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Drawing on the OECD’s expertise in comparing country experiences and identifying best practices, the Better Policies series tailors the OECD’s policy advice to the specific and timely priorities of member and partner countries, focusing on how governments can make reform happen.
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 2011.
In the three decades to the recent economic downturn, wage gaps widened and household income inequality as measured by GINI increased in a large majority of OECD countries. This occurred even when countries were going through a period of sustained economic and employment growth. This report analyses the major underlying forces behind these developments. It examines to which extent economic globalisation, skill-biased technological progress and institutional and regulatory reforms have had an impact on the distribution of earnings. The report further provides evidence of how changes in family formation and household structures have altered household earnings and income inequality. And it documents how tax and benefit systems have changed in the ways they redistribute household incomes. The report discusses which policies are most promising to counter increases in inequalities and how the policy mix can be adjusted when public budgets are under strain.
"Analyses rely on simple statistical techniques that are accessible to a large readership... the graphic and charts are of great help to gain a quick visual grasp of the various issues addressed."
-Choice
This study provides an empirical review of the role of governments, the private sector, regional economic institutions and the broader international community in driving economic diversification. Individual case studies of five African economies describe both the catalysts of and barriers to diversification. The study is published jointly by the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (UN-OSAA) and the NEPAD-OECD Africa Investment Initiative.
The global recovery from the deepest recession since the Great Depression is under way, but it remains overly dependent on macroeconomic policy stimulus and has not yet managed to significantly reduce high and persistent unemployment in many countries. Going for Growth 2011 highlights the structural reforms needed to restore long-term growth in the wake of the crisis. For each OECD country and, for the first time, six key emerging economies (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa), five reform priorities are identified that would be most effective in delivering sustained growth over the next decade. The analysis shows that many of these reforms could also assist much-needed fiscal consolidation and contribute to reducing global current account imbalances.
The internationally comparable indicators provided here enable countries to assess their economic performance and structural policies in a wide range of areas.
In addition, this issue contains three analytical chapters covering housing policies, the efficiency of health care systems and the links between structural policies and current account imbalances.
This lavishly illustrated book tells the story of the development of the OECD from the founding of its predecessor organisation, the OEEC after World War II, to the transformation into the OECD in 1960, and its evolution since that time. Covering the stewardship of 6 Secretaries-General over a period of 50 years, the book describes what OECD does and how it does it. An interesting chapter on a Day in the Life of a Chateau, tracks a typical day for a variety of OECD staffers, illustrating the breadth and variety of what people do at the OECD.
Recent global shocks, such as the 2008 financial crisis, have driven policy makers and industry strategists to re-examine how to prepare for and respond to events that can begin locally and propagate around the world with devastating effects on society and the economy. This report considers how the growing interconnectedness in the global economy could create the conditions and vectors for rapid and widespread disruptions. It looks at examples of hazards and threats that emerge from the financial world, cyberspace, biological systems and even the solar system, to reflect on what strategic capacities are called for to improve assessment, mapping, modelling, response and resilience to such large scale risks.
Every person aspires to a good life. But what does “a good or a better life” mean? This report looks at the most important aspects that shape people’s lives and well-being: income, jobs, housing, health, work and life-balance, education, social connections, civic engagement and governance, environment, personal security and subjective well-being. It paints a comprehensive picture of well-being in OECD countries and other major economies, by looking at people’s material living conditions and quality of life across the population. The report responds to the needs of citizens for better information on well-being and of policy makers to give a more accurate picture of societal progress.
The report finds that well-being has increased on average over the past fifteen years: people are richer and more likely to be employed; they enjoy better housing conditions and are exposed to lower air pollution; they live longer and are more educated; they are also exposed to fewer crimes. But differences across countries are large. Furthermore, some groups of the population, particularly less educated and low-income people, tend to fare systematically worse in all dimensions of well-being considered in this report: for instance they live shorter lives and report greater health problems; their children obtain worse school results; they participate less in political activities; they can rely on lower social networks in case of needs; they are more exposed to crime and pollution; they tend to be less satisfied with their life as a whole than more educated and higher-income people.
