Source · Seed idea · last reconsidered September 8, 2026
'Improving ratings': audit in the British University system
The paper on university audit that contains the sentence usually quoted as Goodhart's law.
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Strathern, Marilyn. "'Improving ratings': audit in the British University system." European Review 5, no. 3 (1997): 305–321.
Paper · European Review · 1997
Interpretation
The much-quoted line — when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure — appears here, glossed by Strathern as a version of Goodhart's law. It is routinely attributed to Goodhart himself, whose own 1975 formulation was narrower and about monetary policy.
Provenance
is the origin of
- A measure that becomes a target stops measuringClaim
Where the sentence appears.
related to
- Marilyn StrathernPerson
Strathern is the paper's author.