WASHINGTON, DC – “In an increasingly performance-oriented society, metrics matter. What we measure affects what we do,” argued the 2008 report of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance. “If we have the wrong metrics, we will strive for the wrong things.”

The Commission was challenging the primacy of GDP as the metric of development. But the same observation applies to corruption, which is conventionally – and misleadingly – measured as a one-dimensional problem.

Global corruption indices, including Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and the World Bank’s Control of Corruption Index, assign a single score to countries. These metrics consistently show that rich countries are “very clean” while poor countries are “highly corrupt.” For example, the 2023 CPI ranks the United Kingdom (scoring 71) as the world’s 20th least corrupt country, much cleaner than China (42) and Brazil (36). Most CPI users, including media outlets, companies, and analysts, interpret these numbers as a fact.

QOSHE - Mismeasuring Corruption Lets Rich Countries Off the Hook - Yuen Yuen Ang
menu_open
Columnists Actual . Favourites . Archive
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close
Aa Aa Aa
- A +

Mismeasuring Corruption Lets Rich Countries Off the Hook

36 10
22.03.2024

WASHINGTON, DC – “In an increasingly performance-oriented society, metrics matter. What we measure affects what we do,” argued the 2008 report of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance. “If we have the wrong metrics, we will strive for the........

© Project Syndicate


Get it on Google Play