COB content

This is the "working" version of the paper. See the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance for final version.

U.S. Department of State site provides economic, political, and cultural data on countries of the world.

Reports issued by the Economist Intelligence Unit, with some free content.

Guides designed to help potential investors understand the investment climate, operating conditions, and tax system of most major trading jurisdictions.

Guides to over 40 countries, including statistics and rankings on overall business climate, ease of starting the business, etc.

World Economic Forum portal for videos and reports.

International Monetary Fund portal for data and reports pertaining to financial stability.

Developed by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal; provides access to online text, rankings and database of detailed information about economic policy for 179 countries.

U.S. Census Bureau resource that offers a variety of demographic indicators for countries and areas of the world with a population of 5,000 or more.

U.S. Commercial Service research reports on various countries and markets.

In-depth country reports that analyze social and economic conditions of a country, and assess its current business environment.

Provides general country information as well as a detailed overview of the business environment and all aspects of doing business in the country and also for regions.

International Monetary Fund reports.

Easy-to-use political and terrorism risk mapping tool; also includes a risk exposure calculator.

Nice interactive tool that lets you plot a variety of "hazard" variables across a scalable map of the world.

Data and interactive maps from the National Geophysical Data Center.

An excellent interactive hazards mapping tool from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). When you arrive at the site, set the "Theme" (upper right) to "Hazards."

Click on "Local Info" tab at top of screen and then "Overview" and then set dropdown to "Natural Hazards." While fairly local in scope, you can map various hazards for a city and then zoom out for a more regional perspective.