Table 6 Variables, definitions, and sources

TOTREV

This the ratio of total public revenue (% GDP)

ICTD Public revenue Dataset. See online: https://www.wider.unu.edu/project/government-revenue-dataset

RESREV

This is the total resource revenue, in % GDP. It is the total natural resource revenues, including natural resource revenues reported as “tax revenue” or “non-tax revenue”. Natural resources are here defined as natural resources that include a significant component of economic rent, primarily from oil and mining activities

ICTD Public revenue Dataset. See online: https://www.wider.unu.edu/project/government-revenue-dataset

NONRESREV

This is the measure of non-resource revenue, in % GDP. It is the difference between total public revenue and resource revenue, both expressed, in % GDP

Authors’ calculation. Data on both total public revenue and resource revenue are extracted from the ICTD: ICTD Public revenue Dataset. See online: https://www.wider.unu.edu/project/government-revenue-dataset

SHRESREV

This is the share (%) of resource revenue to total public revenue. SHRESREV = RESREV*100/TOTREV

Authors’ calculation. Data on both total public revenue and resource revenue are extracted from the ICTD: ICTD Public revenue Dataset. See online: https://www.wider.unu.edu/project/government-revenue-dataset

INTERNET

This variable measures the share of Individuals using the Internet, in percentage of the total population

World Development Indicators (of the World Bank) (WDI)

TP

Trade policy of the domestic economy = trade freedom score; this is a component of the Economic Freedom Index. It is composite measure of the absence of tariff and non-tariff barriers that affect imports and exports of goods and services. Its computation is based on two components: trade-weighted average tariff rage and non-tariff barriers (NTBs), the extent of latter having been determined on the basis of quantitative and qualitative available information. NTBs include quantity restrictions, price restrictions, regulatory restrictions, investment restrictions, customs restrictions, and direct government interventions. This score is graded on a scale of 0–100, with a rise indicating lower trade barriers, i.e., higher trade liberalization, while a decrease in this index reflects rising trade protectionism

Heritage Foundation (see Miller et al. 2017)

GDPC

GDP per capita (constant 2010 US$)

WDI

INFL

Inflation rate (%)

WDI

POP

Total population

WDI

OILPR

This is the oil prices, in US dollars, deflated by the Index of United States’ Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers

Data on both the oil prices and the US consumer price index are extracted from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (see online at: https://fred.stlouisfed.org)

INST

This is the variable capturing institutional quality in a given country. It has been computed by extracting the first principal component (based on factor analysis) of the following six indicators of governance. These indicators are, respectively, denoted “PolStab”, “RegQual”, “Ruleslaw”, “GovEff”, “VoiceAcc”, and “Cor”

“PolStab” is the measure of political stability and absence of violence/terrorism. “RegQual” stands for Regulatory Quality index. “Ruleslaw” represents the Rules of Law index. “GovEff” is the Government Effectiveness index. “VoiceAcc” is the index of Voice and Accountability: “Cor” is the index of corruption

It is worth noting that higher values of the index “INST” are associated with better governance and institutional quality, while lower values reflect worse governance and institutional quality

Data on the components of “INST” variables have been extracted from World Bank Governance Indicators developed by Kaufmann, Kraay, and Mastruzzi (2010) and updated in 2018