FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Company Information
What is The PRS Group?
Is Political Risk Services different?
Is International Country Risk Guide different?
Who uses your product?
Why should I choose The PRS Group?
How can I find out about employment at The PRS Group?

General Information
What types of risk information does The PRS Group have?
What types of data do you sell?
Do you have information on risk for specific industries?
I am traveling abroad. Do you have travel advisories?
I am a professor. Do you have historical information on corruption, rule of law, etc.?
I am recreating a study and heard you have the Dataset I need?
I am a student studying a particular country. What information do you have?

Political Risk Services
How is PRS different from other services?
How often are reports updated?
How are risk ratings determined?

International Country Risk Guide
How is the ICRG different from other services?
What do the political, financial and economic risk ratings mean?
How accurate are the forecasts?
How often is the information updated?

Country Data
What data is available?
How far back does historical data go?
What do the numbers mean for the Turmoil Ratings and Forecasts, of the three regimes?
What is the IRIS?
Why doesn’t all of the data print?
Can I reprint a report I purchased earlier?
I’m having trouble with the login on the Country Data site.
Why do I get an error when I use my browser’s “back” button?
Why can’t I select all data for all months and all years?
Why do ICRG risk components not always add up to the rating?

The Answers

Company Information
What is The PRS Group?
For over 20 years, The PRS Group has been supplying businesses with the information they need to succeed in the international arena. The PRS Group publishes: Political Risk Services, and the International Country Risk Guide.
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Is Political Risk Services different?
Political Risk Services is a group of publications published by The PRS Group. PRS is based on the Coplin-O’Leary forecasting system. The PRS line is based on the Country Report, but includes a number of subscription services for both business and academic customers.
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Is International Country Risk Guide different?
The International Country Risk Guide, also published by The PRS Group, is a completely separate product from Political Risk Services and uses an entirely different risk methodology.
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Who uses your product?
The PRS Group does not disclose the names of its customers without permission, but we can say that we supply risk information to over 80% of the top companies in the world (as ranked by Fortune).
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Why should I choose The PRS Group?
When choosing someone to supply information of this importance, there is only one question to ask: Can I trust them? The PRS Group has been in the business of supplying information to help companies make critical business decisions for over 20 years. We have built a reputation as a provider of the highest quality data and analysis available anywhere.
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How can I find out about employment at The PRS Group?
If you are interested in employment at The PRS Group, please fax your resume and cover sheet to +1 (315) 431-0200 attn: Human Resources. Be sure to include your address and a number where we can reach you.
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General Information
What types of risk information does The PRS Group have?
The PRS Group publishes two risk methodologies: Political Risk Services and the International Country Risk Guide.
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What types of data do you sell?
We have data available from both Political Risk Services and the International Country Risk Guide. For more specific information, click on the appropriate product name.
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Do you have information on risk for specific industries?
The PRS Group provides risk analysis for the political, financial and economic situation in countries. We do not provide industry specific risk information, although the ICRG risk model can be tailored to the specific needs of your organization. Click here to find out more.
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I am traveling abroad. Do you have travel advisories?
We do not provide travel advisories. A good place to start looking for travel advisories is the US Dept. of State.
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I am a professor. Do you have historical information on corruption, rule of law, etc.?
Yes. We offer historical data for a number of economic, financial and political variables. For a complete listing, click here.
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I am recreating a study and heard you have the Dataset I need?
It is very possible. Our most popular dataset is the IRIS. For more information on purchasing the IRIS, please call +1 (315) 431-0511.
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I am a student studying a particular country. What information do you have?
We have a wide variety of economic, financial and political data for individual countries. As a student, your best chance is to go to your college or university’s library and ask for the Political Risk Yearbook or go to http://www.countrydata.com/.
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Political Risk Services
How is PRS different from other services?
PRS is the only service based on the Coplin-O’Leary risk rating methodology. It is the only service that offers forecasts based on different political scenarios. This allows you to plan for the most likely risks you may encounter, but prepare for the best or worst/case scenarios.
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How often are reports updated?
PRS’ Country Reports are updated quarterly, although they may receive more updates as dictated by events in the country. Our reporting services, such as the World Service, are updated monthly. For more specific information, look at the specific product on the web site.
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How are risk ratings determined?
The risk ratings are determined by country experts and reviewed by The PRS Group’s senior advisers using the acclaimed Coplin-O’Leary methodology.
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International Country Risk Guide
How is the ICRG different from other services?
The ICRG is completely separate from the PRS line of products. The ICRG’s UK editor, Tom Sealy, uses a completely different methodology to arrive at his risk ratings. The ICRG is unique because we supply subscribers with the methodology and formulas used to calculate the risk ratings as well as the data needed to make the calculations. This allows subscribers to tailor the ratings system to their specific needs.
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What do the political, financial and economic risk ratings mean?
For a more detailed explanation of the ICRG ratings and methodology, click here.
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How accurate are the forecasts?
Although a simple question, this is very difficult to answer. The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s have both cited the ICRG’s forecasts as among the most accurate in the industry. A number of academics have also spent years trying to determine the accuracy and validity of these forecasts. The most extensive research has been that done by Dr. Campbell Harvey at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
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How often is the information updated?
The ICRG is updated monthly. In each new issue, data and statistical tables are completely updated and new text analysis is provided for 25-35 countries.
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Country Data
What data is available?
For a complete listing of the data available, click here.
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How far back does historical data go?
Much of our historical data goes back to 1984. For more information, go to our CountryData site.
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What do the numbers mean for the Turmoil Ratings and Forecasts, of the three regimes?

