Policy Hub
Use this section for access to organisations, resources and tools to help you find evidence on social and economic issues Worldwide.
Afristat (mostly in French, some English content)
Australian Social Science Data Archive - links to data sets in countries worldwide
Brief review of
trends in political change: freedom and conflict - summary of trends
in freedom and conflict of the past several decades; changes in governance,
freedom, armed conflict, refugees and terrorism.
Brief review of
world basic demographic trends - summary of the main demographic trends
of the past several decades; changes in population size, population size,
population growth, infant mortality rates, age distributions.
Brief review of
world socio-demographic trends - summary of the main socio-demographic
trends of the past several decades; changes in urbanization, education and
ethnolinguistic fractionalization.
The Campbell Collaboration [C2] aims to help people make well-informed decisions by preparing, maintaining, and promoting access to systematic reviews of studies on the effects of social and educational policies and practices.
The Campbell [C2] Crime & Justice Coordinating Group is an international network of individuals that will prepare, update and rapidly disseminate systematic reviews of high-quality research conducted worldwide, on effective methods to reduce crime and delinquency or improve justice.
The Campbell [C2] Education Coordinating Group is an international network of volunteer professionals who will prepare, update and rapidly disseminate systematic reviews of high-quality educational and training interventions conducted worldwide that are aimed to improve education and learning.
The Campbell [C2] Social Welfare Coordinating Group (SWCG) is an international network of people interested in the effects of social programs, who prepare, update, and disseminate high-quality systematic reviews of research conducted worldwide on effective methods to promote social welfare, health, and social justice.
Directory of World Think Tanks - maintained by the National Institute for Research Advancement in Japan this is updated every three years and aims to maintain a near-complete directory of think tanks around the world.
Economist Country Briefings - The Economist has made many of its country-specific articles and surveys available on its website.
Eldis - a gateway to research, news and information about international development issues. Includes a large database of full text research papers and a further database of development related websites.
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
Global Population Data Base - GPOPDB
Global Social Change reports by Shackman, Liu and Wang (and other reports) - this project examines the ways in which societies change over time. There are reports on social, economic and political aspects of society, and trends over time in these characteristics. Through these reports, the project intends to present a picture of how society is constructed, and how society changes over time. It uses data sets, that are available on the web, to describe many different aspects of society, such as basic socio-demographics (i.e. population size, growth, age and urban distribution, infant mortality rate, education), technology (i.e. electricity consumption, telephone mainlines), politics (i.e. political rights, freedom, armed conflict) and communication (tv, radio, newspaper, internet). It also presents long term changes in economic growth and population, to place more current changes in context.
The Group of Thirty - aims to deepen understanding of international economic and financial issues, to explore the international repercussions of decisions taken in the public and private sectors, and to examine the choices available to market practitioners and policymakers.
Institute for International Economics (IIE) - The Institute for International Economics (IIE) is a research institution devoted to the study of international economic policy.
International Data Base - IDB (Demographic and socio-economic data)
International Association of Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) - a network that aims to link social researchers with methodologists and computing specialists and information specialists. Its publications and conferences serve the exchange of ideas and developments in data services, such as data archives and data libraries, statistical agencies, research and academic centres.
International Energy Agency (IEA)
International Federation of Data Organisations
International Labor Organization (ILO) - The International Labor Organisation (ILO) aims to promote and realise standards, fundamental principles and rights at work.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and orderly exchange arrangements; to foster economic growth and high levels of employment; and to provide temporary financial assistance to countries to help ease balance of payments adjustment.
International Reform Monitor - social policy, labour market policy and industrial relations - The International Reform Monitor provides information on social policy (health care, pensions provision, family policy, state welfare), labour market policy and industrial relations in 15 OECD-countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States of America.
International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
Market Research on the Web - a free gateway to approximately 1,000 evaluated web sites, containing statistics, business information and market data, including trade associations and other industry sources. Each link contains a short evaluation of the site. Mainly from UK and pan-European sources but more international sites are gradually being added.
National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA) directory of world think tanks - The National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA) directory of world think tanks provides information and contact details for 289 institutes from 72 different countries.
OECD. National Economic Research Orgnisations (NERO) - A network to exchange information, discuss evolving research agendas and identify new issues. The OECD acts as a facilitator in this process, including hosting meetings of NERO representatives.
OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - an international organisation helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalised economy. OECD groups 30 member countries with active relationships with some 70 other countries, NGOs and civil society. Best known for its publications and its statistics, its work covers economic and social issues from macroeconomics, to trade, education, development and science and innovation.
OECD Country Information - the OECD maintains a country-by-country resource on developments in governance and public management.
