Many of the prominent challenges of the 21st century – including the rise of populism, growing nationalism, a backlash against globalization and multilateralism – arise from a decoupling of economic prosperity and social prosperity. While GDP per capita - our conventional measure of economic prosperity - has grown reasonably steadily over the past four decades, this growth does not appear to have been matched by a steadily rising sense of social prosperity, in terms of rising wellbeing within thriving societies. Nor has this economic growth been environmentally sustainable, with further adverse repercussions on social prosperity. The persistence of national, ethnic and religious conflicts around the world, combined with rising dissatisfaction among large population groups that feel “left behind” in both the developed and developing countries, attests to the sense of alienation and disempowerment driving such decoupling of economic prosperity from social prosperity. Tackling the major challenges of our times will involve confronting the paradox of growing economic activity in an integrated global economy, accompanied by ongoing tensions arising from fragmented societies and polities.
The SAGE dashboard aims to provide measures relevant for the analysis of such phenomena. “SAGE” stands for Solidarity (the set of psycho-social mechanisms that creates and maintains pro-social group-level functional organization), Agency (the exercise of one’s ability to individually or collectively make and enact decisions through one’s effort that are beneficial for life), Gain (GDP per capita) and Environmental connectedness (the responsible use, protection, and regeneration of the natural environment, aimed at promoting and preserving the health and stability of ecosystems). Measures of S, A, G and E have been compiled for over 100 countries for nearly two decades. Analogous measures are being constructed to measure business performance.
These measures adhere to the following principles:
- the measures of economic prosperity should be consistent across countries, enabling cross-country comparisons in the economic, social and environmental dimensions;
- the measures of business prosperity should be consistent across companies in these dimensions, enabling comparisons of business and investor performance across these dimensions; and
- the measures of economic and business prosperity should be consistent with one another, enabling a meaningful collaboration between government policy, business strategy and institutional investors within a systemic framework serving the needs and purposes of people, now and in the future.