Government at a Glance 2011
This second edition of Government at a Glance more than doubles the number of available indicators of OECD governments’ performance. The indicators compare the political and institutional frameworks of government across OECD countries as well as government revenues and expenditures, employment, and compensation. They also include indicators describing government policies and practices on integrity, e-government and open government, and introduce several composite indexes summarising key aspects of public management practices in human resources management, budgeting, procurement, and regulatory management. For each figure, the book provides a dynamic link (StatLink) which direct the user to a web page where corresponding data are available in Excel® format. The report also offers two special chapters, on leveraged governance and on the policy implications of fiscal consolidation.
The 58 data sets of member and partner countries in this 2011 edition of Government at a Glance include the first ever international comparison of public sector pay for selected professions and public service occupations, which points to a fairly egalitarian pay structure in the public sector; estimations of country-specific fiscal consolidation requirements, which have been found to be large in many countries; the level of disclosure of private interests in the three branches of government; and the implementation gap of Open Government policies to promote transparency, efficiency and trust.
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 4.39MBPDF
Size of general government financial assets and liabilities
Like households and corporations, governments hold both financial assets (such as accumulated cash or currency) and liabilities (debt). The amount of government-held financial assets and liabilities broadly correlates to the difference between revenues and expenditures over time: deficits are financed by either depleting savings (spending financial assets) or borrowing money (increasing liabilities). Along with other indicators, the net balance between government-held assets and liabilities can be one key measure of fiscal sustainability. In general, the higher a government’s liabilities, the higher the perceived risk by markets on the probability of a government defaulting on loans and therefore the higher risk premium required by the market, which in turn raises the cost of debt.
Also available in: French
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 304.29KBPDF