The Political Economy of Statistical Capacity: A Theoretical Approach

Author
Taylor, Matthew
Date issued
Aug 2016
The development of statistical systems facilitates development. Such development is usually associated with the rise in statistical capacity, a concept on which there is still no consensus. This paper explores a theoretical approach to statistical capacity from the conceptual standpoint of state capacity and methods proposed recently in the literature to measure it. In the proposed theoretical approach, the paper proposes a transmission mechanism that goes from statistical capacity to strengthening the capacity of the state, and vice versa. The paper further discusses political-economy factors that may influence the strengthening or weakening of statistical capacity.