CBR Leximetric Datasets

Three principal datasets code for labour, shareholder, and creditor protection laws across many countries. The labour regulation index covers 117 countries from 1970 to 2013, while the shareholder and creditor indices cover 30 countries from 1990 to 2013. These datasets were developed at the Centre for Business Research in Cambridge using a leximetric coding methodology, with funding from multiple sources including the ESRC.

Use Cases

• Analyzing trends in labour market regulation over time based on the CBR Labour Regulation Index for 117 countries.
• Modeling the relationship between shareholder protection laws and corporate finance outcomes based on the 30-country index.
• Studying the evolution of insolvency frameworks and creditor rights across jurisdictions based on the creditor protection index.
• Conducting comparative legal research with transparently sourced data, as all legal sources are documented in codebooks.

Strengths

• Labour law index covers 117 countries, providing broad geographic scope.
• Time series data spans over 40 years for labour laws (1970-2013) and over 20 years for financial indices (1990-2013).
• Transparency and replicability are supported by fully described legal sources in accompanying codebooks.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Coverage is inconsistent, with shareholder and creditor indices covering fewer countries (30) than the labour index (117).
• Last update date is unknown; data is confirmed only up to July 2016, so freshness is unverified.

Provenance

Source

Centre for Business Research (CBR), Cambridge.

Collection Method

Leximetric coding methodology applied to legal sources.

Time Range

Labour: 1970-2013; Shareholder & Creditor: 1990-2013.

Freshness

Last confirmed update was July 2016; current status is unknown.

Geography

Labour: 117 countries; Shareholder & Creditor: 30 countries.