THE PEACE DIVIDEND IS MASSIVE:

DW: How much does war and armed violence cost per year?

Talia Hagerty: We've quantified the economic impact of violence on the global economy. What we found is that in 2016, the direct and indirect costs of violence amounted to about $14.3 trillion (12.2 trillion euros) in purchasing power parity (PPP), including multiplier effects.

This number includes not only the costs of war, but also of other forms of violence, like terrorism, homicides and violent crimes.  [...]

These national economies you've mentioned prosper in a context of globalized trade. The economic impact of violence on the global economy far exceeds that of the 2008 global financial crisis, for example.

So if we want to have prosperous nations in a globalized world, that means we have to measure every country's economy and look at the total picture -- not just measure the prosperity of single nations or individual sectors, like weapons-manufacturing companies. [...]

And in fact, those advancements actually came about because of high levels of positive peace, not in spite of them.

Positive peace? What's that?

Positive peace is the attitudes, institutions and structures that sustain internally peaceful societies and create optimal environments for human potential to flourish.

We've identified eight major factors that are statistically associated with the absence of violence and high levels of internal peace within a country.

1.  Well-functioning government

2.  Equitable distribution of resources

3.  Free flow of information

4.  Good relations with neighbors

5.  High levels of human capital which increases life expectancy and increases literacy

6.  Acceptance of the rights of others

7.  Low levels of corruption

8.  Sound business environment

What these reduce to is a combination of factors that contribute to basic human security, productive diversity, and fairness. By productive diversity, I mean we're not "tolerating" diversity, we're embracing it, and engaging it to bring together diverse perspectives and generate productive outcomes.

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