DICE - a comparative international database of institutional regulations

Government regulations are increasingly becoming the determining locational factor for investment and economic growth. The paucity of comparable and analytically conceived information on institutional regulations in the European Union and its member states is being corrected by the gradual expansion of the DICE database of the Ifo Institute. Since 2001 numerous information has been gathered, processed - as tables, graphs or short reports - and made available to the user in the internet free of charge in DICE - the Database for Institutional Comparisons in Europe. At present DICE contains more than 2,200 entries with approx. 8,000 variables. Responses show that this database strategy has been a success.