Are you able to make sense of the barrage of opinion poll data that is currently being published in the lead up to the US presidential election on 6 November? Bruce Stokes, Director of Pew Global Economic Attitudes at the Pew Research Center, sheds light on the poll trends and assesses to what extent issues such as the economy will be deciding factors when voters approach the ballot box.

“Work more to earn more” was former French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s refrain in his 2007 election campaign. But does working more hours mean the economy is better off?

New York is investing in a greener, cleaner future.

The United States spent 16% of its national income (GDP) on health in 2007. This is by far the highest share in the OECD and more than seven percentage points higher than the average of 8.9% in OECD countries. Even France, Switzerland and Germany, the countries which, apart from the United States, spend the greatest proportion of national income on health, spent over 5 percentage points of GDP less: respectively 11.0%, 10.8% and 10.4% of their GDP.

"On a day like this, I wonder: what would the world be like without America, without the US. A darker place, certainly." Anders Ferm, former Swedish ambassador to the OECD, in a tribute paid shortly after the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September. Read on for more tributes published at the time.

As the US emerges from the deepest recession since the Great Depression, it is critical to take steps that will lead not only to recovery, but also to more robust economic growth with rising employment and broadly shared income gains. 

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The use of information and communication technologies in the health sector lags behind its use in many other parts of the economy, yet the advantages and potential savings are evident. Policymakers can do much to help close the gap.

"Being unemployed is frustrating, demeaning and, at this point, frightening." Anyone who has any doubt about the devastating effects unemployment can have will learn a lot from statements such as this one, captured in a recent survey undertaken by the John. J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University in the US.

The global economic crisis is affecting families and communities across the planet. With regions bearing the brunt of the crisis, affecting businesses, jobs and people generally, regional policies are very much part of the solution.

The United States is dependent on fossil fuels for almost all its energy supply. Coal dominates electricity generation, accounting for half of its power production, with nuclear and natural gas around one-fifth each.

Few economic questions in recent times have challenged policymakers and economists the world over quite as much as the US current account deficit. Some worry that it is a global economic time bomb. More recently, a contrasting argument has emerged that dismisses the deficit as little more than a harmless mirage. But most serious experts simply agree that the present situation is unsustainable. What has caused the deficit? Why is it a problem and how should it be dealt with?