ABSTRACT
Institutionalization may be a prerequisite for an effective indicator but it is a double-edged sword. It is possible for unsatisfactory concepts, methods, and uses to become permanent. Just as the creation of norms and institutions takes time and resources, so does their evolution or replacement. Although there is no single path for institutionalizing measures for public decisions, there are some factors which contribute. Existence of one or two features implies a weakly institutionalized measure, and of all of them implies a strongly institutionalized one. The key event was the passage of the 1946 Employment Act, which represented a public commitment for the first time to the objective of high employment. The legislation clearly made the indicator a criterion of the policy’s success and set up a situation in which policy-makers would have opportunity, competence, and incentive to use the measure.
