ABSTRACT
The ways of producing indicators range from expert-led technical exercises to highly participatory multi-stakeholder processes. Indicators contribute to characterizing the current situations and framings, conceptualizing problems, constructing future scenarios, identifying and shaping policy solutions, and assessing, comparing and justifying potential policy options. This chapter focuses on such diversity of indicators and their roles both in formal policymaking and in the numerous informal venues that shape policy decisions and their context. It examines their role at various stages of the policy cycle, and surveys the concerns over the scarce use and frequent misuse of indicators. The chapter then explores the literature on the indirect consequences of indicators, and discusses the role of indicators in policy instrument mixes. It finally presents challenges for future indicator work in an era of big data and declining trust in the authority of expertise.
