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.

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.

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.

An action statement to help small and medium-sized enterprises was launched at a conference on “Better Financing for Entrepreneurship and SME Growth” held in Brazil on 27-30 March 2006 (see previous edition, No. 254).

US President George W. Bush is greeted by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría during a visit to the OECD headquarters on 13 June 2008.

“Trust comes on foot, but leaves on horseback.” This old Dutch saying was evoked by Alexander Pechtold, Netherlands minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations, as both a warning and a challenge in his concluding remarks as chair of the OECD ministerial meeting, “Strengthening Trust in Government: What Role for Government in the 21st Century?”, held in Rotterdam on 28 November 2005.

Now at Harvard, Professor Sen has taught around the world, and is perhaps most noted for his work on development, human development, poverty, gender and welfare, for which he won his Nobel prize. His wife, economic historian Emma Rothschild, has written for the OECD Observer (The politics of globalisation circa 1773, No 228, September 2001).
For more information, visit http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes /economics/laureates/1998/ sen-autobio.html

A key Millennium Development Goal agreed at the 2002 Johannesburg summit on sustainable development is to halve the numbers of people in developing countries without access to safe water and basic sanitation. A meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in April will review progress in achieving these targets.

As governments try to maintain their global competitiveness, increase the flexibility and responsiveness of labour markets and deal with issues of population ageing, the OECD is launching a Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) to assess the skills individuals posess, how they use them at the work place, and how better skills feed into better jobs, higher productivity, and ultimately better economic and social outcomes. The aim of the programme is to help governments understand how education and training systems can nurture the skills and competencies needed for individuals to participate in knowledgebased societies.

Cristina Narbona Ruiz takes up her post as the new ambassador for Spain. She succeeds Fernando Ballestero Díaz.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts a special conference with heads of international organisations on “Fair Ground Rules for a Socially Equitable and Open Global Economy,” Berlin, 19 December 2007. To Ms Merkel’s right are Angel Gurría (OECD), Pascal Lamy (WTO) and Juan Somavia (ILO), and to her left are Germany’s labour minister, Olaf Scholz, Robert Zoellick (World Bank) and Dominique Strauss-Kahn (IMF).

A new OECD site for electronic

Professor Angus Maddison, who died on  24 April, was an outstanding economist  and OECD legend. In fact, Maddison joined  the OECD even before it existed. In 1952,  he became a member of what was then  the Economic and Statistics Directorate of  the Organisation for European Economic  Co-operation, the OEEC. When the  OEEC became the OECD in 1961, he  took his lifelong obsession with statistics,  measurement and accuracy to the problems  of development.

Like Alice, the OECD appears to be bursting through to the other side of its looking glass. Change may be the order of the day, but as the organisation approaches 50, lessons from past work on innovation might speak to the current economic crisis.

4 March -
Norio Hattori is the new OECD ambassador for Japan. He succeeds Shinichi Kitajima.

4 March -
Wolfgang Petritsch takes up his post as new ambassador for Austria succeeding Ulrich Stacher.

How to be green and competitive was the centre of attention when environment ministers of OECD countries met at the end of April for the first time in four years. How to fight climate change and maintain competitiveness is a question that concerns many countries outside the OECD too, and the governments of four candidate countries for OECD membership–Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia–participated at the conference, as did Brazil, China, Indonesia and South Africa, four countries with whom the OECD is strengthening its relations in a programme of “enhanced engagement”.

In 1996 just when the Korean government took the initiative and worked hard to join the OECD, some media and civil society organisations were reluctant to extend their support. They worried, saying that it would be too premature for Korea to join the rich man’s club and would cause us great losses.

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.

With ocean stocks depleting, sustainable fisheries is now high on political agendas in OECD countries. Governments grappling with reform may find it reassuring to know that one of the OECD’s oldest committees, the Committee for Fisheries, is still going strong after 46 years at the helm. Indeed, the committee just held its 100th session on 29-31 October 2007.

Kiyotaka Akasaka, deputy secretary-general at the OECD, has been appointed United Nations Undersecretary general for communications and public information. Mr Akasaka came to the OECD in 2003 and has most recently been responsible for the OECD’s work on development, the environment, sustainable development and for partnerships with other international organisations. Mr Akasaka takes up his new post in spring 2007.

White protective covers drape the main OECD office building as asbestos is removed.

Secretary-General Angel Gurría participates at the annual World Economic Forum which took place in Davos, Switzerland, 24-28 January 2007. Climate change was a major talking point at this year’s meeting; Mr Gurría emphasised that “energy-environment has to be the focus today”.

©OECD Observer

Welcoming address of Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister Okyu Kwon to a special conference in Seoul 22 September 2006, marking Korea’s 10th anniversary in the OECD.

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. 

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

“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. 

©OECD

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.

“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.

“[…] 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.

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.

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.

As the OECD reaches 50, it must continue to become more relevant, useful and open within a new architecture of global governance, argues Angel Gurría, in this extract from remarks delivered following the renewal of his mandate as OECD secretary-general.*

OECD countries agreed to invite Estonia, Israel and Slovenia to become members of the organisation, paving the way for membership to grow to 34 countries.

