Overview

Full Product Details

Author:   Jerry Z. Muller
Publisher:   Princeton University Press
Imprint:   Princeton University Press
Weight:   0.765kg
ISBN:  

9780691174952

ISBN 10:   0691174954
Pages:   240
Publication Date:   06 February 2018
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language:   English

Table of Contents

Introduction 1 I THE ARGUMENT 1 The Argument in a Nutshell 17 2 Recurring Flaws 23 II THE BACKGROUND 3 The Origins of Measuring and Paying for Performance 29 4 Why Metrics Became So Popular 39 5 Principals, Agents, and Motivation 49 6 Philosophical Critiques 59 III THE MISMEASURE OF ALL THINGS? Case Studies 7 Colleges and Universities 67 8 Schools 89 9 Medicine 103 10 Policing 125 11 The Military 131 12 Business and Finance 137 13 Philanthropy and Foreign Aid 153 EXCURSUS 14 When Transparency Is the Enemy of Performance: Politics, Diplomacy, Intelligence, and Marriage 159 IV CONCLUSIONS 15 Unintended but Predictable Negative Consequences 169 16 When and How to Use Metrics: A Checklist 175 Acknowledgments 185 Notes 189 Index 213

Reviews

For every quantification, there's a way of gaming it. So argues this timely manifesto against measured accountability. --Kirkus Reviews

Economic historian Jerry Muller delivers a riposte to bean counters everywhere with this trenchant study of our fixation with performance metrics. --Barbara Kiser, Nature Many of us have the vague sense that metrics are leading us astray, stripping away context, devaluing subtle human judgement, and rewarding those who know how to play the system. Muller's book crisply explains where this fashion came from, why it can be so counterproductive and why we don't learn. It should be required reading for any manager on the verge of making the Vietnam body count mistake all over again. --Tim Harford, Financial Times For every quantification, there's a way of gaming it. So argues this timely manifesto against measured accountability. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Jerry Z. Muller is the author of many books, including The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Modern European Thought (Knopf), Adam Smith in His Time and Ours (Princeton), and Capitalism and the Jews (Princeton). His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times Literary Supplement, and Foreign Affairs, among other publications. He is professor of history at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions