Numbers Games: Review of The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Z. Muller (2018)

Abstract

Jerry Z, Muller. 2018. The Tyranny of Metrics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press). 220 pp. ISBN 978-0-691-17495-2 (also available as an e-book). The historian Jerry Z. Muller argues that quantitative metrics to assess performance have spread throughout many institutions. This trend poses problems when people begin to game the numbers, to focus on achieving good scores rather than on meeting the institution’s goals.

Keywords

• accountability
• metrics
• numbers games