Understanding the financial materiality of country-level human rights 

ByThalia Kehoe Rowden

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), in conjunction with our academic partners (see below), is seeking expressions of interest from researchers interested in using the brand new Rights Tracker: Investor dataset in research to explore the connections between country-level human rights outcomes and investment returns. 

What is special about this dataset?   

This is the most comprehensive country-level human rights dataset available – with a 15-year time series available for around 195 countries, on three main categories of human rights: 

  • Economic and social rights 
  • Safety from the State (or physical integrity rights) 
  • Empowerment rights 

For more details, please see this high level info PDF on the dataset. Additional background resources (e.g. on methodology) will be made available. 

Can I use the dataset to answer related research questions? 

Yes. We want to help the world understand the connections between human rights and economic performance, and how that translates into financial market returns (especially sovereign fixed interest returns). Connections with sovereign credit ratings are also of interest. We invite you to propose research questions that fit within this scope, that are interesting to you.  You are welcome to use other datasets in your research as well. 

What research has already been done on this topic? 

There is a significant body of academic literature exploring these questions using other datasets. The complete Rights Tracker: Investor dataset is new and has not yet been used in any research, although an earlier version of the Economic and Social Rights Performance sub-set has been used in a forthcoming World Bank publication (pre-publication version available here).  

What would my participation in this research network look like? 

Participants in the network will: 

  • Be asked to sign a short MOU, in which we ask you to not share the dataset until you publish your findings.
  • Receive the dataset.
  • Be invited to join 2 – 3 initial Zoom calls (at different times, to suit different time zones) with the HRMI team and other network participants. This will give you an opportunity to: learn about the data and methodology; meet others in the field; and share research questions and ideas (including potentially to find co-authors).
  • Be invited to workshops once per quarter where participants will present preliminary results and receive feedback from others in the network.
  • There may also be an opportunity for the best papers to be included in a special edition of a journal publication (to be confirmed). 

What sort of researchers are you looking for? 

Human rights research is cross-disciplinary, so researchers with relevant expertise in the fields of economics, finance, political studies, or others, are welcome. We particularly encourage researchers from low and middle income countries to apply.

I’m interested. How do I sign-up? 

If you would like to participate, please fill in this form:

Who else is involved? 

Our academic partners include the Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS) at the University of Georgia.

If your institution would like to be involved as a partner, please get in touch with HRMI Co-founder and Executive Director Anne-Marie Brook: anne-marie.brook@hrmi.ngo. Funding to support an in-person event or conference for sharing research findings would be very welcome.