The Oxford Supertracker project at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, has been tracking and assembling the numerous policy trackers that have emerged in the wake of COVID-19. It provides an easily searchable online directory of more than hundred data sources (126 policy trackers and 21 surveys). Although all sources are focused on the pandemic, the policy trackers – and also related surveys on public attitudes and individual behavior – included in the Supertracker vary significantly in their country coverage, which also reflects differences in the organizations that produce them.

The large majority (82 out of 126, or about 65%) of the policy trackers included in the Oxford Supertracker (31 August 2020) have a global scope, though many of them do not systematically cover all UN recognized countries. Some report policy developments for a small subset of countries scattered around the globe – e.g. OECD or G20 countries (Table 1). Several trackers (about 15%) focus on particular world regions, most notably Africa, Asia and the European Union or Europe more generally. In addition, the Supertracker includes 25 national trackers (about 20%) from anglophone countries, namely Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and most often the United States (typically including data on US states). Note that there exist more trackers at national level, though the Supertracker includes English-language sources only.

Table 1: Regional Scope of Policy Trackers (31 August 2020, N=126) Table 1

The country coverage of different policy trackers is somewhat correlated with the type of organization that has produced them. International organizations tend to have the widest country coverage with UN international agencies typically providing the most comprehensive world-wide databases whereas OECD and EU agencies limit their country coverage to member states and associated countries. Among the producers (see Table 2), only a quarter of all policy trackers included in the Supertracker are international organizations. Instead, the largest share (more than one third) of policy trackers included in the Supertracker originate from academic institutions (including networks of scientists), these are often more selected in country coverage, more specialized in policy areas, and more oriented toward evidence-based indicators. The other providers, NGOs, think tanks and a few (sub)national agencies, provide very different types of trackers with very different geographical scopes. Finally, global companies leverage the rise of big data to produce trackers on significant behavioral aspects (e.g. mobility trackers) or information usage (e.g. Google search terms).

Table 2: Providers of Policy Trackers (31 August 2020, N=126) by Organizational Type Table 2

Bernhard Ebbinghaus