What the BEPS are we talking about?
Bloomberg’s “The Great Corporate Tax Dodge”, The New York Times’ “But Nobody Pays That” and the Guardian’s “Tax Gap”: these are some examples of the wide media attention given to global tax issues in recent weeks. The public is understandably becoming alarmed, since what is at issue is how profit shifting by multinationals is eroding their national tax bases. OECD initiatives on tax policy can help.
©UK Government Service
“Made in the world”
The new OECD/WTO database on trade in value-added is not just about changing the numbers, but policymakers’ approaches too. It gives trade fresh importance, and a place high on the agenda of the UK’s G8 presidency.
(1064 words)Speaking truth to power
The OECD has transformed itself into a policy pathleader on a whole range of public policies–national, regional and local–with the avowed aim of promoting human progress. But is the new OECD a child or a prisoner of its past?
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©Christian Charisius
Education for policymakers
Education is one OECD department that has embraced the information revolution.
(250 words)Take a walk
Cities that want healthier populations should get them moving. In the US, where urban sprawl and personal motorised vehicle are prevalent, walking makes up only 8.6% of all trips, by far the lowest proportion in our chart.
(217 words)Study abroad
More students are looking beyond their borders to give their education a competitive edge.
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©IEA
Energy efficiency: A true alternative
The IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2012 was released 12 November. Though oil prices are at historic highs, the future for energy is promising, provided the right policies are in place.
(1324 words)Restart-up?
Start-up rates in OECD countries are slowly edging back to their pre-crisis levels, but not all countries have seen significant acceleration in new businesses, according to Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2012.
(214 words)Diabetes alarm
Some 83 million people suffer from diabetes in the OECD area. On current trends, that will rise to almost 100 million by 2030. Speaking at the European Diabetes Leadership Forum in Copenhagen, OECD Deputy Secretary-General Yves Leterme said, “preventing and treating diabetes and its complications costs about €90 billion annually in Europe alone.
(160 words)Resurrecting industrial policy
Can governments play a positive role in boosting their countries’ industrial sectors?
(565 words)All on board: Policies for inclusive growth and jobs
This is the Ministerial Council Statement adopted at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on 24 May 2012.
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Saving retirement
Over the next 50 years, life expectancy at birth is expected to increase by more than seven years in developed economies. While this is good news for many, it will also be a strain on pension systems. To be sure, governments will need to address increasing life expectancy by raising retirement ages gradually. This is a key conclusion of the first Pensions Outlook 2012, a new OECD report which looks at the future of pensions.
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Teaching the teachers
How can teachers know what–let alone how–to teach when the world is changing so quickly around us?
(294 words)Towards a new departure
Two decades ago, when the first Rio Earth Summit took place in 1992, the most advanced economies were in an economic downturn. It was not as severe as the crisis many countries have endured since 2008, but asset bubbles had burst, unemployment had risen and recovery seemed a remote prospect.
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©Shutterstock
How manufacturing can create value and jobs
Bring back manufacturing! This refrain has echoed about since the start of the crisis: is it a serious proposition to win back manufacturing activity after years of decline and if so, how?
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Compact cities
By 2050, 70% of the world’s population more than 5.5 billion people will live in urban areas. This population boom, combined with threats of global warming, high energy prices and tight government budgets make a convincing argument for better city planning. Governments faced with growing populations and dwindling natural resources have two choices: they can let urban sprawl continue to eat up useful land or they can plan “compact cities” that will be better for the economy and the environment.
(375 words)Health spending slows
For the first time in decades, health spending has not increased in real terms on average across OECD countries. According to figures published in the latest OECD health data 2012, the growth in health spending in 2010 slowed or turned negative in almost all OECD countries.
(221 words)City air
If you are reading this in a big city, the air you are breathing may be doing you harm. Though over 50% of the world’s population now live in urban areas, only 2% of the global urban population lives with acceptable concentrations of particulate matter, or PM, which can cause breathing and respiratory diseases, cancer and premature death.
(255 words)Budget pressures affect aid
Aid from major donors in the OECD area to developing countries fell by nearly 3% in 2011, ending a long trend of annual increases: until 2011, aid had been increasing for more than a decade, and by 63% between 2000 and 2010, the year it reached its peak.
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©CEP
Why measure subjective well-being?
The search for measures of progress that might replace GDP is a timely and necessary one, but only a single metric will do the trick.
(1156 words)The Friday fish
A weekly catch from behind the headlines on oecd.org, No 1
Leaders et the OECD; Jobs; Spanish bull; Web sense; Fish
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©Mario Beauregard/Fotolia.com
Clinical trials for better health policies
A recent OECD Recommendation on the Governance of Clinical Trials issued in December 2012 could improve the outlook for fighting deadly diseases around the world. Here is how.
(1416 words)How to get it right
Austerity programmes to restore order to public finances can add to the woes of already struggling economies, leading to more job losses and social hardship. But there are ways for governments to put their fiscal houses in order, while supporting growth and reducing income inequality at the same time.
The crisis affecting OECD economies is now in its sixth year, yet sizeable efforts are still needed to put government finances back on a sustainable base, while underpinning growth. At the same time, pressure is mounting to tackle the deepening social problems with policies to reduce exclusion and inequality. It is a difficult balancing act, which few countries can ignore. Indeed, the two largest OECD economies, the US and Japan, are among those countries requiring the most fiscal consolidation of all, to the order of 10% of GDP. Consolidation requirements are also large in troubled countries of the euro area and the UK.
The new performance frontier
By helping emphasise the importance of a “better life” as a key component of societal progress, the OECD has made considerable efforts in recent years to help promote a school of thought that places people’s well-being at the heart of economic growth. After examining the issue of growth and productivity gains, and recognising the question of the environmental cost of our economic activity, the time has come to turn our attention to another area that is equally crucial: fostering a more human economy.
The current crisis has revealed the limitations of our economic model. Decades of rationalisation and efforts to improve processes, methods, structures and expertise have depleted the potential to boost productivity and exert an increasing amount of pressure on women and men...
Globalisation and the resilience of a city
Globalisation has always been a process of far-reaching and often unexpected change, as well as geographical shifts in power, and this is reflected in the rise and fall of great cities. What lessons can we draw for the future?
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©AFP/Eric Piermont
A new narrative for world trade
World trade is changing, and so too must the way policymakers approach it, says Pascal Lamy. We asked him to explain.
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©Rick Winning RTW/REUTERS
Long-term investors: Getting the model right
Since the 2008 financial crisis, strains in the financial sector and in government balance sheets mean there is less and less supply of long-term capital. This has profound implications for growth and financial stability. Policymakers should take action.
(1345 words)Closing tax loopholes
The economic ills of the crisis have rightly prompted public reevaluation of government spending habits and revenue collection on both sides of the Atlantic. While congressional super committees and EU delegations hash out plans to foot massive debt bills, a combination of civil society groups, the Occupy movement, and simple common sense have brought long-deserved attention to certain tax loopholes and corporate practices that cost governments billions of dollars.
(762 words)Skills development: Rethinking the future
Global competition and the global financial crisis have put additional pressures on education programmes around the world. Radically new approaches to learning are now needed.
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©INSEAD
Curious? You’d better be
Life skills and a passion for learning are the key to the global knowledge economy. Thriving in this environment demands several qualities.
(1219 words)OECD Skills Strategy: The pathway of choice
Policymakers need solutions to help their economies move forward in today’s world. The OECD Skills Strategy, launched at the 2012 Ministerial Council Meeting in May, may prove fundamental. Here’s why.
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©OECD
The OECD Gender Initiative: Overview
Regrettably, gender discrimination is still a problem in our societies and our economies. In fact, “problem” is far too weak a word. It is more accurate to speak of an unacceptable injustice. Women have fewer opportunities in terms of education, employment and entrepreneurship and are, on average, less well paid for their work.
(275 words)Reimagining governance
Globalisation and the emergence of interlinked yet diverse civil society groups pose a serious challenge to established governance frameworks. Change appears to be the only option.
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©REUTERS/Andrew Winning
Occupy: Some lessons for a better tomorrow
A crisis may focus minds, but it often takes more than that to believe that change is possible. Citizens worldwide have made just that leap of faith. In OECD member countries, a grassroots movement has manifested itself in the overnight occupation of public space and the exercise of direct democracy on the model of what happened in city squares across Spain just over a year ago. After those demonstrations reached Wall Street, Occupy went global and I have been fortunate enough to be involved with the movement as it developed in London.
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CleanGovBiz: A new push against corruption
The OECD’s CleanGovBiz Initiative helps governments fight corruption, while working with civil society and the private sector to promote integrity.
(709 words)The hurting middle class
The middle class has long been the backbone of prosperity and economic stability in developed countries. But the crisis is exert increasing pressure on this pillar of society. Does the middle class need saving?
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©Darren Whiteside/REUTERS
The conflict between generations: Fact or fiction?
Expect the issue of solidarity between generations to become a major policy challenge in the years ahead, and not just in OECD countries. Here’s why.
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©OECD
Voyage of discovery
The OECD Better Life Initiative can make a difference to policies, and to people’s lives too, though that also depends on participation.
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©REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Protecting consumers, and the economy too
Was a major lapse of consumer protection at the heart of the subprime crisis? For consumer advocate Ira Rheingold, only better financial regulation and consumer protection will prevent future meltdowns.
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©www.susannawyatt.com
The limits to legislation
When it comes to fixing the economy, could the collective efforts of business and other interested parties be a better solution than passing new laws?
