About Us

The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive, achievable, and tangible measure of human well-being and progress.

IEP achieves its goals by developing new conceptual frameworks to define peacefulness; providing metrics for measurement; uncovering the relationship between peace, business and prosperity, and by promoting a better understanding of the cultural, economic and political factors that drive peacefulness.

IEP has offices in Sydney, New York, and Washington, D.C. It works with a wide range of partners internationally and collaborates with intergovernmental organizations on measuring and communicating the economic value of peace.

Our Work

IEP is well known internationally for the Global Peace Index (GPI), now in its fifth year. The GPI ranks 153 nations according to states of peacefulness; it has raised significant awareness about the drivers and indicators of peace and has become a valued resource used by major organizations and governments around the world.

Since producing the first Global Peace Index in 2007, IEP has begun to develop a number of national or country-specific peace indices.

In April 2011 IEP released its first national peace index; the inaugural United States Peace Index (USPI). The USPI is the first in a series of national peace indices that will further our understanding of what types of environments are associated with peace and help to identify the positive economic impacts of increased levels of peacefulness at a regional rather than national level.

IEP also leads numerous other research and academic initiatives that will further advance society’s understanding of peace and its economic impact.

Why Economics and Peace?

Economic development, business and peace are interlinked. There is little doubt that peace creates more economic benefits to a society than violence or war. Peace is conducive to business and areas of minimal violence are attractive to business investors. At the same time, business can play a decisive role in building and strengthening global peace through job and wealth creation.

Yet the value of peace to the world economy is poorly understood.

There is little understanding of the impacts of peace on business. There have been few studies on how to calculate the impact of improved peacefulness on a company’s market, costs structure or profit.

The Institute for Economics and Peace was established to fill this gap.