How data can help improve the state of the world

In particular, by providing a global information public good and drawing attention, year after year, to long-run determinants of growth and shared prosperity, these reports have a particularly positive influence on developing countries. If it weren't for them, it is unlikely that these issues would be on the public agenda. New sources of data and ways of learning from this data, such as big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence or satellite data, can certainly enrich these exercises. However, they cannot be substitutes but only complements. We definitely need the lense of theory, and the continued incorporation of new knowledge, to keep the indeces and benchmarking current and useful.