Resources
The evidence trail
Every figure and framework we cite is traced back to its source. We invite you to check our work rather than take our word for it.
The global Brain Capital field
Where the framework comes from
OECD
The founding policy program behind the Brain Capital framework, co-led by Dr Harris Eyre.
World Economic Forum × McKinsey Health Institute · January 2026
Estimates $6.2 trillion in potential global GDP gains from investing in brain capital by 2050.
Rice University, UTMB and Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative
Positions brain health and brain skills at the forefront of global economic development.
Deakin University
The Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation, Dr Harris Eyre’s Australian home institution.
Youth connection and measurement
The research behind our measurement work
Annecy Behavioral Science Lab · EU Horizon Europe consortium LONELY-EU
A public, searchable database of published measures of social isolation, loneliness and social connection, coded item by item by domain, instrument and language.
Thriving Kids critique
Long & Imms · Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health · 2026
Identifies how initiatives conflate five distinct measurement purposes (screening, assessment, diagnosis, outcome measurement and monitoring), a central problem our brief addresses.
The Australian evidence base
The numbers behind the case for investment
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Prevalence, projections and government spending data, including 425,000 people living with dementia in 2024, 970,000 projected by 2058, and $4.7bn direct spend in 2022–23.
NATSEM, University of Canberra, for Dementia Australia
Modelling source for the $14.25bn (2016) total economic cost of dementia.
Productivity Commission · 2020
Source of the $220bn annual cost estimate and the $4.2bn reform to $21bn return modelling, and the finding that early-childhood and school mental health interventions are “very cost effective”.
Economic and Societal Cost of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2021–2041
Biogen ANZ / NATSEM · 2021
Projects a $26.6bn annual cost by 2041 and a $442bn cumulative 20-year impact.
Australian Government Department of Health
The current reform environment for brain health and ageing in Australia.
Methodology precedents
Models we’re learning from
GiveWell and Coefficient Giving · July 2026
A model for pairing rigorous, published cost-effectiveness research with donor coordination at scale.
Meharry School of Global Health, with the Deloitte Health Equity Institute
An equity-focused cost-of-illness methodology for mental health.
Educate Girls Development Impact Bond
UBS Optimus Foundation and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
Described as the world’s first education development impact bond, and a precedent for outcomes-based finance in early childhood.
A note on rigour
This list will grow and be corrected over time. Where sources differ in basis, year or methodology, we say so rather than presenting figures as directly comparable. Spotted an error or an outdated figure? Let us know.
Steady Ground Global
Investing in young people’s connections, for now and the future.
© 2026 Steady Ground Global