The Power of Global Performance Indicators

Global performance indicators (GPIs), such as ratings and rankings, permeate nearly every type of human activity, internationally and nationally, across public and private spheres. While some indicators aim to attract media readership or brand the creator's organization, others increasingly seek to influence political practices and policies. The Power of Global Performance Indicators goes beyond the basic questions of methodological validity explored by others to launch a fresh debate about power in the modern age, exploring the ultimate questions concerning real-world consequences of GPIs, both intended and unintended. From business regulation to terrorism, education to foreign aid, Kelley and Simmons demonstrate how GPIs provoke bureaucracies, shape policy agendas, and influence outputs through their influence of third parties such as donors and market actors and, potentially, even broader global authority structures.

1. Introduction: the power of global indicators Judith Kelley and Beth Simmons; Part I. Ratings, Rankings and Regulatory Behavior: 2. The power of ranking: the ease of doing business and global regulatory behavior Rush Doshi, Judith Kelley and Beth Simmons; 3. Blacklists, market enforcement, and the global regime to combat terrorist financing Julia C. Morse; 4. Power of indicators in global development policy: the millennium development goals Helena Hede Skagerlind; Part II. The Normative Influence of Ratings and Rankings: 5. A race to the top? The aid transparency index and the normative power of global performance indicators Dan Honig and Catherine Weaver; 6. International assessments and education policy: evidence from an elite survey Rie Kijima and Phillip Y. Lipscy; 7. Reporting matters: performance indicators and compliance in the ILO Faradj Koliev, Thomas Sommerer and Jonas Tallberg; 8. Freedom House's scarlet letter: assessment power through transnational pressure Jordan Roberts and Juan Tellez; Part III. Beyond and Within State: Influences and Impacts on Non-state Actors: 9. Can blacklisting reduce terrorist attacks? The case of the US Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) List Hyeran Jo, Brian Phillips and Joshua Alley; 10. Assessing international organizations: competition, collaboration, and politics of funding Ranjit Lall; Part IV. Skeptical Voices: Null Results, Unintended Consequences: 11. Third party policymakers and the limits of the influence of indicators Melissa M. Lee and Aila M. Matanock; 12. The millennium development goals and education: accountability and substitution in global performance indicators James H. Bisbee, James R. Hollyer, B. Peter Rosendorff and James Raymond Vreeland; 13. Conclusion: global performance indicators: themes, findings and an agenda for research Judith Kelley and Beth Simmons.

Judith Kelley is a Professor and Dean of the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, North Carolina. She is the author of Scorecard Diplomacy: Grading States to Influence their Reputation and Behavior (Cambridge, 2017), and Monitoring Democracy: When International Election Observation Works and Why It Often Fails (2012), winner of the Chadwick F. Alger Prize.
Beth Simmons is a Professor of Law, Political Science and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics (2009), recognized by the American Society for International Law, among others, as the best book of 2010.