QoG Standard Dataset

The QoG Institute is an independent research institute within the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. Overall 30 researchers conduct and promote research on the causes, consequences and nature of Good Governance and the Quality of Government - that is, trustworthy, reliable, impartial, uncorrupted and competent government institutions. The main objective of our research is to address the theoretical and empirical problem of how political institutions of high quality can be created and maintained. A second objective is to study the effects of Quality of Government on a number of policy areas, such as health, the environment, social policy, and poverty. QoG Standard Dataset is the largest dataset consisting of more than 2,000 variables from sources related to the Quality of Government. The data exist in both time-series (year 1946 and onwards) and cross-section (year 2020). Many of the variables are available in both datasets, but some are not. The datasets draws on a number of freely available data sources related to QoG and its correlates. In the QoG Standard CS dataset, data from and around 2020 is included. Data from 2020 is prioritized; however, if no data is available for a country for 2020, data for 2021 is included. If no data exists for 2021, data for 2019 is included, and so on up to a maximum of +/- 3 years. In the QoG Standard TS dataset, data from 1946 and onwards is included and the unit of analysis is country-year (e.g., Sweden-1946, Sweden-1947, etc.).