(1111 words)The state’s anti-poverty effect
Poverty rates are usually a measure of personal income. But how can public services affect relative poverty, that is, when the monetary value of public services, known as “extended income” is brought into the equation?
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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.
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Behind closed doors
“Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it,” said Benjamin Franklin. Yet, from Machiavelli through Richelieu to Kissinger, people in power have always relied on good advice from people they trust. But where should the line be drawn (rather than blurred) between influence and intrigue, cost and benefit?
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Support where it works
Inventors, entrepreneurs and start-ups offer a glimmer of hope in a time of low growth and austerity, with governments and economists alike shifting their attention towards innovation as a way out of a protracted crisis. Government-supported policies and programmes to support business innovation have been around for decades, but how successful are they and what lessons can be drawn for these more austere times?
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Energy from the sun
Thomas Edison’s assertion that “genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration” is particularly pertinent to the solar energy sector. This remarkable technology could hold answers to so many of the world’s energy challenges, but only at the cost of hard effort and investment. Solar Energy Perspectives, the first in-depth study dedicated to solar technology from the International Energy Agency (IEA), a sister organisation of the OECD, gives a comprehensive analysis of solar energy’s potential as well as the policies required to increase its capacity in the coming decades.
(366 words)How’s life?
Inequality is usually thought of in terms of income or wealth, but it might make even more sense to think of it in terms of how satisfied people are with their lives. A recent study, How’s Life?, attempts to shed light on people’s experience and the variation in life satisfaction within countries.
(181 words)Where to cut?
As governments around the world attempt to bring deficits under control and debt to manageable levels, just where to find the savings is a tricky question. Governments face a delicate balancing act as they try to achieve real fiscal discipline without mortally wounding public services, often in precarious political circumstances.
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Taking stock of skills
It is crucial for countries competing in an advanced economy to have a skilled workforce. But with labour markets changing so fast, how can workers keep up? The OECD Skills Strategy, due to be launched in May together with a comprehensive new survey of adult competencies, will help provide answers.
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Technology and game theory
Mobile phones and e-books are already essential school supplies on many university campuses. But they’re just slide rules compared to what education tools might look like in a few years.
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©Reuters
Higher education’s crisis dividend
There has always been some debate about whether higher education is really something that everyone should be encouraged to pursue. If there aren’t enough jobs requiring university-level degrees to go around, why spend the time and money–public or private–to obtain a degree?
(276 words)New times, old perspectives?
The long road towards gender equality has arrived at greater educational attainment, higher female labour force participation, and advances in politics and business, but we haven’t reached the end yet.
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How tax can tackle the jobs crisis
Since 2008, unemployment in the OECD area has leapt from 6.1% to 8.2% in 2011. Governments searching for ways to increase employment must at the same time deal with the large budget deficits that are also a legacy of the crisis. Tax reform can play a role in this balancing act.
(1046 words)News brief
Mental illness alert; Rural promise; Economy; Country roundup; Global steel grows; Green growth platform; Soundbites; Plus ça change...
(1427 words)Expressing happiness
Increasing citizens’ input to policymaking is one of the goals of the new indicators of well-being developed to make up for the inadequacies of GDP as an indicator. Unfortunately the latter leaves out many factors which clearly play a fundamental role in all of our daily lives, ranging from health to the quality of the environment, education, housing or even social ties and security. It is therefore crucial that the public at large understand how the new indicators designed to supplement GDP are constructed and interpreted, and if possible the public should be fully involved in the process.
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Green chemistry
Economic growth over the past decades has led to improved quality of life, increased prosperity and longer, healthier lives in nearly all countries. Resource constraints are making us realise that to continue to enjoy these benefits we will have to change course towards more sustainable or greener growth.
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Tax and development
Tackling the challenge to build well-functioning tax systems in developing countries requires concerted international co-operation among developed and developing countries, international organisations, business and civil society.
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Charles Fadel ©OECD
Skills for innovation
As technology progresses, so do labour market needs. For economies today, maintaining competitiveness means that skills must adapt and keep pace.
(935 words)Protecting women's work
Half the world’s workforce, 1.5 billion working women and men, are in vulnerable employment. The global economic crisis has swelled the ranks of those whose jobs do not provide enough to meet basic needs, the “working poor”, by more than 100 million people, mainly women.
(981 words)Tackling inequality
The average income of the richest 10% of the population is about nine times that of the poorest 10%, up from seven times what it was 25 years ago. Even in more egalitarian countries, such as Germany and Sweden, the earnings of the richest are over six times higher than those of the poorest, compared with just over three in 1985. Inequality has narrowed in countries like Chile and Mexico, though the income gap between rich and poor is still 27 to 1, and in Brazil, which as this edition shows has implemented impressive programmes against poverty and inequality, the gap stands at 50 to 1. Clearly, the benefits of economic growth have not trickled down or been fairly distributed.
