Roxanne Bauer
These are some of the views and reports relevant to our readers that caught our attention this week.
Corruption Perceptions Index 2016
Transparency International
Let's get straight to the point: No country gets close to a perfect score in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016. Over two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories in this year's index fall below the midpoint of our scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The global average score is a paltry 43, indicating endemic corruption in a country's public sector. Top-scoring countries (yellow in the map below) are far outnumbered by orange and red countries where citizens face the tangible impact of corruption on a daily basis.
Media Feast, News Famine, Ten Global Advertising Trends that Threaten Independent Journalism
CIMA
Even as citizens feast on an growing buffet of digital media choices, there is an increasing famine of credible, thorough, and independent nationally-focused news reporting. The former masks the latter as people worldwide now have access to an unlimited amount of entertainment through a wide variety of channels and as governments exert more comprehensive and nuanced control over media. Better connected globally, but less informed locally, citizens living in these media environments may not recognize when their rights to be informed about their government and their society are being compromised.
Global Risks Report 2017
World Economic Forum
The Global Risks Report 2017 features perspectives from nearly 750 experts on the perceived impact and likelihood of 30 prevalent global risks as well as 13 underlying trends that could amplify them or alter the interconnections between them over a 10-year timeframe. 2016 saw a crystallization of political risks that have led to the election of populist leaders, a loss of faith in institutions and increased strain on international cooperation. We should not be surprised by this: for the past decade, the Global Risks Report has been drawing attention to persistent economic, social and political factors that have been shaping our risks landscape. This year’s report will examine the five greatest priorities facing the world in 2017, their interconnections and the actions necessary to avoid their harshest fall-out.
Developing a common narrative on urban accessibility: A transportation perspective
Brookings Institute
Over the course of the 20th century, transportation professionals considered maximizing speed a fundamental pursuit of transportation plans, policies, and practices. This “traffic-based” view led to investments that better connected communities, inspired new technologies within vehicles, and improved infrastructure quality, especially where congestion existed. In turn, a focus on “mobility” began to emerge for moving as many people as efficiently as possible. However, this view focused too narrowly on transportation performance, in the process ignoring the underlying considerations of who takes trips, to where, and how they choose to travel. Accessibility expands on this view.
An Economy for the 99%: It’s time to build a human economy that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few
Oxfam
New estimates show that just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world. As growth benefits the richest, the rest of society – especially the poorest – suffers. The very design of our economies and the principles of our economics have taken us to this extreme, unsustainable and unjust point. Our economy must stop excessively rewarding those at the top and start working for all people. Accountable and visionary governments, businesses that work in the interests of workers and producers, a valued environment, women’s rights and a strong system of fair taxation, are central to this more human economy. The sources and methodology behind the headline facts in this paper are explained in the separate methodology note.
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