Institutional Quality Index

The Institutional Quality Index (IQI) is a composite indicator built to measure Institutional Quality in Italy. Our idea of Institutional Quality starts from Douglass North according to whom “institutions are the rules of the game in a society ”. In this perspective, institutions contribute to forming the set of incentives underlying behavior and individual choices. As they significantly affect the degree of development of an economy, its capacity for growth, the extent of inequalities, etc., many scholars have focused on the links between institutional quality and economic results. IQI construction takes its cue from the World Governance Indicator (WGI) proposed by Kaufmann, Kraay and Mastruzzi in 2010 in the context of the Knowledge for Change Programme promoted by the World Bank. The data to build up the IQI were collected from institutional sources, research institutes and professional registers, and refer to the period 2004-2012 both at regional (NUTS2) and provincial (NUTS3) level