The QoG Data

The World Freedom Atlas - Discover the QoG Time-Series dataset (1990-2006) with the interactive mapping application World Freedom Atlas programmed and designed by PhD candidate Zachary Johnson at the University of Wisconsin

Review of the QoG dataset published in APSA-CP Newsletter (17)2, Summer 2006:29-31 available here »

Downloads

The QoG Cross-Section Data (version 17 June 2009):

Stata 9 (775 kb) » SPSS (708 kb) » .csv (1.05 mb) »
 
The QoG Time-Series Data (version 17 June 2009):
Stata 9 (21.5 mb) » SPSS (13.5 mb) » .csv (19.3 mb) »
 
The QoG Codebook:
(PDF) »
 

The QoG Time-Series, Cross-Section and Codebook (version 15 May 2008):
.zip (4.9 mb) »
 

Note: Those scholars who wish to use this dataset in their research are kindly requested to both cite the original source (as stated in the codebook) and use the following citation:

Teorell, Jan, Nicholas Charron, Marcus Samanni, Sören Holmberg & Bo Rothstein. 2009. The Quality of Government Dataset, version 17June09. University of Gothenburg: The Quality of Government Institute, http://www.qog.pol.gu.se

Since some data may have been corrected or updated, users are encouraged to use the most recent version of the dataset to assure the best-quality data.

One aim of the QoG Institute is to make publicly available cross-national comparative data on QoG and its correlates. To accomplish this objective we have compiled both a cross-sectional dataset with global coverage pertaining to the year 2002 (or the closest year available), and a cross-sectional time-series dataset with global coverage spanning the time period 1946–2008. The datasets draw on a number of freely available cross-sectional data sources, including aggregated individual-level data, and contain three types of variables:
▪ WII (What It Is) variables, that is, variables pertaining to the core features of QoG (such as corruption, bureaucratic quality, and democracy)
▪ HTG (How To Get it) variables, that is, variables posited to promote the development of QoG (such as electoral rules, forms of government, federalism, legal & colonial origin, religion and social fractionalization); and
▪WYG (What You Get) variables, that is, variables pertaining to some of the posited consequences of QoG (such as economic and human development, international and domestic peace, environmental sustainability, gender equality, and satisfied, trusting & confident citizens).
Our classification of the variables into these three categories should be seen as heuristic, as the more exact causal ordering of one’s variables obviously depends on the research question. We have made a particular effort to compile the best available sources for measuring the following concepts (sources indicated within parentheses:
▪ Democracy (Cheibub & Gandhi; Freedom House; Polity, Vanhanen; World Bank Governance Indicators; Bertelsmann Transformation Index; Economist Intelligence Unit)
▪ Human Rights (Cingranelli & Richards; Freedom House; Gibney & Dalton; Economist Intelligence Unit)
▪ Security of Contract & Property Rights (Fraser Institute; Heritage Foundation; World Bank Governance Indicators; Bertelsmann Transformation Index)
▪ Quality of Bureaucracy (Evans & Rauch; ICRG; World Bank Governance Indicators: Government Effectiveness; Freedom House; Global Integrity Report; Economist Intelligence Unit; Bertelsmann Transformation Index)
▪ Corruption (Transparency International; ICRG; World Bank Governance Indicators; Global Integrity Report; Economist Intelligence Unit; Bertelsmann Transformation Index)

▪ Electoral Systems (Gerring et al; Golder; IDEA; Persson & Tabellini; Database of Political Institutions; Johnson & Wallack)
▪ Party System Fractionalization (Database of Political Institutions; Golder; Henisz)
▪ Forms of Government/Presidentialism vs. Parliamentarism (Cheibub & Gandhi; Gerring et al; Persson & Tabellini; Database of Political Institutions)
▪ Federalism vs. Unitarism (Gerring et al; Persson & Tabellini; Database of Political Institutions)
▪ Ethno-Linguistic and/or Religious Fractionalization (Alesina et al.; Easterly & Levine; Fearon; Roeder)
We would be very grateful for any comments/suggestions, please address them to: marcus.samanni@pol.gu.se