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<h1 class="ep_tm_pagetitle">Comparing economic performance in the presence of diversity</h1>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><span class="person_name">Smith, Keith</span> (2001) <xhtml:em>Comparing economic performance in the presence of diversity.</xhtml:em> Science and Public Policy, 28 (4). pp. 267-276. ISSN 0302-3427</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"></p><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><tr><td valign="top" style="text-align:center"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/1408/1/Comparing_economic_performance.pdf"><img alt="[img]" src="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png" class="ep_doc_icon" border="0" /></a></td><td valign="top"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/1408/1/Comparing_economic_performance.pdf"><span class="ep_document_citation">PDF</span></a> - Full text restricted - Requires a PDF viewer<br />1032Kb</td></tr></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block">Official URL: <a href="http://www.scipol.demon.co.uk/spp.htm">http://www.scipol.demon.co.uk/spp.htm</a></p><div class="not_ep_block"><h2>Abstract</h2><p style="padding-bottom: 16px; text-align: left; margin: 1em auto 0em auto">International performance comparisons are very attractive to policy-makers, with good reason. In the absence of any practical criteria for judging optimal performance, cross-country comparisons offer one of the few ways in which policy-makers can assess performance outcomes of policy measures and economic processes. This paper explores some dimensions and implications of diversity for inter-country comparisons. There are serious difficulties in formulating hypotheses free of unwarranted assumptions, in interpreting cross-country indicators, and in comparing countries through official statistics. Comparisons can be useful and productive, but need to take heterogeneity into account, using interpretative care to distinguish between real differences and statistical or indicator artefacts.</p></div><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" cellpadding="3" class="not_ep_block" border="0"><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Item Type:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">Article</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Keywords:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">inter-country comparisons; policy formation; innovation performance; international benchmarking; innovation theory</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Subjects:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/360201.html">360000 Policy and Political Science > 360200 Policy and Administration > 360201 Public Policy</a><br /><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/340213.html">340000 Economics > 340200 Applied Economics > 340213 Economic Development and Growth</a><br /><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/360203.html">360000 Policy and Political Science > 360200 Policy and Administration > 360203 Research, Science and Technology Policy</a><br /><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/350211.html">350000 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services > 350200 Business and Management > 350211 Innovation and Technology Management</a></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ID Code:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">1408</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited By:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><span class="ep_name_citation"><span class="person_name">Miss Alexandra Lejda</span></span></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited On:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">10 Sep 2007</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Last Modified:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">09 Jan 2008 02:30</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ePrint Statistics:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a target="ePrintStats" href="/es/index.php?action=show_detail_eprint;id=1408;">View statistics for this ePrint</a></td></tr></table><p align="right">Repository Staff Only: <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/users/home?screen=EPrint::View&eprintid=1408">item control page</a></p>
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