Friday, March 14, 2014: 9:00 AM-10:45 AM
Palladian (Omni Shoreham)
In the last decades, measuring, comparing and ranking socio-economic policies on the basis of standardized indicators has become ubiquitous in European and international governance. This session focuses on the processes through which different national systems – pension systems, labor markets, unemployment insurance programs, etc. - are quantified and made formally comparable. Until now, little research has been devoted to the implications of the increasing use of standardized indicators and rankings. Most comparative studies proceed on the assumption of comparability; they interpret standardized social indicators as more or less accurate representations of different social institutions or countries, without extensively delving into the conditions of their production. The papers in this session focus on the process of ‘commensuration’, i.e. condensing information about complex institutional systems into single, standardized indicators and investigate the consequences for cross-national policy comparisons. How do the assumptions that flow into the construction of standardized indicators and rankings influence the kind of knowledge they provide? To what extent do European and international indicators measure the same thing in qualitatively different systems and countries?
Organizers:
Hans Peeters
and
Gert Verschraegen
Chair:
Gert Verschraegen
See more of: Session Proposals
