The Role of International Organizations in the Production of Legal Metrics
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Description
In September 2021, the World Bank announced that it was discontinuing production of the Doing Business report, a well-known compilation of worldwide data on business regulations and their enforcement. The terse statement that announced the decision began with the sentence: “Trust in the research of the World Bank Group is vital”. It went on to explain that the Doing Business report was being discontinued because the Bank’s leaders had uncovered instances in which Doing Business data and the process that produced them could not be trusted. The statement explained that after irregularities in published data came to light, the Bank initiated a series of reviews, audits, and investigations which revealed that senior Bank staff had altered data in the report without following proper procedures in order to please powerful member countries that had financial dealings with the Bank. The investigation tarnished the reputation of the Bank and the individuals involved. This remarkable series of events raises the question of whether the World Bank should ever have been trusted to produce the Doing Business report. It also raises the broader question of the extent to which any international organizations ought to be involved in the production of measures of the performance of legal institutions (‘legal metrics’). As we shall see, a variety of actors produce these kinds of performance measures, including private and domestic actors. It is not immediately obvious whether it is necessary or appropriate for international organizations to add themselves to the list of producers of legal metrics. This question becomes urgent when we consider both the potential value of legal metrics and the power that their producers can wield. The first three sections of this chapter examine in turn how legal metrics are produced, the reasons why they might be valuable, and the power that producers of legal metrics wield. Section 4 considers whether it is efficient for international organizations to produce legal metrics. Section 5 discusses whether it is legitimate for them to play such a role. Section 6 briefly discusses the special challenges posed by metrics that qualify as ‘indicators’. Section 7 suggests that the World Bank’s experience producing the Doing Business report illustrates both the opportunities and risks associated with producing legal metrics. The final section concludes.
Source Publication
Comparative Legal Metrics: Quantification of Performance as a Regulatory Technique
Source Editors/Authors
Mauro Bussani, Sabino Cassese, Marta Infantino
Publication Date
2023
Recommended Citation
Davis, Kevin E., "The Role of International Organizations in the Production of Legal Metrics" (2023). Faculty Chapters. 290.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/290
