Mashup Indices of Development
Countries are increasingly being ranked by some new "mashup index of development," defined as a composite index for which existing theory and practice provides little or no guidance to its design. Thus the index has an unusually large num...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110225103756 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4001 |
| Summary: | Countries are increasingly being ranked
by some new "mashup index of development," defined
as a composite index for which existing theory and practice
provides little or no guidance to its design. Thus the index
has an unusually large number of moving parts, which the
producer is essentially free to set. The parsimony of these
indices is often appealing -- collapsing multiple dimensions
into just one, yielding unambiguous country rankings, and
possibly reducing concerns about measurement errors in the
component series. But the meaning, interpretation and
robustness of these indices are often unclear. If they are
to be properly understood and used, more attention needs to
be given to their conceptual foundations, the tradeoffs they
embody, the contextual factors relevant to country
performance, and the sensitivity of the implied rankings to
changing the data and weights. In short, clearer warning
signs are needed for users. But even then, nagging doubts
remain about the value-added of mashup indices, and their
policy relevance, relative to the "dashboard"
alternative of monitoring the components separately. Future
progress in devising useful new composite indices of
development will require that theory catches up with
measurement practice. |
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