15 MARCH 2012

HIGHLIGHTS

OECD Environment Ministers to meet 29-30 March 2012: Announcement

Act now or face costly consequences, says OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction: Press release | Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary

Water management needs urgent reform if the world is to head off serious deterioration in the quality and quantity of water available, says Meeting the Water Reform Challenge: Press release | Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary

Gross borrowing by governments expected to remain high, says OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook 2012 Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary (PDF available now, print edition to come soon)

OECD PUBLISHING NEWS

OECD.Stat to be updated on OECD iLibrary. The OECD.Stat statistics environment inside the OECD iLibrary will be updated in the coming days. Based on a series of user tests, navigation will be improved with the button bars being replaced by drop-down menus and improved dialogue boxes. A new charting module will be added. It will offer bar and line charts and scatter plots. Users behind proxy servers will no longer have problems when changing the default time and frequency dimensions. See OECD.Stat on OECD iLibrary

OECD Subscription Prices for 2012: Price list

New OECD Key Titles Catalogue, 2012: Catalogue

OECD iLibrary: Brochure

OECD publications will be on exhibit at the following events in the coming months:

• Ciencias de la Información de la Universidad, 21-23 March 2012, Veracruzana, Mexico
• Computers in Libraries, 21-23 March 2012, Washington, DC, USA
• UKSG, 26-28 March 2012, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
• CONPAB IES, Los Cabos, BCS, 11-13 April 2012, Mexico
• Congreso INFO, 16-20 April 2012, La Habana, Cuba
• Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá, 18 April-1 May, Bogata, Colombia
• International Bielefeld Conference, 24-26 April 2012, Bielefeld, Germany
• Inforum, 22-24 May 2012, Prague, Czech Republic
• Deutsche Bibliothekartag, 22-25 May 2012, Hamburg, Germany
• Jornadas AMBAC, 22-25 May 2012, Villahermosa, Mexico
• American Library Association, 22-25 June 2012, Anaheim, California, USA
• Special Libraries Association, 15-18 July 2012, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• National Association for Business Economics, 13-16 October 2012, New York, New York, USA
  

AGRICULTURE/FOOD/FISHERIES

More effective action needed to cut water pollution from farming, says Water Quality and Agriculture: Meeting the Policy Challenge: Press release | Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary

Focus on strategic agricultural investments to reduce poverty in developing countries, says Agricultural Policies and Poverty Reduction: Press release | Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary | Synthesis on Online Bookshop | Synthesis on OECD iLibrary

Forthcoming
-OECD/FAO Agricultural Outlook 2012
-Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2012: OECD Countries
-Farmer Behaviour, Agricultural Management and Climate Change: Book listing

BUSINESS & MARKETS

Gross borrowing by governments expected to remain high, says OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook 2012 Book announcement| Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary (PDF available now, print edition to come soon)

Empowering Women Through Financial Awareness and Education: Working paper

Only one in ten board members of top companies are women, finds OECD: Press release

Public and private sectors join forces to fight corruption in Egypt, 25-26 March, 2012, Cairo, Egypt: Announcement

Reform Priorities in Asia: Taking Corporate Governance to a Higher Level:Report (PDF - 2.12 mb)

Kyrgyz Republic should build on popular support to stamp out corruption, says OECD Anti-Corruption Network: Press release | Report (PDF - 1.29 mb)

Uzbekistan should strengthen fight against corruption says OECD Anti-Corruption Network: Press release | Report (PDF - 1.2 mb)

Foreign bribery and the role of the legal profession. Keynote remarks by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría at the 10th Annual International Bar Association’s Anti-Corruption Conference: Speech

Forthcoming
-OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises
-Competitiveness and Private Sector Development: Ukraine 2011: Sector Competitiveness Strategy
-OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Colombia 2012: Book listing
-OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Kazakhstan 2012: Book listing
-OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Zambia 2012: Book listing
-OECD Journal: Financial Market Trends, Volume 2011 Supplement 1: Five Decades at the Heart of Financial Modernisation
-Towards New Arrangements for State Ownership in the Middle East and North Africa: Book listing
-Related Party Transactions and Minority Shareholder Rights: Book listing
-Identification and Quantification of the Proceeds of Bribery: Revised edition, February 2012: Book listing

DEVELOPMENT

OECD Development Centre celebrates 50th Anniversary: Website | SG's Speech

Focus on strategic agricultural investments to reduce poverty in developing countries, says Agricultural Policies and Poverty Reduction: Press release | Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary | Synthesis on Online Bookshop | Synthesis on OECD iLibrary

Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows to Developing Countries 2012: Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary | Dataset on OECD iLibrary

International Drivers of Corruption: A Tool for Analysis: Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary (Print edition now available)

Tax and Development: OECD Yearbook article

Sharp rise in aid to water supply and sanitation: Webpage

Aid in Support of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Report (PDF - 1 mb)

Call for Think Pieces: Good Practice in Communicating Development Results: Announcement

Growth in Asia Weak with Signs of Improvements: Latest Asian Business Cycle Indicators

OECD Development Centre on Twitter: Announcement

Forthcoming
-OECD Insights - From Aid to Development: The Global Fight against Poverty (formerly titled -OECD Insights: Develoment and Aid): Book listing
-Aid Effectiveness 2011: Book listing

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

Hungary must stabilise its economy for a durable recovery, says OECD Economic Surveys: Hungary 2012: Press release | Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary

OECD Week 2012, comprising OECD Forum 2012 and the Meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial Level will be held on 22-24 May 2012.

OECD’s Gurría welcomes successful debt reduction outcome for Greece: Press release
:
OECD Economics Department Working Papers:
-944: Work Incentives and Recent Reforms of the Tax and Benefit System in Hungary
-945: Non-Keynesian Effects of Fiscal Consolidation:  An Analysis with an Estimated DSGE Model for the Hungarian Economy
-946: Assessing the Sensitivity of Hungarian Debt Sustainability to Macroeconomic Shocks under Two Fiscal Policy Reactions
-947: Do House Prices Impact Consumption and Interest Rate? Evidence from OECD Countries Using an Agnostic Identification Procedure

Forthcoming
-OECD Economic Surveys: Poland 2012: Book listing

ECONOMIC STATISTICS

OECD Statistics Newsletter, March 2012 includes articles on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering Progress; an Asia-Pacific Perspective; New European Indicators to Supplement the Unemployment Rate; Improving Official Statistics in Cambodia; Enhancements on ECB MFI Interest Rate Statistics and Recent Foreign Direct Investment Trends: Newsletter

OECD annual inflation rate eases slightly to 2.8% in January 2012: Press release

OECD unemployment rate stable at 8.2% in January 2012: Press release

Composite leading indicator for the OECD continues to signal a positive change in momentum: Press release

G20 GDP growth slows to +0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011: Press release

OECD and WTO to start measuring trade in value-added as production chains globalise: Press release

EDUCATION

OECD calls for a new approach to tackle teacher shortage in Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the 21st Century: Press release | Report (PDF - 4.11 mb - Final report to be published in book form soon)

Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills: Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary (Print version now also available)

Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for Japan: Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary

Knowledge and skills are infinite - oil is not: Blog post by Andreas Schleicher | Related Thomas Friedman NYT article

What Kinds of Careers do Boys and Girls Expect for Themselves? PISA in Focus | Blog post

Register Now! IMHE General Conference 2012: Announcement

educationtoday: OECD’s blog on global perspectives on education: Blog

Forthcoming

-Languages in a Global World: Learning for Better Cultural Understanding: Book listing
-School Leadership: The creation of a common school culture: Teaching and Learning: International Survey (TALIS 2008 Data thematic report)
-Innovation in School Education: TALIS Thematic Report
-PISA 2009 Technical Report: Book listing
-Quality Matters in Early Childhood and Education: Finland 2012: Book listing
-The Experience of New Teachers: Results from TALIS 2008: Book listing
-Learning beyond Fifteen: Ten Years after PISA: Book listing
-Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the 21st Century: Lessons from around the World: Book listing

EMPLOYMENT & SOCIAL AFFAIRS

Men earn more than women, work less, and occupy more of the top jobs – but women live longer, are better educated and get to retire younger. How best to harness the talents of both sexes for better lives all round? Website article

Tackling inequality: OECD Observer article by Angel Gurría

Tackling poverty and inequality: OECD Observer article

International Women's Day: New times, old perspectives? OECD Observer Article | OECD Gender Website

Forthcoming
-Job Tasks, Work Skills and the Labour Market
-Jobs for Immigrants, Vol. 3: Labour Market Integration in Austria, Norway and Switzerland: Book listing

ENERGY

ENVIRONMENT

OECD Environment Ministers to meet 29-30 March 2012: Announcement

Act now or face costly consequences, says OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction: Press release | Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary

HEALTH

Who pays if you are sick? OECD Observer article

Forthcoming
-OECD Reviews of Health Systems: Russian Federation 2012: Book listing
-Health Care Quality in Korea

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY

Developments in Mobile Termination: Working paper

NUCLEAR ENERGY

OECD/NEA Director-General Luis E. Echávarri on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident: One year later: Press release | Video

International Structure for Decommissioning Costing (ISDC) of Nuclear Installations: Report (PDF - 33 mb)

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

Policy makers must work together to maintain a global pole position and fully realise the region’s potential says the OECD Territorial Review: Chicago Tri-State Metropolitan Region: Press release | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary (PDF available now. Printed book to come soon.)

