{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-02-19","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Thomas Romano","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"tromano@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Norman Loayza","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"nloayza@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Charlotte Nan Jiang","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"njiang1@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Arvind Jain","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"ajain7@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Taylor Boyce","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"tboyce@worldbank.org"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility Package for The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology For Measuring Governance Using Perception Data","idno":"RR_WLD_2026_558"},"data_statement":"Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package.","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"18.5 MP"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology For Measuring Governance Using Perception Data","date":"2026-02","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_WLD_2026_558","zip_package":"RR_WLD_2026_558.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-02-19","abstract":"The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) provide composite measures of six dimensions of governance\u2014Voice and Accountability, Political Stability, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption. The indicators draw on 35 data sources, including household and firm surveys and expert assessments from multilateral organizations, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and commercial data providers. They cover over 200 economies annually from 1996 to 2024 and are publicly available on the WGI website.\nThis paper summarizes the data sources and aggregation methodology underlying the WGI and documents a set of changes introduced as part of the 2025 revision. The changes include a stricter protocol for screening data sources; the addition of new qualified sources; a closer alignment of indicators with an institutional-functions framework; targeted refinements to the mapping of indicators across the six governance dimensions; revisions to the aggregation model that allow the global average of governance to vary over time; and the introduction of an absolute 0\u2013100 scale anchored by fixed benchmark countries. Taken together, these changes form the basis of the revised WGI. Historical estimates have been recalculated back to 1996 to maintain a fully consistent series.\nSensitivity analysis shows that the updated estimates are robust to reasonable variations in source inclusion, weighting choices, and source data imputation. The WGI continues to offer a coherent, comparable overview of governance patterns worldwide, while assessments of specific institutional reforms are more effectively supported by purpose-built, country-level governance diagnostics.","geographic_units":[{"name":"World","code":"WLD"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Governance"},{"name":"Public Sector Management"},{"name":"Institutions And Growth"}],"topics":[{"id":"C43","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Index Numbers and Aggregation","parent_id":"C4"},{"id":" D73","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Bureaucracy \u2022 Administrative Processes in Public Organizations \u2022 Corruption","parent_id":"D7"},{"id":" D02","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact","parent_id":"D0"},{"id":" C18","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Methodological Issues: General","parent_id":"C1"}],"output":[{"type":"World Bank Reports & Flagships","title":"The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology For Measuring Governance Using Perception Data","uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/content\/dam\/sites\/govindicators\/doc\/The%20Worldwide%20Governance%20Indicators%202025%20Methodology%20Revision.pdf"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"technology_requirements":"Runtime: 30 minutes","disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Thomas Romano","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"tromano@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise, version 25H2\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 165U (2.10 GHz)\n\u2022 Memory available: 31.5 GB","reproduction_instructions":"**1. Access the data:** One dataset required to run the code is not included in the reproducibility package. Users need to access it to reproduce the results. See section Datasets for more information.\n**2. Run the code:** Open the do-file \"0. WGI methodology paper - master\", change the folder path global in line 42, and run it.\nSince not all the data are publicly available, the results created by the replicators are included in the folder \"2. output\" so that interested users can verify these against the results in the paper.","datasets":[{"name":"Worldwide Governance Indicators","note":"Data files: \"wgidataset_with_sourcedata.dta\", \"wgidataset_with_sourcedata_2024.dta\", \"countrycodes.dta\", \"data source screening.dta\".\nData were accessed in December 2025.","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"CC-BY 4.0 with additional terms specified in the license URL","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/about\/legal\/terms-of-use-for-datasets","uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators","citation":"World Bank.\n2025.\n\"Worldwide Governance Indicators\" [dataset].\n2024 and 2025 Revisions.\nhttps:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators.\nAccessed December 2025."},{"name":"Worldwide Governance Indicators Source Data - Non-commercial Sources","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Data file: \"01. input\/non-commercial.dta\". This file includes the appended data from each source.\nData was accessed in December 2025.","uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators\/documentation#2","citation":"World Bank.\n2025.\n\"Worldwide Governance Indicators Source Data - Non-commercial Sources\" [dataset].\nhttps:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators\/documentation#2\nAccessed December 2025."},{"name":"Worldwide Governance Indicators Source Data - Commercial Sources","note":"Data file: \"01. input\/commercial.dta\". This file includes the appended data from each source. The data from the sources are accessible but require purchase.\nData was accessed in December 2025.","uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators\/documentation#2","citation":"World Bank.\n2025.\n\"Worldwide Governance Indicators Source Data - Commercial Sources\" [dataset].\nhttps:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators\/documentation#2\nAccessed December 2025.","access_type":"Data access requires purchase and is not included in the reproducibility package."}]},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Limited-access Data"},{"tag":"Open Code"}],"schematype":"script"}