Indices of Social Development – Research Applications

Abstract

The Indices of Social Development combine over 200 variables from 25 sources, providing the most comprehensive database showing the variation of social institutions – understood as the informal norms and behaviors that pattern social interaction – across countries and over time. Based on these sources, progress on five areas, civic activism, clubs and associations, interpersonal safety and trust, intergroup cohesion, and gender equity, is reported from 1995 to the present. This paper demonstrates the applicability of the indices in contributing to outstanding research questions in the development literature, including the determinants of economic growth, quality of governance, and the causes of violent conflict.