The OECD Public Governance and Management Programme analyses and develops solutions to the challenges and needs of Government and promotes good practice. Current activities include e-government, regulatory reform and sustainable development.
Peer Review: a tool for co-operation and change (186kb) (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2002). This paper examines the practice of peer review and the related effect of peer pressure in the context of international organisations, particularly the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It includes examples of OECD Peer Reviews.
Policy Network - an organisation that aims to link and inform those involved in policy making. Has links with government and policy-makers in more than 25 countries. Covers social, economic and foreign policy issues and is updated daily with highlights of new international research. Claims to contain all UK think tank online papers as well as links to full text research and policy papers from international think tanks. Also carries directories of think tanks from various countries. There are also thematic summaries of key resources in different policy areas e.g. Council Tax reform, the International Criminal Court and voluntary sector research.
Policypointers - an online facility 'created to enable those involved in government, academe and the media to gain rapid access to the research and conclusions of think tanks around the world' (website).
The Poverty Equation (PDF file - 525K, 1 page)- includes a graphic showing the percentage of people earning minimum wage in 12 countries. Refers to the United Kingdom as "Britain"
Reform Monitor - tries to keep up to date with different government reforms instituted in the areas of social policy(health care, pensions provision, family policy, state welfare), labour market policy and industrial relations. It is international in scope (15 OECD-countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States of America). Provides some useful descriptive comparisons of policies in OECD countries
Repec (Research Papers in Economics) is a collaborative effort of over 100 volunteers in 44 countries. It includes a large database of economic research and working papers. Over 46,000 of these papers are available online as full text papers while many more are available as abstracts.
SASE (Society for the Advancement of Socio-economics) - an international, inter-disciplinary organization with members in over 50 countries on five continents. The academic disciplines represented in SASE include economics, sociology, political science, management,psychology, law, history, and philosophy. The membership of SASE also includes business people and policy makers in government and international organizations.
Social
inclusion and exclusion among Australia's children: a review of the literature.-Australia.
National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, 2007
Social Science Data Archives (Map)
Social Sciences Data Collection - SSDC
Socioeconomic Data and Applications Centre - SEDAC
STASA - Steinbeis-Transferzentrum Angewandte Systemanalyse, Stuttgart
Statistical Sites on the World Wide Web - produced by U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
United Nations (UN) - The United Nations (UN) is concerned with global efforts to solve problems which challenge humanity.
United Nations Industrial Development Organization Statistics
United Nations International Computing Centre
United Nations Statistics Division
World Bank - The World Bank works in more than 100 developing economies with the primary focus of helping the poorest people and the poorest countries.
World Health Organization Statistical Information System
By topic
Economy, Employment and Income
CROP - International Social Science Council: Comparative Research Programme on Poverty
Fourth World Documentation Archive (formerly the Fourth World Documentation Project)
ILO - IFPSES - Virtual Archive of Documents and Resources
IMD - World Competitiveness Scoreboard Online
LES - Luxembourg Employment Study
PRAXIS - Resources For Social and Economic Development
World Resources - Text and Data
Health
DHS - Macro International Demographic and Health Survey Program
HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base
World Health Organization Statistical Information System
Political Data
Archive of Election Results around the World
Country Indicators for Foreign Policy
Worldwide Governments on the WWW
Social Protection & Social Security
ILO - Cost of Social Security Database (1990 - 1996)
Measures of material deprivation in OECD countries by Romina Boarini and Marco Mira d'Ercole.-Paris, OECD, 2006 (PDF file - 808K, 71 pages)- discusses the use of material deprivation measures for an analysis of poverty in OECD countries.
An overview of recent work on standard budgets in the United States and other Anglophone countries -Washington DC: Department of Health and Human Services, 2007 - Since about 1990, there have been resurgences of interest in USA, Canada, Britain, and Australia in the “standard budget” (“budget standards”) methodology for developing poverty lines or other measures of income inadequacy - a methodology that had previously experienced a long period of unpopularity ever since about World War II. This paper provides an overview of much of the major recent work using this methodology in these four countries (plus one study in New Zealand and
one study in Ireland) HTML version
Social assistance
policy development and the provision of a decent level of income in selected
OECD countries By Willem Adema.-Paris, OECD, 2006 (PDF file - 420K,
33 pages)- the paper has a focus on [social assistance] rate setting mechanisms
in Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Korea, the Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK
USA-SSA - Social Security Programs Throughout the World (1999)
Use the International Comparisons in Policy Making Toolkit for help and guidance on learning lessons from other countries.
Click here for advice on how to decide whether a piece of evidence is useful.