Browse by: "2014"

This second edition of Understanding National Accounts, that provides a comprehensive explanation of how national accounts are compiled, contains new data and new chapters, and is adapted to the new systems of national accounts, SNA 2008 and ESA 2010, that came into effect in September 2014. It approaches national accounts from a truly global perspective, with special chapters dedicated to international comparisons, globalisation and well-being as well as to the national systems used in major OECD economies, such as the United States.

Each chapter of the manual uses practical examples to explain key concepts in national accounts in a clear and accessible way. And, each chapter concludes with a synthesis of key points covered in the chapter, followed by resources for further exploring the topic, and by a set of exercises to test your knowledge. It is an ideal guide to national accounts for students and other interested readers.

Having been hit hard by the global crisis, the Portuguese government has taken action to put its economy back on track, and to correct external and budgetary imbalances. Public finances have strengthened, and the current account deficit has closed on the back of gains in competitiveness and improvements in export performance. Portugal has also been able to reduce income inequality and relative poverty, a major accomplishment during a severe crisis with record levels of unemployment. As Portugal successfully exits the EU-IMF-ECB-supported programme and emerges from recession, it is more important than ever to build on these achievements.

At the request of the Portuguese authorities, the OECD has carried out an assessment of the impact of the reforms implemented to date on the economy’s longer-term growth outlook. The analysis is based on OECD indicators of the restrictiveness of Product Market Regulation (PMR) and the strictness of Employment Protection Legislation (EPL). It updates the OECD report Portugal: Reforming the State to Promote Growth, published in 2013.

According to the OECD’s Going for Growth exercise, Portugal is among the OECD countries with the best recent track record of responsiveness to structural reform recommendations. The reforms undertaken since 2009 to promote competition in product markets and enhance the dynamism of the labour market are expected to raise productivity and potential GDP by at least 3.5% by 2020.

OECD Factbook 2014 is a comprehensive annual statistical publication. More than 100 indicators cover a wide range of topics including new indicators on trade in value added and climate change.

Data are provided for all OECD member countries (including area totals), and for Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation and South Africa. For each indicator, there is a two-page spread: a text page includes a short introduction followed by a detailed definition of the indicator, comments on comparability of the data, an assessment of long-term trends related to the indicator and a list of references for further information on the indicator; the second page contains a table and a graph providing, at a glance, the key message conveyed by the data. Each indicator includes "StatLinks" which allow readers to download the corresponding data.

OECD Countries covered include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile,Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Non-OECD countries covered include Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and South Africa.

Topics covered include population and migration; production and productivity; household income, wealth and debt; globalisation, trade and foreign direct investment (FDI); prices, interest rates and exchange rates; energy and transportation; labour, employment and unemployment; science and technology including research and development (R&D) and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector; environment including natural resoures, water,and air and climate; education resources and outcomes; government expenditures, debt, revenues, taxes, agricultural support and foreign aid; and health status, risk and resources.

The OECD Factbook is also available as a free app for your mobile device! Visit your app store.