Based in London, the Legatum Institute (LI) is an independent non-partisan public policy organisation whose research, publications, and programmes advance ideas and policies in support of free and prosperous societies around the world.

Our work falls under two broad categories: Prosperity Studies, and a program on Global Transitions:

Prosperity Studies
 
The Legatum Institute’s signature annual publication is the Legatum Prosperity Index™, a unique global assessment of national prosperity based on both wealth and subjective wellbeing. The Index ranks countries based on their performance in eight sub‐indices, including Entrepreneurship & Opportunity, Governance, Personal Freedom, Health, and Social Capital.

The Legatum Institute Summer School is a place of fusion and fission bringing together up and coming global leaders and a world-class faculty across disciplines and generations. This year’s inaugural event explored the question ‘What makes civilizations flourish – and fail?’, and the week-long curriculum addressed today’s global economic and political issues through a prism of history, culture, politics and science.

The Charles Street Symposium is a new annual forum for the world’s leading young economists to address issues of relevance to public policy that are inadequately addressed and understood in existing economic research. The inaugural Symposium in June 2012 focussed on issues of economic risk and uncertainty and brought together an outstanding group of young scholars with leading senior economists as keynote speakers and mentors.
 
In its Salon Series the Legatum Institute hosts scholars, writers, artists and public figures to discuss issues that are fundamental to the success of free, prosperous, and enterprising societies. Ranging widely across the arts, sciences and humanities, the conversations promote a discourse between cultural, philosophical, economic and political modes of enquiry.

 
Global Transitions
 
LI is the co-publisher of Democracy Lab, a journalistic joint-venture with Foreign Policy Magazine dedicated to covering the political and economic challenges facing countries that are striving to make the transition from authoritarianism to democracy.

LI provides a platform for leaders and experts from established democracies and developing world countries to address the challenges of political and economic transition. A current project, Democracy Consensus, involves a partnership with think tanks from South Africa, India, and Brazil and will explore how leading developing countries tackle problems related to democracy.

LI also conducts regular Transition Case Studies. A current programme, The Future Of Iran, seeks to encourage thought and discussion on preparing for Iran’s future. Projects in Libya and Rwanda aim to study and promote legal and institutional reforms which will support free press and free speech. In Libya, we have launched the Libya Media Wiki – an open-source website in English and Arabic designed to track regulatory, ownership and free speech issues. Additionally, In the autumn of 2012, the Legatum Institute will launch the Democracy Forum, a series of papers which will examine specific challenges faced by countries emerging from authoritarianism.

"Building a More Prosperous World Though Liberty and Responsibility."