-2 = MUCH LESS
-1 = LESS
-0.5 = SLIGHTLY LESS
0 = SAME
0.5 = SLIGHTLY MORE
1 = MORE
2 = MUCH MORE
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What is the IRIS?
IRIS is a specific dataset constructed by Steve Knack and the IRIS Center, University of Maryland. The dataset is designed to analyze the quality of governance of the countries covered by the International Country Risk Guide. Currently, IRIS III provides annual ratings for the following indicators:
Corruption in government
Rule of law (law and order tradition)
Bureaucratic quality
Ethnic tensions
Repudiation of contracts by government
Risk of expropriation
The cost of IRIS III is $200. It is available by calling +1 315 431-0511.
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Why doesn’t all of the data print?
Setting your printer to “landscape” orientation will ensure that all of the text visible on the screen will print.
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Can I reprint a report I purchased earlier?
Once you login on the Country Data site, you can view your recently purchased orders from the “Account Options”. If a report was purchased within the last 3 days, the order number will be underlined. You may click on this order number to view, or print, the report again.
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I’m having trouble with the login on the Country Data site.
Your browser must be set to accept cookies for the login process to complete. If you accept all three cookies, you’ll only need to enter your username and password once when making multiple purchases.
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Why do I get an error when I use my browser’s “back” button?
Our security and data encryption do not allow you to use your back button to go to certain screens. If you receive this error, simply click on your browser’s ‘refresh’ or ‘reload’ button to view the screen. We understand that this may be an inconvenience, but it seems a small price to pay to keep your user and credit card information safe and secure.
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Why can’t I select all data for all months and all years?
There is simply too much data for your browser to handle. One of the advantages of Country Data is that it has more data available than any other comparable site. Unfortunately, your browser is only able to handle a portion of it at any given time. Try breaking your selection up into groups of dates or datapoints to get the data you need.
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Why do ICRG risk components not always add up to the rating?
When adding up the individual components of a particular ICRG risk rating, political risk for example, the component values do not total the same number that appears as the risk rating.

The risk points awarded to each risk component cover a range of data or probabilities. For example, a country with a debt service ratio of 13% of exports of goods and services (XGS) is assigned the same risk score (8.5 points) as a country with a ratio of 16% of XGS.

This is not important when just one risk component is involved.

However, where this occurs over a number of components within a single risk category (Political, Financial or Economic), it can blur or distort the actual risk potential between countries by giving a country that consistently scores at the bottom of the component ranges the same category risk score as a country scoring consistently at the top of the component ranges. To overcome this occasional problem, we have made relational adjustments, whereby the total score within the relevant risk category is either increased or decreased by an assessed amount. These relational adjustments do not appear in the database.