Simon Sällström
Sustainable Shared-Prosperity Policy Index
As climate change is endangering the prosperity of future generations and the fruits of economic growth is no longer widely shared, we need new ways to understand what our goals are. Simply pursuing economic growth was a simple and informative proxy for how well a country was doing. As countries grow richer, the policies they choose to pursue becomes increasingly important for the quality of life of its citizens rather than the aggregate wealth.
Measuring something is the first step of recognizing its importance. Thus, the purpose of the Sustainable Shared-Prosperity Policy Index (SSPI) is to gather high quality, objective and globally comparable data on various countries’ policies. With this database we rank countries by the degree to which their policy structure is in line with an idealized policy structure that represents an economic within which prosperity is both sustainable and shared among all citizens. This database allows us to employ an “input-output” framework where we can analyze the effects of various policy structure on various outcomes that we care about. For example, we can look at how the countries with highest SSPI fare in terms of subjective well-being, economic growth, innovation and other variables we see as important.
Message To Sponsor
I am very grateful for this opportunity to do what I love. Through this stipend, I am able to work on what I believe is a small step towards creating a better world. whilst providing me with invaluable experience that I will need to pursue an advanced degree.