Today is IDAHO Day
This year the parliaments of two OECD member countries passed legislation broadening the institution of marriage to include same sex couples. Such marriage is now legal in 14 countries worldwide, 11 of which are OECD members.
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©REUTERS/Mike Segar
Well-being priority
A major step forward towards putting the measurement of well-being at the heart of policymaking was taken at the OECD’s World Forum on Measuring Well-Being for Policymaking and Development, a four-day international conference held in New Delhi in October.
(297 words)The Hotel Majestic
The Hotel Majestic, where the agreements to create the OECD were forged, was located near the Arc de Triomphe, on Avenue Kléber, a few kilometres across town from the OEEC (and now OECD headquarters) at La Muette. The Hotel Majestic was the venue of many historic events, including during the First and Second World Wars, and from May 1968 was the venue of much delayed peace talks between North Vietnam and the US on the Vietnam war, culminating in an agreement signed at the hotel on 27 January 1973. The hotel later became an international conference centre (our photo) when it again welcomed the OECD, this time to host the annual OECD Forum from 2003 to 2006. The magnificent building is currently being renovated as a hotel, this time under The Peninsula banner, due to open in 2013.(162 words)The Friday Fish
A weekly catch from behind the headlines on oecd.org, No 4
Can we measure life satisfaction?; The reality of public debt and economic growth; Avoiding trade chaos; A man’s finance world?; What makes Indonesia grow; Personalised health; Crisis pushes up social spending; “Better governance for inclusive growth”; Biodiversity vs. economy?; No adversity
(737 words)OECD Alumni launched
A new OECD Staff and Alumni Network has been launched and already boasts over 1,200 members. All former and current staff are welcome to join. “The organisation needs to retain knowledge that has grown out of the OECD and maintain that thread of continuity.
(114 words)Japan: Remembering and rebuilding
On 11 March one year ago, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 struck eastern Japan. The earthquake was followed by a huge tsunami and a nuclear accident. All these incidents combined resulted in an unprecedented disaster leaving more than 19,000 people dead or missing and a very large material damage.
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Youth video contest
“Education and skills” is the theme of the 2012 OECD youth video competition. It was launched on 14 December at the Youth Employment conference. Open to youth ages 18 to 25, the challenge is to produce a video of no more than three minutes on the theme of education and skills, and the prize is a trip to Paris to attend the OECD Forum on 22-24 May.
(113 words)Happy birthday, OECD Observer!
November marks the 50th anniversary of the OECD Observer, the award-winning public magazine of the OECD. The brainchild of Thorkil Kristensen, the first secretary general of the organisation, the OECD Observer was launched at the 2nd ministerial meeting 27-28 November 1962. He recruited a former war resistant and political journalist from his native Denmark, Anker Randsholt, to do the job. The audience? Busy policymakers who had no time “to read more than a fraction” of the OECD’s already considerable and somewhat technical work.
In those post-war decades divulging information to the public was a delicate exercise. Policy had inched forward in a Cold War atmosphere of confidentiality, not to mention paranoia. Today, information is currency, and as Kristensen wrote in the first editorial, by ensuring the OECD Observer was distributed at the 1962 ministerial meeting, “a step was taken towards a wider dissemination of this [organisation’s] knowledge.”
Half a century of country surveys online
The entire collection of OECD‘s country economic surveys has now been made accessible online at the OECD i-Library. Published regularly since the creation of the OECD in 1961, and to mark the Organisation’s 50th anniversary, this online archive offers a unique historical perspective of the economic changes OECD countries have undergone since 1961. It is an invaluable resource for anyone tracing their efforts to rebuild their economies after World War II, addressing the oil crisis in the 1970s, the dot.com revolution and bubble, and the economic, educational and environmental challenges of the 21st century.
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REUTERS/Toru Hanai
Japan will bounce back quickly
“[…] On behalf of the OECD, I express our profound sorrow at the enormous loss of life and extend our condolences to all those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy. At the same time, we admire the courage and resolve of the Japanese people in face of adversity, and we are confident that Japan will emerge from this disaster stronger and better.
(539 words)The OECD is a "force for good"
“The government’s top priority is reducing the nation’s deficit and returning Britain to strong and sustainable growth. That means the right economic policies at home and creating the right economic environment abroad.
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The historic former Hotel Majestic in Paris. See caption 1 at the foot of the article. © AFP
A majestic start: How the OECD was won
It would be easy to think that the organisation created in 1961 was the inevitable next stage in the evolution of the OEEC, the European body originally set up to administer the Marshall Plan in 1947. But the OECD did not simply "replace" the OEEC. Nor was its creation inevitable or easy.
(2119 words)Foresight at 50: Looking back at looking forward
Strategic foresight is an essential tool in any government’s toolbox. It’s what enables policymakers to anticipate developments better, encouraging them to be more creative in reflecting on their options, and offering them more time to prepare and set in train their programmes. It is an area in which some governments excel, while others perform less well. It is also an area subject to much misunderstanding and confusion.
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Do you trust your government?
