Measuring Globalisation How would you measure Globalisation Thinking

Measuring Globalisation How would you measure Globalisation? Thinking task: What MEASURABLE categories would you break it into?

KOF Index What is it? The KOF Index of Globalization measures the three main dimensions of globalization: – Economic – Social – Political

KOF Index When did it start? The first KOF scores stared in 2002 but data is available on a yearly basis for 208 countries over the period 1970 - 2009.

KOF Index How does it work? Countries are given a score for each of the 3 indices (Economic, Social, Political) on a scale of 1 (low) to 100 (maximum) There scores are then averaged out to give an overall Globalisation index.

More info…. Economic Globalisation is split into 1. Actual flows (trade, FDI, investments) and 2. Restrictions Social Globalisation is split into 1. data on information flows 2. data on personal contact and 3. data on cultural proximity

Even more info…. Not all of the 3 Categories are given even weight when calculating the overall score Guess the rating. Closest person gets a prize* The Actual weighting is Economic 38% Social 39% Political 23% *Your prize is the joy at being the closest

Typically these kinds of countries score high on the index; North American, Westen European, Asian ‘tigers” Whereas, African, South American, Middle Eastern and Asian countries operate at the lower end of the scale.

Top 10 – KOF Index Rank Country Globalisation Index 1 Belgium 92. 95 2 Austria 92. 51 3 Netherlands 91. 90 4 Switzerland 90. 55 5 Sweden 89. 55 6 Denmark 89. 68 7 Canada 88. 24 8 Portugal 87. 54 9 Finland 87. 31 10 Hungary 87. 00

The KOF Index – is it any good? To what extent is the KOF a reliable measure of globalisation? Think about; What you know about indices and models from previous studies The complexity of the “globalisation” concept How reliable is the data? How representative are the criteria?