The Institute for Economics and Peace published the Global Peace Index yesterday.
The country most at peace, Iceland, topped the list in the number one(1) spot with Denmark a close second(2), Canada placed eleventh(11), the US placed Ninety-Seventh(97), Israel came in One Hundred and Thirty Sixth(136) and Iraq is last at One Hundred and Forty(140).
If you would like to examine the entire list, the Global Peace Index can be found at http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/home.php
For someone like me this was a wondrous place to examine and explore. It certainly speaks to my belief that the story of peace hasn't had enough supporters throughout history to create an environment where it prevails. For too long war has had the upper hand in the story of human behavior, but now, the economics of peaceful countries and their success has a voice.
A peaceful country creates incentive to invest. Countries with firm legal systems and an investment in the rule of law have stronger and more robust economies. War brings economic uncertainty and hence enhances investment risk causing capital flight (ie the investment dollars go somewhere more stable).
One of the primary individuals, Steve Killelea, at the Institute can be found expounding upon their economic discoveries concerning peaceful countries in a ten minute video.
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/news/40/video-press-conference-steve-killelea/
He is just one of many devoted humans that adds to the attributes of peaceful behavior over violent behavior.
"The study determined that there is a strong relationship between peace, business and national wealth. Initial research indicates there is a strong relationship between a nation's ranking in peacefulness and the size of its retail sector, stock market and tourism industry. A negative change in peacefulness can be used to calculate changes in market sizes."
The study has found that generally the more peaceful a nation the greater its per capita income and while most business entities don't want to operate in a violent environment, these same business can be more efficient and productive under peaceful conditions, creating more wealth.
The complete discussion of some of the aspects of the study can be found at:
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/images/content/Documents/2008%20GPi%20Discussion%20Paper.pdf
i think peace is a requirement for the furtherance of the human population in the future and it looks like the ability to create wealth and a prosperous life style may also be affected by peaceful conditions.
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