Prospect’s International Affairs Think Tank of the Year
Published by
The Copenhagen Consensus Center is the winner of Prospect Magazine’s 2016 Think Tank of the Year award in the “International Affairs” category for think tanks based in the US. The Center's work was commended by the judges as being “truly innovative and global in its scope.”
The award, received by founding president Dr. Bjorn Lomborg in London, honors Copenhagen Consensus for its landmark research and advocacy project establishing the costs and benefits of the United Nations’ post-Millennium Development Goal targets.
For more than a decade, Copenhagen Consensus has used economic evidence to influence and improve outcomes in many areas of development. The UN’s targets will affect trillions of dollars of spending, and it is an honor to receive recognition for our work bringing together many of the world’s top economists to make prioritization part of this vital discussion,” Copenhagen Consensus president Bjorn Lomborg said.
The Prospect Think Tank Awards were founded in 2001 to celebrate the influential policy work of think tanks around the world. Independent judges look for “evidence of influence on public policy and on the public discourse”.
Post-2015 Consensus was the only comprehensive, independent economic analysis of costs and benefits for the Global Goals targets. By September 2013, almost 1400 new development targets had been suggested by 120 organizations. Amid a sea of worthy ideas and lobbying, Copenhagen Consensus worked to focus the UN’s process on the targets that would do the most good for every dollar or pound spent.
Copenhagen Consensus commissioned more than 80 world-class economists to establish the social, environmental, and economic costs and benefits across development targets. An eminent panel including several Nobel Laureates identified 19 phenomenal development targets that could achieve $62.5 trillion more good than spending money evenly across all targets.
The 1,800 peer-reviewed pages of research were shared with UN ambassadors, presidents, politicians, and NGOs. More than 1000 articles were published in 89 countries. The research will be published by Cambridge University Press.
Copenhagen Consensus recently completed a major project with BRAC, focusing on the smartest economic and development priorities for Bangladesh. It is now working on a project looking at priorities for Haiti with Global Affairs Canada, and also focusing on different spending options in several states in India with Tata Trusts.
Read more about the Copenhagen Consensus Center’s impact and testimonials about our work.