From the Fraser Institute
"The Fraser Institute is an independent non-partisan research and educational organization based in Canada." (source: website) Economic Freedom of the World is an annual report that uses 42 pieces of data to measure economic freedom in 157 nations. Data assessment includes 5 major areas: (1) size of government: expenditures, taxes, and enterprises; (2) legal structure and security of property rights; (3) access to sound money; (4) freedom to trade internationally; and (5) regulation of credit, labor, and business. Coverage from 1970 to present.
The Economic Freedom of the World index data is available in a tool that allows searching, filtering, and export. In addition, all World Bank Development Indicators are included, enabling users to draw correlations between economic freedom and wealth, health, literacy, and other economic outcomes. (Note: free registration required to access the data system.)
"Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world." Freedom House was founded in 1941 and is structured as a U.S.-based nonpartisan 501(c)(3) U.S. Government funded non-governmental organization (NGO). Freedom House supports frontline activists in their efforts to defend fundamental rights, including to document abuses, advocate for justice, end impunity, and fortify the self-protection of human rights defenders. We also provide emergency assistance to human rights defenders who come under threat and work with activists to broaden public support for upholding human rights.
Freedom House: Freedom in the World Report (data since 1998)
Freedom House: Freedom of the Press Report (data since 2002)
Freedom House: Freedom on the Net (data since 2011)
Freedom House: Special Reports
From The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation
Data from an annually published guide that tracks the advancement in economic freedom, prosperity, and opportunity. The Index covers ten freedoms (property rights, freedom from corruption, government spending, fiscal freedom, business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom) in 186 countries since 1995.
The Index of Economic Freedom guides from 2006 to present are available online. Rowan University holds the print version from 1995 (the first edition) to present at call number HB95.I48
From Bertelsmann Stiftung
Bertelsmann Stiftung is the largest private operating non-profit foundation in Germany. "As a cross-national and comparative survey [of OECD and EU countries] designed to identify and foster successes in effective policymaking, the SGI explores how governments target sustainable development." (source: website) Focuses on various indicators categorized under the following areas: economic, social, and environmental policy performance; quality of democracy; and governance (executive capacity and executive accountability). Coverage dates: January 2005 to present.
Transparency International is an international, non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted to combating corruption and preventing corruption-related criminal activities. Its research outputs include:
From The World Bank Group
The WGI project "reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and territories over the period 1996 to 2015, for six dimensions of governance: voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption. These aggregate indicators combine the views of a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. They are based on over 30 individual data sources produced by a variety of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and private sector firms." (source: website) The website features an interactive data access tool and the ability to download the full dataset.