Praising the co-ordinated international actions in response to the economic crisis, International Labour Organization Director-General Juan Somavia, World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick, International Monetary Fund Manager Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (L-R in the photo) and issued a joint press statement on 28 April 2010 calling for continued “international efforts with the aim of ensuring a lasting recovery in the financial sector and strengthening growth in the long term, and to address the impact of the crisis on poor countries and vulnerable populations”.

David Sterboul, a photographer at the OECD, passed away in November at a tragically young age. We would like to extend our sympathies to his family and friends.


©OECD Observer No 276-277 December 2009-January 2010

Chile is set to become the OECD’s 31st member country. It is a momentous occasion, as captured in the following extracts from speeches by President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, following the signing of the agreement on the terms of accession by the Republic of Chile to the OECD Convention, delivered in Santiago, Chile, 11 January 2010.

An "education lighthouse for the way out of the crisis" was recently launched in the form of a new OECD web community dedicated to guiding education through the economic crisis. To date, the educationtoday collaborative website features nearly 200 content items from OECD experts and external analysts and is available to anyone who registers via myOECD at www.oecd.org.

The UK government has prepared a map of the world showing how the effects of climate change would differ by region. The map, presented to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría by the British ambassador to the OECD, Dominic Martin, shows the likely impact on the planet of a 4 °C rise in the global average temperature.

Disquiet, distrust and dissatisfaction mixed with anger about the global crisis, but also a broad desire for new and innovative policies, for change from the status quo and a strong call for determined leadership to improve standards and beat a path towards a stronger, cleaner and fairer economy: this was the overall tone of the sentiments expressed by participants at the 10th OECD Forum in Paris, 23-24 June, which is held annually in conjunction with the Ministerial Council Meeting.

This year's OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, the highpoint of the organisation's calendar, took place amid the most severe financial and economic crisis in decades. 

Address by the President of Chile, Ms. Michelle Bachelet, to the Council of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developpement (OECD), Paris, May, 28th

Speech by Philippe Marland, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of France to the OECD, delivered at the OECD on 18 March to mark the 2009 Journée internationale de la Francophonie, a day dedicated to the French-speaking world.

The progress on offshore tax centres at the G20 in London in April has fuelled international momentum to develop common principles and standards on integrity, transparency and propriety for a whole range of global challenges, including investment, the environment, labour and health.

“The Chinese government rightly advocates firm opposition to trade and investment protectionism, as emphatically stated by Premier Wen Jiabao on several occasions in the past few weeks. As it did a decade ago during the Asian crisis, China has set itself firmly against inward retrenchment in the face of economic downturn. We celebrate this commitment at OECD.

The first ever full OECD ministerial meeting held in Asia closed in June with a declaration to build confidence and secure the future of the Internet economy. The declaration sets out a roadmap to upgrade the communication policies that have helped the Internet become the economic driver that it is today and safeguard its future development.

Concerns for the world economy were already building when OECD governments met for the annual Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) last June.

Anthony Gooch took up his post as director of public affairs and communications at the OECD on 1 April 2008. Before joining the OECD, Mr Gooch led the European Commission’s media and public diplomacy operations in the UK projecting the EU’s policies on global issues including climate change, trade and development.

Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel has been appointed chief economist of the OECD. A national of Germany and Chile, he joins the OECD after 12 years as chief of economic research at the Central Bank of Chile. From 1988 to 1996 he was successively economist, senior economist and principal economist at the World Bank.

It may be a truism among economists by now to state that more competition can improve a country’s economic performance by creating business opportunities, reducing costs of goods and services and boosting choice. But numerous laws and regulations still restrict competition in the marketplace.

Wikigender.org: Did you know that over 40% of girls in Bangladesh are married before the age of 15? Or that 95% of Egyptian women had undergone some form of female genital cutting?

The gap in productivity and economic performance between the US and Europe has been a source of much debate in recent years, but many experts seem agreed on one point: that a lack of progress on reform in labour and product markets has not helped the European cause.

How do your taxes and social benefits differ from your peers in other countries and what is the effect on your income? How much income do unemployed people get in different countries? The new OECD online taxbenefit calculator may have the answer. Our experts have taken all those complex legal rules about who is entitled to what benefit and who should pay how much tax in different countries and put them into a simple tax-benefit calculator so that you can decide yourself which comparisons you would like to make.

With ageing and pressure on public finances, monitoring the pensions market has become an important task for policymakers. The market is vast: in 2006 the total OECD funded pensions market was valued at some $24.6 trillion, with a ratio of OECD pension fund assets to OECD GDP of nearly 73% in 2006, and above 100% in a few countries.

The environment, particularly climate change, features high on the agenda in OECD business in the months ahead.

“Environment and Global Competiveness” is the theme of the 2008 OECD environment ministers meeting (Meeting of OECD Environment Policy Committee at Ministerial Level), which will take place 28-29 April. Among the highlights, ministers will discuss the results of the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030, to be released on 5 March. Policy discussions will likely touch on environmental priorities for the coming decades, environmental co-operation with major emerging economies, competitiveness, eco-innovation and climate change.

