In order to support the global distribution of knowledge and enhance the potency of their ideas, international organisations like the World Bank and UNDP employ indicators and other instruments that seem objective and easily accessible in any given context. In the two related fields of poverty and global inequality, both organisations have developed various quantifiable indicators and measures to assess problems and indicate solutions. Beyond producing certain kinds of knowledge in the global sphere, the creation of ever new indicators can be understood as practices of the self-generation of organisations that ensure both the competence of the organisation for a specific policy field and its mandate to offer solutions.
In a textual analysis of poverty and inequality indicators, the paper traces the various re-contextualisations of poverty and inequality indicators in the discourse of the World Bank and UND, aiming to identify the ambiguous effects of and rationales for employing indicators.