Why does this matter to policy makers? Inequality is a critical social and economic challenge. Widening disparities weaken the structures that hold our societies together and threaten our ability to move forward. This effect has become even more apparent with the current prolonged crisis, which has been felt by a wide range of income groups throughout the OECD area.
Martine Durand ©OECD
Progress: from compass to global positioning system
For most of the last century, progress in the conditions of our societies was often assessed through the compass of economic growth, or GDP. In recent years, however, both governments and citizens have come to recognise that GDP provides only a partial view of today’s economic and social conditions and of whether these conditions can be expected to last in the future. Better indicators are needed that take into account sustainability, equity and quality of life.
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M. van der Hoeven ©OECD
Energy security: looking towards uncertainty
Energy markets in 2012, like the broader economic picture, are marked by significant uncertainty. From a policy perspective, global macroeconomic concerns in 2011 diverted attention away from energy policy and could do the same this year. That could have worrying impacts on policy progress, especially as recent months have ushered in record carbon dioxide emissions, worsening energy efficiency and sustained high oil prices.
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©Mark Armstrong
A global safety net
In October 2011, a high-level panel headed by the former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, delivered a ground-breaking report to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, arguing that everyone around the globe should receive a living income, guaranteed through transfers in cash or in kind, such as pensions for the elderly and persons with disabilities, child benefits, income support benefits and/or employment guarantees, and services for the unemployed and working poor. Martin Hirsch, a member of that panel, explains why this proposal for a more socially responsible globalisation can work.
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©Luke MacGregor/Reuters
The gender dividend: an urgent economic imperative
The corporate world is far from making the most out of gender diversity in the workplace. But some businesses are finding innovative ways to change this.
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©Yuriko Nakano/Reuters
In Japan’s footsteps
The global economy took a sharp turn for the worse following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, and today it is increasingly apparent that the crisis has entered its second round. This time we are facing a combination of low growth and trouble in the financial sector, just as governments find themselves running out of economic policy options.
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R.Trumka ©OECD
Occupational risk: the global jobs emergency
The latest phase of the economic crisis presents a dilemma: many governments judge it necessary to enter a phase of fiscal austerity while unemployment remains intolerably high, a high risk combination. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka calls for a different way forward.
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John Evans © OECD
Taking a wider view of progress
Perhaps one of the biggest weaknesses in traditional economic thinking is the belief that GDP per capita is the only relevant benchmark of economic performance.
Yet, there is compelling evidence to show that increases in GDP have little impact on happiness or life chances.(1096 words)
Rolf Alter
Public governance: The other deficit
Frustrated citizens are asking their governments: “When will we see effective policies to support economic growth and generate jobs?” There is an endless debate in individual countries and at the international level, but policy responses to the crisis continue to appear fragmented, timid and sometimes incoherent.
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Mario Pezzini
An emerging middle class
The increase in average incomes and the fall in levels of absolute poverty, in particular during the last decade, suggest that an increasing proportion of the world’s population is neither rich nor poor by national standards but finds itself in the middle of the income distribution.
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Peggy Hollinger
A hollowing middle class
In many countries, the middle class is feeling squeezed, and the crisis has only made matters worse. What is behind this sentiment and what can be done to reverse it?
(1098 words)
Mark Pieth ©OECD
Don’t forget corruption
The crisis should not divert attention from the fight against corruption.
Mark Pieth, Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, talks to Lyndon Thompson about the need to keep the ball rolling.(1052 words)
Cherie Blair ©OECD
Women and entrepreneurship
Discrimination against women hurts everyone. As Founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women Cherie Blair explains, women entrepreneurs are an economic resource that economies, rich and poor alike, can ill afford to overlook.
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Peggy Hollinger
A hollowing middle class
In many countries, the middle class is feeling squeezed, and the crisis has only made matters worse. What is behind this sentiment and what can be done to reverse it?
(1129 words)
Bo Smith
Help wanted
Among the employment challenges exacerbated by the economic crisis, long-term joblessness and youth unemployment are especially troubling as their effects can linger long after the job market has recovered.
Governments would do well to focus on these problems now.(1086 words)
Pier Carlo Padoan ©OECD
The evolving paradigm
The history of economic policymaking has been marked by a succession of “paradigms” defining the goals of economic policy and the instruments used to attain them.
OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan looks at where we go from here.(991 words)
Where are we in the current economic crisis?
- Women in work: The Norwegian experience
- Clinical trials for better health policies
- Policy can brighten the economic outlook
- Information society: Which way now?
- Asia’s Challenges
- Study abroad
- The EU fish discard ban: Where’s the catch?
- Homo Economicus: An uncertain guide
- Knowledge is growth
- “Made in the world”








