In this first working paper the authorspresent and compare systems of indicators of regulatoryquality, analyzing their conceptual underpinnings, technicalproperties, and usage by governments, stakeholders andacademics. After having discussed the datasets and the typesof data available, they authors consider a set of criticalaspects related to the design, data gathering andutilization of indicators, providing suggestions forimprovement. The authors' major findings and proposalsare the following: systems of indicators have been developedad hoc, by organizations pursuing different objectives overtime and across the world. Conceptual underpinnings,modalities of data-gathering, and types of usage reflectdifferent operationalizations of regulatory quality. In theconstruction of regulatory indicator datasets, the firstessential step is to gauge the quality of data, in order toconstruct insightful and meaningful measurements. Especiallyin developing countries, the consideration of the quality ofdata is preliminary to any technical and statisticaldiscussion on how to treat data. Western governments tend touse single measures with the specific purpose of improvingmethods of regulatory analysis (through studies that analyzethe conduct of regulators). The authors have not foundsystematic attempts to measure how regulatory reform ischanging the attitudes towards regulation of regulators andpolicy officers who develop legislation. Aggregation shouldreflect basic technical rules, but more importantly, itshould be performed in a way that conveys messages to thosewho are supposed to make use of the composite measures. Toillustrate, if the goals of regulatory reform areinstitutionalization, economic growth, accountability,interaction with the stakeholders and communication,aggregation should be performed along these four dimensions,not in relation to abstract technical properties.
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