CASPP Week 2 - Country Rankings - League Tables - 2024 (1) - Tagged
CASPP Week 2 - Country Rankings - League Tables - 2024 (1) - Tagged
CASPP Week 2 - Country Rankings - League Tables - 2024 (1) - Tagged
Week 2
1
Country Rankings and League Table
:
Overview: Part 1
3
(1) Country scoring and
ranking – some
preliminaries
• country ‘scoring’ is essentially a descriptive (numerical)
form of cross-national comparison
• The UN, World Bank, OECD etc also offer some regional-level data websites.
5
… and indicators
poverty and inequality in rich countries (OECD [see also – Gini Index, World Bank]
https://data.oecd.org/inequality/poverty-rate.htm;
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
Source:
Eurostat
YUtoPOP YURATE
Example: conceptual definitions and
measurements
• conceptual issues
• sickness
• public administration
methodological issues (measurement)
• Sickness ratio = total no. of sickness days ÷ no. of annual
reference days x 100. But:
(i) head count or full-time equivalents (FTE)?
(ii) days per year: calendar or working days? 10
From: Hoffmann & Van Dooren, 2017
Finland x x x
Flanders x x x
Netherlands x not x x
education/
health
11
Hoffmann & Van Dooren, 2017
14
12
10
8 OECD
6 our results
12
(3) Construction of
rankings & league tables
See seminar readings for week 1 and 2 for further examples and
insight into these issues.
16
context: comparing across countries has
become more common in public policy….
• globalisation
• digitalisation
• political integration (global and regional)
• similar challenges and common crises (economic,
environmental, health)
e.g. post-2008 financial crisis, Covid-19, AI revolution, climate…
• trends of (intended) policy convergence?
17
Policymakers and
comparisons
• who uses comparisons?
Policymakers and wider (specialist) policy actors
18
Why do policy makers
compare?
1. problem-solving
‘puzzling’ (both rational and ideational)
2. legitimation-seeking
‘powering’ (strategic and interest-based)
> the political dimension of comparing
19
Problem-solving:
international league tables
and ‘best practice’