How Numbers Rule the World: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in Global Politics

ISBN-13: 9781780322681 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 280 str.

Lorenzo Fioramonti

Opis

Numbers dominate global politics and as a result our everyday lives. Credit ratings steer financial markets and can make or break the future of entire nations. GDP drives our economies. Stock market indices flood our media and national debates. Statistical calculations define how we deal with climate change, poverty and sustainability. But what is behind these numbers? By what processes are they created? In How Numbers Rule the World Lorenzo Fioramonti reveals the hidden agendas underpinning the use of statistics and those who control them. Most worryingly, he shows how numbers have been used as a means to reinforce the grip of markets on our social and political life, curtailing public participation and rational debate.
An innovative and timely expose of the politics, power and contestation of numbers.

Spis treści

Introduction: The politics of statistics 1. The power of numbers 2. New global rulers: the untameable power of credit rating 3. Fiddling while the planet burns: the marketization of climate change 4. Measuring the unmeasurable: the financialization of nature 5. Numbers for good? The quest for aid effectiveness and social impact Conclusion: Rethinking numbers, rethinking governance