Innovative Urban Financing can help cities to grow green and generate jobs, conclude participants of the OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers meeting in Chicago: Press release | Website

Institutional and Financial Relations across Levels of Government: Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary (Printed book now available)

Forthcoming:
-Lobbyists, Governments and Public Trust, Volume 2: Promoting Integrity through Self-regulation
-OECD Territorial Reviews: Chihuahua, Mexico 2012
-OECD Territorial Reviews, Småland-Blekinge, Sweden 2012: Book listing
-OECD Integrity Review of Brazil: Managing Risks for a Cleaner Public Service: Book listing
-Better Regulation in Europe: Italy 2012: Book listing
-Compact City Policies: A Comparative Assessment: Book listing
-OECD Urban Policy Reviews, Korea 2012: Book listing

SCIENCE , TECHNOLOGY & INDUSTRY

Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management for Public to Private Knowledge Transfer: An Analytic Review of the Literature: Working paper

From the Industrial Revolution to the Green Revolution: OECD Yearbook Article

OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy: Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary

Food and the Tourism Experience: The OECD-Korea Workshop: Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary (Printed book now also available)

OECD Biotechnology Update, March 2012: Update (PDG 704 kb)

SMEs & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Food and the Tourism Experience: The OECD-Korea Workshop: Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary (Printed book now also available)

Forthcoming
-Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurship: An OECD Scoreboard: Book listing

TAXATION

Reforming Fiscal Federalism and Local Government: Beyond the Zero-Sum Game: Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary ( Print version now available)

OECD recommends action on international tax loopholes in Hybrid Mismatch Arrangements: Tax Policy and Compliance Issues: Press release | Report (pdf - 1.39 MB)

Costa Rica becomes first Central American country to sign international tax agreement: Press release

Public comments received on the discussion draft on the definition of “permanent establishment” in the OECD Model Tax Convention:Comments received

Ms. Monica Bhatia has been appointed Head of the Secretariat of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes : Announcement

Forthcoming:
-Working Smarter in Revenue Administration: Book listing
- Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Peer Reviews:
-- Brazil 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--Chile 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
-- Costa Rica 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--Cyprus 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--Czech Republic 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--Guatemala 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--Republic of Korea 2012: Combined: Phase 1 + Phase 2
--Malta 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--Mexico 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--Slovak Republic 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
--United Arab Emirates 2012: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework
-Taxing Wages 2011: Book listing

TRADE

OECD and WTO to start measuring trade in value-added as production chains globalise: Press release

TRANSPORTATION

Massive infrastructure investment needed to meet future demand, says Strategic Transport Infrastructure Needs to 2030: Press release | Book announcement | Book on Online Bookshop | Book on OECD iLibrary

KOTI-ITF/OECD Seminar on Seamless Public Transport for All: Website with links to papers presented

FROM THE OECD INSIGHTS BLOG

For the people...
At this year’s Global Forum on Development, I was invited to contribute some remarks on “governance”, a convenient shorthand for referring to the mechanics by which our societies are run, our institutions function, and our public administrations exercise fairness. In today’s complex and globalized societies, governing implies understanding and applying a multiplicity of complex  rules, standards and agreements. Often these are quite technical, and even incomprehensible for non-experts who are unfamiliar, for instance, with the vocabulary of genetics databanks or nuclear energy. Others hide extremely difficult tasks of interpretation and application behind expressions we’re all familiar with, such as due diligence or bribery. And then there are those, such as transfer pricing, that are founded on concepts that are both technically demanding and arduous to understand and implement. This is why we need bureaucracies: we need people trained to understand and apply the complex sets of rules that allow our ever-more diversified yet interconnected societies to function. Critics often point out that the great empires of Greece, Rome, China, Persia, or Britain managed to govern vast territories with fewer pen pushers than an average government department today. That may be true, but life is much simpler for an administrator who makes the rules, decides how (and if) to apply them, and can exile, imprison or execute anyone who disagrees. Fortunately today, it is the rule rather than the exception for legislation to hold governments and their administrations to account for how things are done. Read more

