Peace Industry

The Peace Industry is defined as comprising those industries that ‘Thrive in Peace’, i.e. businesses that see their markets expand and their costs diminish as levels of violence decrease and peacefulness increases.

The term was first used at the launch of the 2008 edition of the Global Peace Index in an effort to underpin the study of the interrelationship between economics, business and peace. By defining the peace industry, the size of the economy that directly benefits from improved peacefulness, can be quantified. Through creating a new beneficial association between profits and peace, industries will also be able to develop new alliances that work in their common interest.

To illustrate just some of the industries that would belong to the [http://www.visionofhumanity.org/business-peace/overview.php Peace Industry] the following have been selected: insurance, retail, commercial aviation, financial services and tourism.

One of the key findings of The Global Peace Index [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-30-2007/0004598231] [http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9266967] - the first study ever to rank the nations of the world by their peacefulness and to identify the key drivers of peace - is that there is a strong relationship between peace and national wealth. This was established by the Economist Intelligence Unit whose analysts found that a strong correlation exists between per capita income and the rankings of the 2007 and 2008 Global Peace Index. Further study carried out by the [http://www.strategicforesight.com Strategic Foresight Group] found that the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report and the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index also showed a strong correlation with the Global Peace Index.

In defining the Peace Industry, Steve Killelea, Founder of the Global Peace Index and the [http://www.visionofhumanity.org//peace-initiatives/4/institute-for-economics-and-peace/ Institute for Economics and Peace] , noted that “while it seems intuitive that peace creates more economic benefits to a society than violence or war and it is evident that businesses wish to invest in areas where there is minimal violence, the value of peace to the world economy is poorly understood. Business needs metrics that will help it to measure the potential changes that occur in the size of their markets and reduction in their costs through increased peacefulness”.

Initial groundbreaking research carried out by the Institute for Economics and Peace indicates that there is a strong relationship between a nation’s ranking in peacefulness and the size of a nation’s retail sector, stock markets, health industry and tourism industry and that changes in peacefulness can be used to calculate changes in market sizes. These studies may form the basis of a new academic discipline around economics and peace [http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42492] .

External links

* [http://www.visionofhumanity.org Global Peace Index website]
* [http://www.visionofhumanity.org/business-peace/overview.php Study of the Peace Industry]
* [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c3f08d7e-2608-11dd-b510-000077b07658.html Financial Times article]
* [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-30-2007/0004598231 Global Peace Index article on PR Newswire]
* [http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9266967 Global Peace Index article on The Economist]

References

*Stewart, Frances and Fitzgerald, Valpy and associates, "War and Underdevelopment; Volume 1, The Economic and Social Consequences of Conflict" Oxfor University Press, 2001
*Clive Granger,"The Economics of Peace", Discussion Paper, 2004
*http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42492