Mashup Indices of Development

Ravallion, Martin

关键词: ACCOUNTABILITY;    ADMINISTRATION;    AGGREGATING GOVERNANCE INDICATORS;    AGGREGATION METHOD;    AGRICULTURE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5432
RP-ID  :  WPS5432

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Countries are increasingly being rankedby some new "mashup index of development," definedas a composite index for which existing theory and practiceprovides little or no guidance to its design. Thus the indexhas an unusually large number of moving parts, which theproducer is essentially free to set. The parsimony of theseindices is often appealing -- collapsing multiple dimensionsinto just one, yielding unambiguous country rankings, andpossibly reducing concerns about measurement errors in thecomponent series. But the meaning, interpretation androbustness of these indices are often unclear. If they areto be properly understood and used, more attention needs tobe given to their conceptual foundations, the tradeoffs theyembody, the contextual factors relevant to countryperformance, and the sensitivity of the implied rankings tochanging the data and weights. In short, clearer warningsigns are needed for users. But even then, nagging doubtsremain about the value-added of mashup indices, and theirpolicy relevance, relative to the "dashboard"alternative of monitoring the components separately. Futureprogress in devising useful new composite indices ofdevelopment will require that theory catches up withmeasurement practice.