written by Ramiz Rahmanov & Zaur Valiyev printable version send your friend

Friday, 21 October 2011

Why Do We Need Ratings?

The need for ratings can be easily explained. On the one hand, ratings create an image of a country and on the other hand, they are necessary for purely economic reasons. In particular, ratings give information about the competitiveness of economies, standards of living, development levels of information technologies, and institutional development.

Which Ratings Are Used to Evaluate the Position of a Country?

The most frequently used ratings are listed below:

• The Global Competitiveness Index (the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum)

• The Ease of Doing Business Index (the Doing Business Report of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation)

• The Human Development Index (the Human Development Report of the United Nations)

• The Networked Readiness Index (the Global Information Technology Report of the World Economic Forum)

• The E-Government Development Index (the Global E-Government Development Report of the United Nations)

• The ICT Development Index (Measuring the Information Society, a report of the International Telecommunication Union)

• The Open Budget Index (the Open Budget Survey of the International Budget Partnership)

Please follow the link (http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/125443/the-positions-of-azerbaijan-in-the-world-ratings.html)  to reach the rest of the op-ed with illustrations.

*Ramiz Rahmanov is a senior consultant  and Zaur Valiyev is a research fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies in Baku, Azerbaijan.