determiner

It’s the key determiner of living standards: Wages go up as productivity improves.

He said the Official World Golf Ranking was a “legitimate determiner” of the best in golf, bad news for a rival league that does not get world ranking points.

Ridley said the Official Golf World Rankings are "a legitimate determiner of who the best players in the game are" and because the Masters is an invitational event they can "adjust as necessary".

If you think what's the number one determiner of your income level – it's your parents' income level, right?

But ultimately, Waldron said, the major determiner is “winning. … Every situation that they are in, are they winning that moment?”