A rich Sudanese businessman living in London hires an American professor to come up with an index to rank African governments for things like corruption, vaccine coverage, crime rates and armed conflict. They do it for two years. This would cement both their reputations. People love rankings and information that is organized; that comes ordered. The rich guy is assured of lots of good publicity. He looks like he cares about more than just his astronomical profits. The academic will make a big reputation. Then the rich guy decides he does not need the American anymore. He’d rather hire African researchers (“Why should an American gentleman sitting in Boston have editorial control? That is unacceptable”). The rich guy is a pan-Africanist now. The American academic is upset, splits off and brings out his own rankings. The rankings are launched on the same day, and the two rankings–give and take a few things–are almost identical.
Oh yes the rankings?
What do they look like. If you still want to see them. Here and here they are.
