International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) Researchers Dataset

Main data files comprise 22 variables in three subcategories of risk (political, financial, and economic) for 146 countries for 1984-2018. Data are annual averages of the components of the ICRG Risk Ratings (Tables 3B, 4B, and 5B) published in the International Country Risk Guide. Indices include: political: government stability, socioeconomic conditions, investment profile, internal conflict, external conflict, corruption, military in politics, religion in politics, law and order, ethnic tensions, democratic accountability, and bureaucratic quality; financial: foreign debt, exchange rate stability, debt service, current account, international liquidity; and economic: inflation, GDP per head, GDP growth, budget balance, current account as % of GDP. Table 2B provides annual averages of the composite risk rating. Table 3Ba provides historical political risk subcomponents on a monthly basis from May 2001-March 2019. Also includes the IRIS-3 dataset by Steve Knack and Philip Keefer, which covers the period of 1982-1997 and computed scores for six additional political risk variables: corruption in government, rule of law, bureaucratic quality, ethnic tensions, repudiation of contracts by government, and risk of expropriation. Additional data files provide country risk ratings and databanks (economic and social indicators) for new emerging markets for 2000-2009.</p

Reform complementarities and economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa

In this paper we empirically analyse the linkages amongst economic reforms, human capital, physical infrastructure, and growth for a panel of 44 developing countries over 1970-1980 to 1999. For this purpose, we generate aggregated reform indicators using principal component analysis. We show that the growth performance of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has been disappointing because these economies have lagged behind in terms of economic reforms. However, our analysis also reveals that the growth dividend of some reforms has been small. This is the case when structural reforms are implemented in an unstable macroeconomic environment (which corresponds to the situation of the MENA countries in the 1980s), and when macroeconomic reforms are accompanied by a low level of structural reforms (as observed during the 1990s). Our result illustrates the complementarities between reforms as modelled by Mussa (1987) and Williamson (1994). Actually, after human capital and physical infrastructure, our analysis finds that macroeconomic and external stability are key variables for the reform process and for the growth prospects of the developing world. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.