is a private sector survey in 74 countries which was conducted - in collaboration with Gregory Kisunko - mostly in preparation for the World Development Report (WDR 1997). The aim of the survey was to gain quantitative indicators of institutional uncertainty in a large number of countries.
The purpose of the questionnaire was to capture all relevant forms of policy uncertainties related to the development and enforcement of laws, regulations and policies. In preparatory interviews and tests of this questionnaire, firms told many different examples of uncertainties due to unpredictable state interventions. They ranged from surprising executive decrees to unpredictable court decisions, from uncertainty on the severity of tax audits to unpredictable custom procedures, and from policy reversals whenever a new minister is appointed to uncertainty whether a bribe would lead to blackmailing by government officials. The questionnaire uses 25 mainly multiple choice questions which aim at covering the most important forms of such uncertainties.
Download the questionnaire (27k, Word document)
The process of implementing the survey began in August 1996 and ended in June 1997. At the survey's conclusion 74 countries had participated. In 60 of these countries the questionnaires were distributed through World Bank missions and/or local consulting companies. In 9 European countries the survey was undertaken as a separate exercise under our direction at the University of Basel. Those surveyed at the University of Basel used exactly the same methodology. We later conducted surveys with the same method in 5 additional countries (Brazil, Hong-Kong, Korea, Singapore, Thailand).
Download more background information(33k, Word document)
The new WDR+ data which contains data for 72 countries can be downloaded below. This set covers all countries where surveys have been conducted with the exception of Paraguay and Peru whose governments refused to reveal their data. We calculated all indicators in a directly comparable format. The higher the respective indicator the "better" it is, i.e. the less uncertain the institutional framework. In most cases the indicators reach from 1 ("worst") to 6 ("best"). We provide country means for every question.
Please note two key differences between the original WDR and the new WDR+-data set:
(i) The WDR data is in raw form meaning that it was coded directly from the questionnaires. When using that data you should always check with the questionnaire whether e. g. a "1" is the "best or the "worst" option.
(ii) The WDR data set covers only 67 countries. (Brazil, Hong-Kong, Korea, Singapore and Thailand are not contained).
Download data WDR+ (47 k, Excel document)
Here we provide updated links to the papers which can be downloaded from the Word Bank web pages as well as downloads for revisions and new papers.
Please direct inquiries, comments, suggestions... to brunetti@ubaclu.unibas.ch and weder@ubaclu.unibas.ch
Last page revision: June 20, 1998
Original source: http://www.unibas.ch/wwz/wifor/survey/