How do you gauge the accomplishments of policy and its failures? While a number of nations are successful in optimizing a socio-economic welfare function, others are woefully falling short of the optimal frontier. Diagnostics for a Globalized World proposes a reformulation of the inherited theory of economic and social policy (codified in the 1950s by Jan Tinbergen) to find a diagnostic tool in measuring the effectiveness of economic and social policy. Using a logarithmic adaptation of data envelopment analysis, the authors explain how to rank the attainment of nations of multidimensional goals such as those expressed by the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
