UN Countries Research Articles

The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the dynamics of well‐being

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a detailed dashboard of goals and targets agreed to by all 193 UN member countries. The 17 SDGs and associated 169 targets represent a global consensus, years in the making. They are an important step in the transition to a sustainable world because they open the door for much needed additional work. To achieve the SDGs, policy makers, scientists, and practitioners will have to clarify how the goals and targets interconnect, including trade-offs and synergies, and develop three additional elements: (1) an aggregation of metrics of human and ecosystem well-being, (2) dynamic models of the integrated system of humans and the natural world, and (3) innovative ways to build broad public consensus on the future we want – the details of a world in which the SDGs have been implemented. We need aggregate metrics of human and ecosystem well-being to replace growth in gross domestic product (GDP) as the primary development goal for nations (http://thesolutionsjournal.com/node/237220). One could argue that aggregating targets for the individual SDGs is not necessary (or possible) and that the pursuit of the individual goals is sufficient to achieve sustainable development. This might be true if the goals were independent of each other and they all contributed to the overarching objective equally. In reality, however, there are multiple interconnections and clear trade-offs and synergies across and within the goals, especially in how the environmental, social, and economic goals and targets interact. For example, the recent single-minded focus on GDP growth has exacerbated inequality and environmental damage in many countries. If one takes these elements into account, as the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) does, then there arguably has been no net progress globally for decades (Kubiszewski et al. 2013; Ecol Econ 93: 57–68). Increasing income inequality, environmental damage, and other costs can cancel out positive gains from GDP growth. The new metrics should therefore incorporate insights from ecology and psychology to describe how natural, social, human, and built capital assets interact to contribute to sustainable well-being, based on the idea that the best system is one that achieves the overarching goal of a world that is simultaneously prosperous, equitably shared, and ecologically sustainable. There is compelling new research relating ecosystem services and natural and social capital to human well-being, which can be integrated with GPI to produce an expanded version that connects more directly with the SDGs. Nevertheless, this will not be enough on its own. GDP has been successful in part because it is linked to the overall System of National Accounts (SNA), which is based on a static, linear, input–output model of the market economy. Although this approach was the best available when the SNA and GDP were developed in the 1930s and 1940s, we now know more about how complex, dynamic systems involving interacting human and natural systems function. Accordingly, we need to replace the static, linear model with more dynamic, integrated, natural and human system models that incorporate the dynamics of stocks, flows, trade-offs, and synergies among the full range of variables that affect the SDGs and human and ecosystem well-being. Finally, we need to explore and develop innovative methods to build broad consensus around the characteristics of desirable futures – the kind of world that would result if all the SDGs were achieved. This can be accomplished through the integration of scenario-planning exercises, extended to include public opinion surveys, with the metrics and modelling mentioned above. Scenario planning has been used successfully in a range of contexts. However, it can be extended to survey the public about which alternative futures they prefer (Costanza et al. 2015; J Futures Studies 19: 49–76). We also require better methods to communicate the complex trade-offs that each future scenario entails, including videos, movies, virtual reality, and other methods to fully engage people in understanding alternative futures and building consensus on the future that we want. The SDGs represent a major potential turning point in the future of humanity. For the first time in recorded history we have a set of goals and targets agreed upon by all UN countries, which include the full range of factors that contribute to equitable and sustainable well-being. We must not squander this opportunity to change the trajectory of humanity toward a more sustainable future.

Estimating the Effect of Maternal and Child Health Outcomes to GDP per Capita

Background: Using panel data from 1960 to 2013 of 193 UN countries, this paper explored the effect of maternal and child health outcomes specific to GDP per capita. Objective: To explore the effect of MDG 4 and 5 to per capita GDP of UN countries.Methods: Data gathered from World Bank were averaged from 1960 to 2013 and was normalized using lagged logarithmic form to fit in the parameters required to run multiple linear regression. Results: The combination of variables indicating maternal and child health outcomes significantly predicted the effect to GDP per capita at 99% (pConclusion: Utilizing the empirical model, the maternal and child health outcomes have a minimum effect of 2.32% to 4.81% to GDP per capita.

Google matrix analysis of the multiproduct world trade network

Using the United Nations COMTRADE database \cite{comtrade} we construct the Google matrix $G$ of multiproduct world trade between the UN countries and analyze the properties of trade flows on this network for years 1962 - 2010. This construction, based on Markov chains, treats all countries on equal democratic grounds independently of their richness and at the same time it considers the contributions of trade products proportionally to their trade volume. We consider the trade with 61 products for up to 227 countries. The obtained results show that the trade contribution of products is asymmetric: some of them are export oriented while others are import oriented even if the ranking by their trade volume is symmetric in respect to export and import after averaging over all world countries. The construction of the Google matrix allows to investigate the sensitivity of trade balance in respect to price variations of products, e.g. petroleum and gas, taking into account the world connectivity of trade links. The trade balance based on PageRank and CheiRank probabilities highlights the leading role of China and other BRICS countries in the world trade in recent years. We also show that the eigenstates of $G$ with large eigenvalues select specific trade communities.