Are tax havens disappearing?
The fight against tax havens was one of the priorities of the 2009 G20 summit in London. Three years later, the results are mixed. To combat fraud and tax evasion by the wealthy, the G20 decided to push for the signature of treaties covering the mutual exchange of information in order to develop information exchange on demand. What can we expect from this? Read more

Are tax havens disappearing? Yes, but this is only the beginning
Christian Chavagneux is right to criticise tax havens and argues that more needs to be done to combat their negative consequences for developed and developing countries alike. But it’s wrong to imply that the G20’s actions have been ineffective since it pledged to tackle the issue in 2009. The study he quotes by Johansen and Zucman on whether bank secrecy has ended actually answers another question, namely the effect of the G20 push for tax information exchange on the location of bank deposits. The location of the deposits themselves is not the issue – funds do not need to be repatriated to a country in order to be taxed by that country. What is important, and what the G20 initiative focuses on, is making the existence and ownership of those deposits more transparent to tax authorities. The information exchange agreements signed since 2009 are only now beginning to enter into force, and the expansion of each country’s network of agreements is continuing. Even so, an OECD survey of 20 rich and poor countries showed that early measures to deter tax evasion have already resulted in 100,000 individuals paying a total of $14bn in unpaid tax on assets worth between $120-150bn. Read more

Tackling gender differences in financial literacy
International Women’s Day traditionally attracts media attention to differences between men and women, such as the number of women on company boards, income gaps, and so on. However, awareness of gender differences in financial literacy and of their potential implications has remained quite low even though policy makers now recognise financial literacy as an essential life-skill, and financial education has become an important policy priority as a complement to financial consumer protection, inclusion and prudential regulation. The G20 Mexican Presidency for example has called on the OECD to develop High Level Principles on National Strategy for Financial Education that are expected to be approved by G20 leaders in June 2012. A new working paper from the OECD’s Financial Affairs Division, Empowering Women through Financial Awareness and Education, reveals that women perform worse than men on tests of financial knowledge on average. Read more

Hourglass job markets and earnings inequality
It’s becoming more and more common to hear both researchers and policymakers across the OECD talking about the polarisation of labour markets. This is the idea that, because of technical progress, many middle-skill, middle-wage jobs (such as assembly line operators and clerical workers) have been replaced by machinery, hollowing out the labour market. This leads to increased employment in either high skill jobs – managers, professional and technician – or low wage work, particular in personal or retail services. While we readily see this change in the types of jobs people are doing, it is less clear what effect this had had on the distribution of earnings. If everything else in the labour market had stayed the same, this hollowing-out would certainly be the cause of rising wage inequality. However, over the past thirty years, polarisation is just one of a number of changes which have impacted what people are paid. So the question is: what impact has it really had on earnings? Read more

Lessons in Service
Classes end early at Maru-a-Pula school in Gaborone. But as students spill out into the intense heat of the African afternoon, their day is far from over. After eating lunch, they get to choose from the sort of activities found in most schools – sport, music, art and so on. But on at least a few afternoons a week, the students also take part in “service learning” – in other words, helping out in the school or local community. For some students, that can mean cleaning out science labs or covering books in the library. Others leave campus and head off to help out in care homes for the disabled or to a nearby village, where they run education and food programmes. The scale of the school and the students’ commitment is impressive: at two o’clock, buses line up to take the youngsters to their projects. Once there, they all pitch in and may take on relatively demanding duties, such as working with children with severe disabilities. Read more

Tragedy at sea
At the start of the year, I was thinking of doing something about the Titanic, 2012 being the centenary of its sinking, and a chance to quote one of the greatest illustrations of hubris ever uttered (if it ever was): “God himself couldn’t sink this ship”. Technically, God didn’t, but as we all know, one of His icebergs did. Then the Costa Concordia sank and I decided to wait. But for the past couple of days, the misadventures of the Concordia’s sister ship the Costa Allegra have featured prominently on the French news. This is because, first of the association with the other vessel, and second because the Indian navy supplied spectacular footage of the cruise liner being towed by a fishing boat. Two questions come to mind. When will Costa change the name of whatever is left of their fleet to something forgettable? And why does a fishing boat need engines powerful enough to haul a gigantic cruise liner hundreds of miles across the ocean? Read more