The Database for Institutional Comparison in Europe (DICE) is run by the German economic research institute Information and Forschung (ifo). The website provides cross-country policy information and statistics on economic institutions and regulatory systems as well as their economic effects. ‘A wide range of institutional fields is covered, including education, the public sector, social policy, the labour market, migration and values. Most of the data cover the EU-28 countries.’ (EDAC, 2016c) It also provides information on other major industrial economies, as well as the BRIC countries.
The main topics discussed in the general DICE database are:
- banking and financial markets;
- business and innovation;
- education;
- energy, resources, natural environment;
- infrastructure;
- labour market;
- macroeconomics;
- migration;
- social policy.
The aim of the database is to offer countries the possibility of comparing their institutions to others’ in both a small and broad circle. The DICE database is an answer to a growing demand of internationally comparable data on policies and institutions in a time of globalisation.