• The United Nations Common Database
• WORLD BANK: World Development Indicators on Line
• IMF: International Financial Statistics
• The OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
• The Economist Intelligence Unit

Distinctions by origin and focus

• The Bretton Woods Duo: IMF & World Bank
  
• The United Nations [data provided by member states]
  
• The "rich countries club", and some neighbours: OECD
  
• Economist Intelligence Unit: Independent Data Producer/Re-seller [emphasize comparability]
  

   

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  The United Nations Common Database
  • Cost: about 800$US
  • Countries included:
  • 191 UN member states
  • 239 actual entries: former versions of geography, all geographies accounted for--- except Taiwan
  • Topics and Time-Span:
  • Widest available range among the "big 5": e.g. economic, social, health, environment (29 major areas)
  • Some time-series start with 1945 for original member countries
  • General Comments:
  • Indication of data-availability as part of access-lists
  • Sources: IMF, World Bank, UN and other International Agencies

   

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    IMF: International Financial Statistics
  • Cost: about 2500$US
  • Countries included:
  • 184 IMF member states plus certain areas of interest: entry for "West Bank and Gaza" added in April 2005
  • Topics and Time-Span:
  • International finance: Exchange rates; money supply and other financial esoterica are its specialties
  • Source of data for other databases -- often have on-line time-series back to 1960's and earlier; print version first issued in January 1948.
  • General Comments:
  • "Topic List": On-line version follows content of print -- line by line.
  • wide variation in number of published series per state; most efficient to check print first!
  • content of print, on-line version occasionally differs
  
  

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    WORLD BANK: World Development Indicators on Line
  • Cost: about 3150$US
  • Countries included:
  • 229 Total:  184 member states plus all other economies with populations of more than 30,000.
  • Topics and Time Span:
    695 series!
  • not just "economics; includes a range of social and environmental data, e.g. emphasis on poverty
  • The only one of these data-bases to include some data on military topics
  • Time spans generally begin with 1960
  
   
  • General Comments:
  • Most frustrating data-base to use:
  • coverage by country widely variable -- no advance indication of availability
  • frequently requests will return a row of "dots" -- missing data

  Quick Reference Topics List

  
  

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    OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
  • Cost: about 1550$US
  • Countries included:
  • 30 member states and some neighbours of interest
  • Covers all of western Europe, Poland, Czech Republic & Hungary, Iceland, wealthy Asia (Japan and Korea), and two struggling "neighbours": Turkey and Mexico
  • Topics Covered:
  • Broad range of topics covered: details on health, education, productivity, etc.
  • Packaged with specialized reports, often available in both print and pdf
  
  

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    The Economist Intelligence Unit
   
  • Cost: Expensive; often part of larger package with other Economist publications
     
  • Countries included:
  • 150 selected countries
  • No "troubled" countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, etc., but includes Cuba and Taiwan
  • Topics and Time-Span:
  • They stick to economics!
  • No on-line data prior to 1980
  • Variation by country and theme, but strive for comparability
  • City-Data:  living costs in cities around the world
  
   

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    COVERAGE SUMMARY  download list

  An Example Using International Comparative data:  Comparing Per Capita Incomes
   

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  Prepared by Susan Czarnocki - May 2006