The financial crisis sweeping world markets is the worst since the Great Depression. While the crisis is biting into the real economy, hard lessons are being learned. How should policymakers move forward, particularly as room for manoeuvre is being squeezed?

The effect multinationals have on wages and working conditions can be positive, but there are conditions to bear in mind, not least for policymakers wishing to attract foreign direct investment.

University league tables are fashionable, but should not be taken as accurate measures of the quality of education. The OECD is investigating other tools to measure performance, policymakers and educators heard at a recent conference.

UK warned on corruption; Gender gap persists; Tax progress mixed; Economy; News shorts (healthcare, pollution, education, migration); Soundbites; Plus ça change…

The world has seen recent decades of rapid growth. This has been most obvious in newly-industrialising countries, notably China and India, but has been shared by OECD countries. Yet the fruits of this economic growth have not been equally divided–either between countries or within countries. As it is put in the introduction to a new OECD report, Growing Unequal?, “there is widespread concern that economic growth is not being shared fairly” (page 15, see references). A rising tide does not necessarily raise all boats. Or, to use another liquid metaphor, we cannot rely on trickle-down.

The developing world needs millions of trained health workers immediately just to provide the most basic healthcare, yet doctors are leaving poor countries to go to richer ones.

Deposit insurance limits

Amid the worst current financial crisis since the 1930s, some government leaders have pledged to protect savers’ deposits and others are considering this option. Already most OECD countries have explicit deposit insurance schemes for savings up to certain limits. In a number of countries these have now been raised temporarily. Until the latest statements suggesting unlimited guarantees in some countries, legal coverage was highest in Norway, France, Italy and Mexico (see graph). Click here for full story.

The pharmaceutical industry’s important role in the OECD economy is reflected in expenditure, with a total of US$569 billion on pharmaceuticals (excluding pharmaceuticals for in-patients) in 2005.

While OECD countries compete to attract high-skilled immigrants, the 2008 International Migration Outlook finds that employers increasingly rely on immigrants for low-skilled work. Just a fifth on average of the low-educated workforce in 21 OECD countries in the report is foreign-born, whereas the EU25 average is 14.1%.

Education is a long-term investment, though at the same time it is faced with pressures from constant social and economic change.