Database of the Month: Global Insight

Global Insight is an overlooked gem of a resource - providing access to expert economic, financial, and political analysis for 204 countries.

The information you'll find in Global Insight is not available from any of our other databases.  If you were to log-in to Global Insight today you would find:

• same-day analysis of the current economic situation in Greece
• a special report on the political, social and economic implications of the history-making elections taking place in the Philippines next month
• detailed country profiles for 204 countries written by experts who have analyzed recent political, economic, security, legal, tax and operational factors, and which also includes a country risk assessment and sovereign risk ratings
• and much, much more...

You would be hard-pressed to find a better source for analysis of the risk and business environment of developed and emerging countries, regions, and industries. Global Insight also provides extensive historical data sets and forecasts for all countries.

Description & Key Features

Analysis: The service's analytical content consists of four core elements that are fully integrated and revised continuously.

• Same-Day Analysis Articles & Special Reports: Daily articles track risk- and business-related developments worldwide, as well as economic data releases. Special Reports investigate key topics in greater depth.  Article topics range from cabinet reshuffles and policy initiatives to economic data releases and terrorist threats.
• Country Reports: In-depth, consistently structured background reports covering the political, economic, security and general business environment in each country.
• Country Risk Ratings: A unique six-factor system focusing on foreign direct investment-related risk, tightly integrated with Same-Day Analysis articles and Country Reports. For all 204 countries, Global Insight grades six different risk factors: political, economic, legal, tax, operational, and security. These are then weighted and combined to form the overall country risk rating.
• Sovereign Risk Ratings: An assessment of the financial stability and credit-worthiness of all countries worldwide, plus side-by-side comparisons with the major ratings agencies.

Economic Data: Global Insight includes a wealth of economic data for each country.  The datasets include historical data for some variables as far back as 1979, and long-term forecasts to 2040. Every quarter, Global Insight produces detailed forecasts for up to 150 key economic indicators. The most important concepts—GDP, exchange rate, consumer prices, etc.—are forecasted for all countries; for the larger countries additional concepts include detailed accounts for the government and household sectors, and disaggregated trade accounts.

Connect to this database:

Please visit the Global Insight database to explore this valuable database further, or visit our Databases page to view a complete list of our resources.

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please contact the Reference Desk.  If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.