An economist and a writer, Michael Green is part of the team that created the Social Progress Index, a new measurement index developed to help quantify social progress separate from economic indicators, and to rank societies based on how they meet the needs of citizens. Behind this new index is the Social Progress Imperative, an organization made up of philanthrocapitalists, social entrepreneurs and policymakers. Believing that capitalism should be more inclusive and that businesses have an inherent, crucial role to play in this process, the group formed in 2009 after the financial crash. They were joined by Harvard management guru Michael E. Porter, who became chairman of the SPI’s advisory board.

In 2014, the Social Progress Imperative launched its index, one of the most comprehensive international measures of wellbeing, which evaluates countries on their ability to provide basic human needs (measures of water and shelter), the foundations of wellbeing (measures of health and education) and opportunity (measures of equality and personal rights). The Social Progress Imperative, through regional partnerships in business, government and civil society, promotes the formation of local networks that apply the Social Progress Index within countries to guide social investments.

Previously Michael served as a senior official in the U.K. Government’s Department for International Development, where he managed British aid programs to Russia and Ukraine, and headed the communications department. He taught Economics at Warsaw University in Poland in the early 1990s. Michael Green and Economist Business Editor Matthew Bishop are co-authors of Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World and The Road from Ruin: A New Capitalism for a Big Society. His 2014 Talk was chosen by the TED organization as one of the most powerful ideas of 2014, and by The Telegraph as one of the 10 best TED Talks ever.