Filling a critical gap: measuring work policies that affect families globally

Work is a central element in most people's lives, and its adequacy and value cannot be measured by simple figures showing how many people have gained or lost jobs. Current measures of decent work are more comprehensive in terms of what matters to individuals, but deficient in their coverage of work policies that matter to families. In this article, we argue the importance and feasibility of measuring policies and laws that shape work quality, and in particular those that shape how work affects families on a global basis. We make the case that this policy area is especially critical under changing social conditions, and propose a manageable and feasible set of indicators permitting an assessment of the extent to which national labor policies facilitate the ability of working adults to meet the requirements of their jobs as well as the needs of their families. Methods are described and findings mapped for all UN countries in key areas including maternal leave, paternal leave, leave to care for children's health, leave to care for adult family members, and leave to meet other family needs.

Iranian Oil Embargo: Game with Different Scenarios

The EU imposed an embargo on Iranian oil on 23 January, 2012 that will come into full force in July, preventing the members from importing Iranian oil. The embargo was enforced by the UN, EU, USA and other countries in the wake of Western pressure policies. This multiplies sanctions imposed on Iran since 1979. Evidence so far suggests that the previous sanctions worldwide and those imposed on Iran have failed to achieve the expected results. Proposing different scenarios, the study investigates possible consequences of Iranian oil embargo on Iran’s economy and that of world. The results reveal that Iranian oil embargo only leads to an increase in crude oil prices and thus, in effect, is a failed policy of the West.

Health disparities between Muslim and non-Muslim countries

We examined differences in health indicators and associated factors across countries according to the proportion of the population who are Muslim. Of 190 UN countries, 48 were classified as Muslim-majority countries (MMC) and 142 as non-MMC. Data on 41 potential determinants of health were obtained from 10 different data sources, and 4 primary outcome measures (male and female life expectancy, maternal mortality ratio and infant mortality rate) were analysed. Annual per capita expenditure on health in MMC was one-fifth that of non-MMC. Maternal mortality and infant mortality rates were twice as high in MMC as non-MMC. Adult literacy rate was significantly higher for non-MMC. Four significant predictors explained 52%-72% of the differences in health outcomes between the 2 groups: gross national income, literacy rate, access to clean water and level of corruption.

Bridging a Sea: Human Rights and Supranational Limits to Tax Law

Human rights have demonstrated an ever increasing importance amongst the various limitations to taxing powers of the sovereign States. Under a purely legal point of view, however, the concept of Human rights and their extension blurs, depending on the Treaty mentioned, the agreement concluded, and even on the territorial or social context they're applied (or should be applied) in. Being this research focused on the Mediterranean experience, Human rights should be intended as a sort of bill of fundamental rights and freedoms attributed to the taxpayer, both during the procedure of the tax reassessment and during the tax application. In this respect, the following paper shall be focused on the bill of rights, which have potentially an influence both on European and on Middle East countries in an attempt, provocative as the title is, to set a bridge across the Mediterranean sea. More to the point, the attention shall be given to the International Covenant on Human rights signed by the UN Countries and, only in a second stage to the European Convention on Human rights that, even if it is applicable to European countries, nonetheless is extended to all the countries participating the Council of Europe and therefore to the EU only. The results discovered differ. Under a UN perspective a number of cases involving the Covenants was recorded, but in non of them the taxpayer was successful in his defense. Nonetheless their study and their application is important insofar the Human Rights Committee (HRC a sort of Judge of the rights) implicitly admitted that taxation must be consistent with non discrimination, protection of family life, etc. It could be argued that a 'Human rights' test is possible in tax law and that taxation can't be arbitrary in this respect but has to be exercised in ways and means respectful of these basic rules. For what concern the (purely) European perspective, the European Court of Human rights has further developed this conclusion, setting up a more efficient and binding system of protection of the individual taxpayer. It's not so easy to extend these result to the Middle east countries: of course they are not bound to the ECHR decisions, and in the case law of the HRC no Middle East county was ever involved. Moreover, cultural and religious differences and peculiarities could also work, prima facie, against a reciprocal understanding in taxation law. However, the basic thesis of this brief paper is that starting from the HRC interpretation of taxation as a social phenomenon a dialogue is possible and the two different sided of the Mediterranean sea are closer than what it seems: perhaps closer enough to build a bridge.