The politics of global statistical harmonization

Economic statistics play important roles in global and domestic governance. The kinds of statistics that are available, and the particular ways they are measured, shape actors’ perceptions and influence policies. The dissertation focuses on efforts by the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank to harmonize economic statistics around the world. The international statistical standards that they have created, like the System of National Accounts (SNA), sometimes clash with socioeconomic realities, especially within developing countries. The empirical chapters address three levels of harmonization: standard-setting, global diffusion, and domestic implementation. Given the degree to which statistical practices shape perceptions and policies, combined with the remarkable challenge of reducing so much diversity into shared global measurement standards, it is not clear why global harmonization efforts take the form that they do. These observations and concerns lead to the research question: What are the drivers of international harmonization of economic statistics? The dissertation sheds light on key actors and institutions in the governance of the international statistical system. It also aims to explain why the system takes the form that it does and how it has evolved over time. The dissertation is supported empirically by semi-structured expert interviews, archival research, official document analysis, participant-observation, and extensive literature reviews.