The tyranny of international index rankings

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Development Economics
Year: 2012
Volume: 97
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-14

Authors (3)

Høyland, Bjørn (not in RePEc) Moene, Karl (Universitetet i Oslo) Willumsen, Fredrik (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

International index rankings are popular, but perhaps too persuasive. They emphasize country differences where similarity is the dominant feature. Rankings based on Doing Business, the Human Development Index and Freedom House can be misleading, not because of wrong indicators, but because the estimation of the scores ignores inherent uncertainty. Re-estimated with a method that captures this uncertainty, it becomes clear that ranking every adjacent country is a rather courageous activity.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:deveco:v:97:y:2012:i:1:p:1-14
Journal Field
Development
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-26