How’s Life? is part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, launched by the Organization on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary. The OECD Better Life Initiative aims to promote “Better Policies for Better Lives”, in line with the OECD’s overarching mission. One of the other pillars of the OECD Better Life Initiative is the Your Better Life Index ( www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org ), an interactive composite index of well-being that aims at involving citizens in the debate on societal progress.
How to make the most of public investment? This question is critical in today’s tight fiscal environment. Given that sub-national governments in OECD countries carry out more than two thirds of total capital investment, they have played a key role in executing national stimulus packages during the global crisis. The effectiveness of recovery strategies based on public investment thus depends largely on the arrangements between levels of government to design and implement the investment mix. This report provides an overview of challenges met in the recovery and highlights good practices and lessons learned, focusing on eight country cases: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States. As stimulus packages are being phased out since 2010, many countries have moved toward fiscal consolidation and targeted public investment as an adjustment variable. Co-ordination between levels of government was essential to implement recovery measures, and it is equally important to better prioritise reduced public investment and make the most of it for sustainable growth.
National Accounts at a Glance presents information using an ‘indicator’ approach, focusing on cross-country comparisons; the aim being to make the national accounts more accessible and informative, while, at the same time, taking the opportunity to present the conceptual underpinning of, and comparability issues inherent in, each of the indicators presented.
This book includes OECD’s unique StatLink service, which enables readers to download Excel® versions of tables and graphs. Look for the StatLink at the foot of each table and graph.
The range of indicators reflects the richness inherent in the national accounts dataset and encourages users to refocus some of the spotlight that is often placed on GDP to other economic important indicators, which may better respond to their needs. The publication is broken down into seven key chapters, and provides indicators related to income, expenditure, production, government and capital respectively.
Data are generally available for the period 1996-2009.
National Accounts at a Glance presents information using an "indicator" approach, focusing on cross-country comparisons; the aim being to make the national accounts more accessible and informative, whilst, at the same time, taking the opportunity to present the conceptual underpinning of, and comparability issues inherent in, each of the indicators presented.
This book includes OECD's unique StatLink service, which enables readers to download Excel® versions of tables and graphs. Look for the StatLink at the foot of each table and graph.
The range of indicators reflects the richness inherent in the national accounts dataset and encourages users to refocus some of the spotlight that is often placed on GDP to other economic important indicators, which may better respond to their needs. The publication is broken down into six key chapters, and provides indicators related to income, expenditure, production, government and capital respectively.
The National Accounts of OECD Countries, Financial Accounts 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.
The National Accounts of OECD Countries, Financial Balance Sheets includes financial stocks (both financial assets and 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 instrument.
The 2011 edition of 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.
The publication covers 33 of the 34 OECD countries. Data are expressed in national currencies and cover the period from 2003 to 2010.
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 purchasing power parities and exchange rates. Data are shown for 34 OECD countries and the Euro area from 2009 back to 2002. Country tables are expressed in national currency. Data are based on the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA) for all countries except Australia which is presented on the basis of the 2008 SNA.
The National Accounts of OECD Countries, Detailed Tables includes, in addition to main aggregates, final consumption expenditure of households by purpose, simplified accounts for three main sectors: general government, corporations and households. Data are shown for 34 OECD countries and the Euro area back to 2003. Country tables are expressed in national currency. Data are based on the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA) for all countries except Australia which is presented on the basis of the 2008 SNA.
Trends in bank profitability and factors affecting it are major indicators of changes in the state of health of national banking systems. This publication complements Banking Statistics: Financial Statements of Banks 2010 which provides a unique tool for analysing developments in bank profitability in OECD countries. In addition to information on financial statements of banks in OECD countries, it includes data on the number of reporting banks, their branches and staff, structural information on the whole financial sector and ratios aiming at facilitating the analysis of bank profitability of OECD countries.
The methodological country notes included in this volume were prepared to facilitate the comprehension and the interpretation of the statistics and to provide a brief description of the activities of banks in each country.