Finland took the number one spot in the OECD’s PISA 2006 survey, a comprehensive and much-quoted international yardstick of secondary school student performance. Finland was followed by Hong Kong- China, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Estonia, Japan and New Zealand. Australia, the Netherlands, Korea, Germany, the UK, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Ireland also scored above the OECD average. Mexico finished last among OECD countries.

Work and family constraints can lead to too few children and too little employment, affecting quality of life and economic performance. Yet many parents would like to go out to work more, while others would like to spend more time raising their children. What can policymakers do to help parents achieve a better work/family balance? The OECD’s Babies and Bosses series offers some lessons.

The OECD is a world leader in statistics, but keeping up that lead demands innovation. The statistics services of the OECD already provide smart databases online at www.oecd.org/statistics, while graphs and tables in many of our publications are backed up with our new StatLink service, a link allowing access to source Excel files at a click. Now the OECD has gone another step by opening its data out to websites that specialise in lively use and presentation of the statistics, and reader interaction.

Learn more, earn more? Some of the issues raised in Education at a Glance 2007 formed a recent online public discussion in our Ask the Economists series. Andreas Schleicher, head of the OECD’s Education Indicators and Analysis division and a lead author of Education at a Glance, fielded questions from readers in Chile, China, Germany, Spain and the UK on Wednesday 3 October. Below is a sample.

Third-level education brings many benefits, and not just for the most educated. Higher education has expanded greatly in OECD countries in the past few decades, and the result as expected has been a rise in the number of graduates. But has the increasing supply of well-educated labour been matched by the creation of an equivalent number of highpaying jobs? Or will more and more people with university degrees simply have to work for the minimum wage?

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shakes hands with OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría at the launch of a new multilateral initiative called the Partnership for Democratic Governance (PDG).The new initiative is designed to assist those developing countries that need help to improve governance, strengthen capacity and accountability, and deliver the services that are essential supports of effective government.

Click to view video

On 19 June 2007 South Africa became the first African country to join the OECD’s Anti-Bribery Convention. The still photo shows South Africa's ambassador to France, Nomasonto Maria Sibanda-Thusi, welcomed by OECD secretary-general, Angel Gurría.

Cotis leads top French bureau–
Jean-Philippe Cotis, the OECD’s chief economist, has been appointed as director general of the French national statistics institute INSEE (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, or the National Statistics and Economic Studies Institute).

Even the sharpest leading edge companies can no longer survive on their own R&D efforts, but must open up their networks and collaborate with others: this was the main message from an expert meeting held at the OECD on 27 April called “Globalisation and Open Innovation”.

“You cannot really manage the environment without a strong economy.” The remark seems oddly appropriate, sitting in an office overlooking the expansive woodland of the Bois de Boulogne, a “green lung” in the wealthy if congested west of Paris.

How can civil society help to make development aid more effective? Some 30 civil society organisation (CSO) representatives met to discuss this question on 7 March, at the OECD headquarters, with the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, an international partnership of donors and recipient countries, hosted by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

For a complete list, including those in French and Spanish, go to www.oecd.org/secretarygeneral

A collection of about 100 of the most relevant internationally agreed chemical testing methods used by government, industry and independent laboratories are now available free online.

Japan, the US, the Netherlands and Italy present the face of Secretary-General Angel Gurría’s newly appointed team of deputy secretaries-general (DSGs) to guide the OECD into the next era. Mari Amano will bring his 34 years of experience as a Japanese foreign affairs official to take charge of the Development Cluster and Policy Coherence dossier.

Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden visited the OECD headquarters in Paris on 4 December 2006. The Crown Princess met OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría (photo), other senior officials of the OECD secretariat and Swedish personnel in the OECD. Crown Princess Victoria was participating in a diplomat training programme at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Discussions at the OECD covered the economy, agriculture, trade and early childhood education and care.

©OECD Observer, No. 258/259, December 2006

“One of the most remarkable transitions in modern history,” is how Secretary-General Angel Gurría described Poland’s accomplishments since the end of the Cold War, in a special address at a conference celebrating 10 years of Polish membership of the OECD held in Warsaw on 23 November 2006.

Will the Millennium Development Goals launched in 2000 be met by the agreed deadline of 2015? This question is at the top of discussions in government and development agencies around the world. There have been several initiatives to help focus minds and boost international progress towards meeting the goals, not least by the G8.

We know quite a lot about how to increase employment rates, but there is no single road to Rome…or Moscow! So said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, in an address to the meeting of G8 employment and labour ministers in Moscow, 9-10 October 2006. The secretary-general went on to outline the main lessons learned in the recent 2006 reassessment of the 1994 OECD Jobs Strategy and pointed to new challenges.

The OECD's core mission is to help make the world economy work better, Secretary-General Angel Gurría said in a keynote address to the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Strasbourg, 4 October 2006. While the organisation's work is well known, stronger partnerships with parliamentarians are needed to strengthen its impact and influence, Mr Gurría said.