Jerry Muller on the Tyranny of Metrics

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2018

⏱️ 65 minutes

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Summary

Historian and author Jerry Muller of Catholic University talks about his latest book, The Tyranny of Metrics, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Muller argues that public policy and management are overly focused on measurable outcomes as a measure of success. This leads to organizations and agencies over-focusing on metrics rather than their broader mission. The conversation includes applications to education, crime, and health care.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.6	Our website is econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:17.6	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:20.6	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:24.8	back to 2006.
0:27.0	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:29.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.0	Today is March 20, 2018, and my guest is historian and author, Cherry Mueller.
0:38.8	He is professor of history at Catholic University.
0:41.7	His latest book is The Tyranny of Metrics, and that book is the subject of today's episode.
0:46.6	Cherry, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:48.6	Pleasure to be with you.
0:50.0	What is The Tyranny of Metrics?
0:53.7	The Tyranny of Metrics is a widespread pattern in contemporary organizational life that
1:03.6	runs across everything from business through medicine, through policing, through higher
1:10.9	education, K-12 education, and even philanthropy.
1:16.0	It's a pattern that I'd define as follows.
1:23.0	It's based on several beliefs which, taken on their own, sound plausible, but in combination
1:30.2	turn out to be counterproductive, or often counterproductive.
1:35.1	The first is the emphasis on standardized measurement, the notion that our judgment is
1:41.8	unreliable, experience, and talent don't really matter so much.
	...

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