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Social stability - captured in measures of human rights, public services, rule of law and the like - is a powerful predictor of a nation’s quality of life. This holds true in countries regardless of geographic region, political tradition or level of development.
Now we find that social stability is also a powerful predictor of economic prosperity. A new analysis reveals that social stability has an extremely strong correlation with global competitiveness and ease of doing business - both of which bode well for domestic and international investment.
The good news is we have almost all the tools we need to boost social stability in any given country: targets, like the 169 enumerated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; hundreds of related indicators; increasingly reliable reporting; and a pool of hundreds of billions of dollars in international aid, international development and social impact investing. Bretton Woods II is projected to significantly enlarge that pool.
If we want that money to be spent most effectively, we need a prioritization strategy. To systematically improve social stability - and with it, economic health and viability - in any given country, we first need to determine how best to sequence our investments and interventions.
The article's full-text is available here.
