Comparative Independent Fiscal Institutions Dataset

The <strong>Comparative Independent Fiscal Institution Dataset (CifiD)</strong> provides information about the legal provisions that constitute the <strong>monitoring scope, powers and institutional design</strong> of <strong>41 Independent Fiscal Institutions (IFIs) in 38 countries</strong> including most EU member states. The dataset covers legislative changes to these institutions until 2018.

Furthermore, based on the coding <strong>new indices on the political independence and the level of expertise</strong> of these fiscal monitoring bodies were developed, allowing researchers to investigate the roots and effectiveness of fiscal monitoring and its effects on the fiscal performance of national governments more thoroughly.

<strong>Institutional properties</strong>

The CifiD contains 42 items that refer to the institutional properties of fiscal monitoring bodies as they are defined in legislation, classified along the following dimensions:

Institutional model, monitoring and intervention powers
IFI design: statutory rules, operations, leadership, composition, term rules, knowledge, transparency

Two main indices were calculated and are part of the dataset:

Formal independence from political interference
Level of expertise