2019 KOF Globalisation Index: Variables description

Dimension Variable Name Variable Definitions Source

Trade Globalisation, de Trade in goods Exports and imports of goods (% of GDP). World Bank WDI (2019)
facto (KOFTrGIdf)
Trade in services Exports and imports of services (% of GDP). World Bank WDI (2019)
Trade partner diversity Average of the Herfindahl-Hirschman market concentration index for exports and IMF DOTS (2019a) and own
imports of goods (inverted). calculations

Trade Globalisation, de Trade regulations Average of two subcomponents: Prevalence of non-tariff trade barriers and Gwartney et al. (2019)
jure (KOFTrGIdj) compliance costs of importing and exporting.
Trade taxes Income from taxes on international trade as percentage of revenue (inverted). World Bank WDI (2019)
Tariffs Unweighted mean of tariff rates. Gwartney et al. (2019)
Trade agreements Number of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements. Egger and Larch (2008)

Financial Globalisation, Foreign direct investment Sum of stocks of assets and liabilities of foreign direct investments (% of GDP). Lane and Milesi-Ferretti (2018)
de facto (KOFFiGIdf) and IMF IIP (2019b)
Portfolio investment Sum of stocks of assets and liabilities of international equity portfolio investments (% of Lane and Milesi-Ferretti (2018)
GDP). and IMF IIP (2019b)
International debt Sum of inward and outward stocks of international portfolio debt securities and Lane and Milesi-Ferretti (2018)
international bank loans and deposits (% of GDP). and IMF IIP (2019b)
International reserves Includes foreign exchange (excluding gold), SDR holdings and reserve position in the Lane and Milesi-Ferretti (2018)
IMF (% of GDP). and IMF IIP (2019b)
International income payments Sum of capital and labour income to foreign nationals and from abroad (% of GDP). World Bank WDI (2019)

Financial Globalisation, Investment restrictions Prevalence of foreign ownership and regulations to international capital flows. Gwartney et al. (2019)
de jure (KOFFiGIdj)
Capital account openness Chinn-Ito index of capital account openness. Chinn, Ito (2006, 2008)
International investment Number of Bilateral Investment Agreements (BITs) and Treaties with Investment UNCTAD (2019)
agreements Provisions (TIPs).

Interpersonal International voice traffic International incoming and outgoing fixed and mobile telephone traffic in minutes (% of ITU (2019)
Globalisation, de facto population).
(KOFIpGIdf)
Transfers Secondary income paid and received. Gross inflows and outflows of goods, services, World Bank WDI (2019)
income or financial items without a quid pro quo (% of population).
International tourism Arrivals and departures of international tourists (% of population). World Bank WDI (2019)
International students Inbound and outbound number of tertiary students (% of population). World Bank WDI (2019)
Migration Number of foreign or foreign-born residents (% of population). World Bank WDI (2019)

Interpersonal Telephone subscriptions Fixed telephone and mobile subscriptions (% of population). World Bank WDI (2019)
Globalisation, de jure
(KOFIpGIdj)
Freedom to visit Percentage of countries for which a country requires a visa from foreign visitors. Czaika et al. (2018) and IATA
(2018)
International airports Number of airports that offers at least one international flight connection (% of ICAO (2019)
population).

Informational Used internet bandwidth Total used capacity of international internet bandwidth in bits per second (% of ITU (2019)
Globalisation, de facto population).
(KOFInGIdf)
International patents Patent applications by non residents filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty World Bank WDI (2019)
procedure or with a national patent office (% of population).
High technology exports Exports of high R&D intensity products in current US$ (% of population). World Bank WDI (2019)

Informational Television access Share of households with a television set. ITU (2019)
Globalisation, de jure
(KOFInGIdj)
Internet access Individuals using the internet (% of population). World Bank WDI (2019)
Press freedom Quantification of the legal environment for the media, political pressure that influence Freedom House (2019a)
reporting and economic factor that affect access to news and information.

Cultural Globalisation, Trade in cultural goods Exports and imports of cultural goods defined as in UNESCO (2009) (% of population). UN Comtrade (2019)
de facto (KOFCuGIdf)
Trade in personal services Exports and imports of personal, cultural and recreational services (% of population). IMF BOPS (2019c)

International trademarks Applications to register a trademark with a national or regional Intellectual Property (IP) World Bank WDI (2019)
office by non residents in percent of all applications.
McDonald's restaurant Number of McDonald's restaurants (% of population). McDonald's (various years)
IKEA stores Number of IKEA stores (% of population) IKEA (various years)

Cultural Globalisation, Gender parity Ratio of girls to boys enrolled in primary education level in public and private schools. World Bank WDI (2019)
de jure (KOFCuGIdj)
Human capital Human capital index based on the average years of schooling and an assumed rate of Feenstra et al. (2015) / Penn
return to education. World Table 9.1
Civil liberties Quantification of aspects on freedom of expression and belief, associational and Freedom House (2019b)
organizational rights, rule of law and personal autonomy and individual rights.

Political Globalisation, Embassies Absolute number of embassies in a country. Europe World Yearbook
de facto (KOFPoGIdf) (various years)
UN peace keeping missions Personnel contributed to U.N. Security Council Missions (% of population). UN Department of
Peacekeeping Operations
(various years)
International NGOs Number of internationally oriented nongovernmental organisations (NGO) operating in Yearbook of International
that country. Organizations (various years)

Political Globalisation, International organisations Number of international inter-governmental organisations in which a country is CIA World Factbook (various
de jure (KOFPoGIdj) member. years)
International treaties International treaties signed between two or more states and ratified by the highest United Nations Treaty
legislative body of each country since 1945. Collection (various years)
 Treaty partner diversity Number of distinct treaty partners of a country with bilateral investment treaties (BITs). UNCTAD (2019)

References:
Chinn, M. and H. Ito (2006), What Matters for Financial Development? Capital Controls, Institutions, and Interactions, Journal of Development Economics , 81(1).
Chinn, M. and H. Ito (2008), A New Measure of Financial Openness, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis , 10(3).
Czaika M., H. de Haas and M. Villares-Varela, The Global Evolution of Travel Visa Regimes, Population and Development Review. 44(3): 589-622.
Egger P. and M. Larch (2008), Interdependent Preferential Trade Agreement Memberships: An Empirical Analysis, Journal of International Economics , 76(2).
Feenstra, R. C., R. Inklaar and M. P. Timmer (2015), The Next Generation of the Penn World Table, American Economic Review, 105(10).
Freedom House (2019a), Freedom of the Press 2019.
Freedom House (2019b), Freedom in the World 2019.
Gwartney, J.; J.C. Hall and R. Lawson (2019), 2019 Economic Freedom Dataset.
IATA (2019), Travel Information Manual (TIM)
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (2019)
IMF (2019), Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPS)
IMF (2019), Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS)
IMF (2019), International Investment Position (IIP)
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) (2019), World Telecommunication/ ICT Indicators Database
Lane, P. R. and G. M. Milesi-Ferretti (2018), The External Wealth of Nations Revisited, IMF Economic Review , 66(1).
UNESCO (2009), The 2009 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics (FCS)
UNCTAD (2019), Investment Policy Hub
World Bank (2019), World Development Indicators (WDI)