Browse by: "2008"

OECD banking statistics, published annually under the title Bank Profitability: Financial Statements of Banks, provide a unique tool for analysing developments in the banking sector in OECD Member countries. The methodological country notes included in this volume complement the statistical publication and have been prepared to facilitate the comprehension and the interpretation of the statistics.

This directory provides official information on the mandates, dates of creation and durations of current mandates, composition of member countries and observers, and chairmanship of the OECD Council and its related committees, sub-committees, working groups, expert groups, and ad hoc groups.  It includes coverage of the International Energy Agency and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and is updated annually.  It is, in effect, a guide to country participation in the many activities of the OECD for the year 2008. 

Across the OECD, governments are seeking to undertake structural reforms to strengthen economic growth. Going for Growth 2008 takes stock of recent progress in implementing policy reforms to improve labour productivity and utilisation that were identified as priorities in the 2007 edition. The set of internationally comparable indicators provided here enables countries to assess their economic performance and structural policies in a broad range of areas. In addition, this issue contains five analytical chapters covering:
the variation in working hours across OECD countries, the scope to improve performance of primary and secondary schools in OECD countries, how policies can enhance investment in higher education, how geographical factors affect GDP per capita, and the impact of domestic regulation on international trade in services.

This Handbook is a guide for constructing and using composite indicators for policy makers, academics, the media and other interested parties. While there are several types of composite indicators, this Handbook is concerned with those which compare and rank country performance in areas such as industrial competitiveness, sustainable development, globalization and innovation.  The Handbook aims to contribute to a better understanding of the complexity of composite indicators and to an improvement of the techniques currently used to build them.  In particular, it contains a set of technical guidelines that can help constructors of composite indicators to improve the quality of their outputs.It has been prepared jointly by the OECD (the Statistics Directorate and the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry) and the Applied Statistics and Econometrics Unit of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy. 

Provides financial accounts data for OECD countries and includes financial transactions (both net acquisition of financial assets and net incurrence of liabilities), by institutional sector (non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households and non-profit institutions serving households, total economy and rest of the world) and by financial operation. Data are shown for 28 OECD countries for the period from 1995 to 2006, when possible.

National Accounts of OECD Countries: General Government Accounts is an annual publication, dedicated to government finance which is based on the System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA 1993). It includes tables showing government aggregates and balances for the production, income and financial accounts as well as detailed tax and social contribution receipts and a breakdown of expenditure of general government by function, according to the harmonized international classification, COFOG. These detailed accounts are available for the general government sector. Data also cover the following sub-sectors, according to availability: central government, state government, local government and social security funds.This edition covers 29 of the 30 OECD countries. Data are expressed in national currencies and cover the period from 1995 to 2006.

The 2007 edition of the National Accounts of OECD Countries: Main Aggregates, covers expenditure based GDP, output based GDP, income based GDP ,disposable income, saving and net lending, population and employment.  It includes also comparative tables based on exchange rates and comparative tables based on purchasing power parities. Data are shown for 30 OECD countries and the euro area back to 1993 in most cases, expressed in national currency (in euros for euro area countries), but also in US dollars for gross domestic product and actual individual consumption expenditure back to 1982. These data are based on the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA) for all countries, except Turkey which is still presented on the basis of the 1968 SNA.

This 2008 edition of the National Accounts of OECD Countries, Volume II: Detailed Tables, covers, in addition to main aggregates, detailed national accounts data for most OECD countries for the period 1995 to 2006, with provisional data for 2007 when available.  It includes detailed breakdowns by kind of activity for gross value added (current and constant prices, 2000 reference year), components of value added, gross fixed capital formation and employment.  It also includes final consumption expenditure of households by purpose and  simplified accounts for three main sectors (general government, corporations and households).  Detailed accounts by institutional sectors (non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government and its sub-sectors, households and non-profit institutions serving households) are only available on the database version.  Data are shown for 30 OECD countries and the euro area back to 1995 and are expressed in national currency (in euros for euro area countries).  These data are based on the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA) for all countries. The print edition is presented in two volumes.

A comprehensive report on OECD activities in 2007-2008.

This December 2008 edition of the OECD Economic Outlook presents OECD's first set of economic analysis and projections since the financial crisis began. As always, it includes and overall assessment as well as individual country assessments for OECD and major non-OECD economies, and an extensive statistical annex.  This edition's special feature covers responses to inflation shocks.

This 2008 edition of OECD's periodic review of Australia's economy focuses on key challenges including raising the labour supply, enhancing educational performance, enhancing the functioning of product and labour markets, and improving water management.

OECD's periodic survey of Canada's economy.  After two chapters assessing the current economic situation and policy responses to new terms of trade, ageing, and climate change, additional articles are presented on tax reform, long-term sustainability in the energy sector, and modernising Canada's agricultural policies.

This edition of OECD's periodic survey of the Czech economy finds strong growth and manageable inflation. It addresses a number of key economic challenges including ensuring fiscal sustainability, improving the labour supply, and  harnessing globalisation.

OECD's periodic survey of the Danish economy.  After examining some of the key challenges faced by Denmark, the survey looks in more detail at the fiscal strategy; promoting employment and inclusiveness; tax reform, hours worked and growth; health care; and pension savings and capital taxation.

This 2008 edition of OECD's periodic survey of Finland's economy opens with a chapter examining how Finland can get the most out of Globalisation. It then reviews recent economic performance and examines key economic issues Finland faces including tax policy, the municipal services sector, a better functioning labour market, making tertiary education as good as compulsory education, and accessing and integrating foreign labour.

This 2008 edition of OECD's periodic survey of the German economy finds Germany enjoying a vigorous recovery after a long period of stagnation. To keep the recovery going, OECD finds Germany facing a number of key challenges including making the tax system more efficient, making labour market improvements last longer, improving education outcomes, strengthening competition in network industries, and making healthcare sustainable. These challenges are all addressed in some detail in this report.