Is the world becoming more peaceful? Or less? How would we know if it was? In an effort to measure peace, entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Killelea founded the Institute for Economics and Peace, a nonprofit global research institute that measures peace levels around the world.

The Institute created the conceptual framework for “positive peace,” which describes the attitudes, structures and institutions that underpin and sustain peaceful societies. Hint: Peace includes more than just an absence of violence. The Institute’s work now informs influential institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank.

In the first half of this episode, Steve describes the difference between “positive peace” and “negative peace,” plus how the Institute developed the framework for positive peace. In the second half, Steve and Branden share good news from data the Institute has collected.