Gaming country rankings: Consultancies as knowledge brokers for global benchmarks
研究咨询公司如何作为知识经纪人，将世界银行等国际组织的全球基准（如营商环境排名）转化为发展中国家监管改革建议，并揭示其可能为维持自身需求而操纵排名。
Abstract This article explores how for‐profit consultancies mediate knowledge about global benchmarks in developing countries. Drawing on the case of the Ease of Doing Business rankings, published annually by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation between 2005 and 2019, it examines the role consultancies play as knowledge brokers connecting global benchmarks produced by intergovernmental organizations to regulatory reform programs undertaken by national public administrations. The article shows how consultancies contracted to implement business enabling environment projects by the United States Agency for International Development advised national policymakers on how to design reforms to improve their country's ranking status. Lending weight to criticisms that shifts in country rankings are misleading as an indicator of changes in regulatory quality, the findings suggest that consultancies have leveraged benchmarks to perpetuate demand for their own expertise rather than to improve the evidence base for aid allocation and the evaluation of development projects.