OECD in the news (articles by topic) - L'OCDE dans les médias (articles par sujet)

About the OECD

• Bush urges Europe to unite with U.S. ideals - International Herald Tribune
  13/06/2008 - ...The White House has billed the Paris speech at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as the centerpiece of the trip and a way for the president to lay out his view that relations between the United States and Europe are now in a "new era."
• Bush expects warm welcome on his farewell trip to Europe - RIA Novosti
  11/06/2008 - ...The president is not planning to make any major statements, except for a speech at the OECD summit in Paris on June 13.
• Cris d'alarme du FMI et de l'OCDE sur la crise financière - La Tribune
  17/03/2008 - Le directeur général du FMI pense que la crise financière sera globale et durable. Selon Dominique Strauss-Kahn, elle peut même empirer. Il appelle à la poursuite des réformes structurelles. De son côté, l'OCDE estime que les grandes instititions en difficulté peuvent créer des "risques systémiques".
• This tax haven has to act to restore its reputation - Angel Gurría, Financial Times
  21/02/2008 - ...Almost all the jurisdictions identified as potential tax havens by the OECD in 1998 have committed to the principles of transparency and effective exchange of information.

Ageing society

• Pensions slashed in OECD states - BBC
  08/07/2007 -The generosity of state pension systems has been slashed in many advanced countries, says the OECD.  An OECD report says the value of compulsory pension systems will drop by an average of 22% in 16 member states. (OECD report)
• Les retraités du monde entier confrontés à la baisse des pensions - L'Expansion
  07/06/2007 - Dans un rapport, l'OCDE note que les populations des pays membres devront épargner d'avantage en vue de leur retraite. Car la promesse de pension moyenne dans les 16 pays de l'OCDE a été réduite de 22% depuis les réformes entreprises (OECD report)
• Pensionen: OECD-Kritik an Österreich - Die Presse
  07/06/2007 - Wer länger arbeitet, wird bestraft – System zu teuer, Reformen „dringend geboten“.
  Die „Entschärfung“ der schwarz-blauen Pensionsreform wurde erst am Mittwoch vom Nationalrat in Wien beschlossen. Nur einen Tag später kommt von der OECD deutliche Kritik an Österreich. (OECD report)
  

Agriculture

• Gordon Brown: Stop wasting food - Robert Winnett, The Daily Telegraph
  07/07/2008 - ...Meanwhile, overall food and drink costs are up by 6 per cent - the highest rate in the Western world, according to the OECD.
• OECD will niedrigere Agrar-Subventionen - Die Zeit
  26/06/2008 - Landwirte brauchen die "größtmögliche Freiheit", um auf den Markt reagieren zu können, fordert die OECD. So wollen ihre Ökonomen die Nahrungskrise bekämpfen. Ihre Vorschläge bedeuten auch: Weniger Geld vom Staat (Rapport OCDE)
• Faut-il encore aider les agriculteurs ? - Laetitia Clavreul, Le Monde
  26/06/2008 - ...Selon un rapport de l'OCDE publié jeudi 26 juin, la part des soutiens dans les recettes des agriculteurs de ses membres (Etats-Unis, Union européenne, Japon, Australie...) a baissé en 2007, pour la troisième année consécutive. (Rapport OCDE)
• OECD official urges that biofuel subsidies be scrapped - Forbes
  09/06/2008 - ...Stefan Tangermann, agriculture director for the OECD said: 'I call urgently for reduced support for biofuels.'It is the only lever on which we can act rapidly,' he added during an address to a farm forum in Berlin.
• Food prices to stay high for a decade - Gary Duncan, The Times
  30/05/2008 - ...Much bigger family food bills will remain an everyday fact of life for consumers across the West, while for poor nations permanently dearer food will spell widespread hunger, famine and civil conflict, the study from the OECD and the UN FAO said.
• Food crisis talks set to begin - BBC News
  30/05/2008 - Prices would fall, but only gradually, the report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and the OECD said. (OECD report)
• Report forecasts higher food prices for next decade - Andrew Martin, International Herald Tribune
  30/05/2008 - Record prices for farm crops should gradually recede, but they will remain substantially higher than average over the next decade because of fundamental changes in demand, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations and the OECD. (OECD report)
• Food Prices To Stay High, "Grain Drain" Fuel Blamed - Planet Ark
  30/05/2008 - Food prices will remain high over the next decade even if they fall from current records, meaning millions more risk further hardship or hunger, the OECD and the UN's FAO food agency said in a report published on Thursday. (OECD report)
• No quick fix for escalating food prices, Alistair Darling told - Steve Hawkes, The Times
  23/05/2008 - ...An agricultural outlook compiled by the United Nations and the OECD said that prices for cereals, rice and oilseeds were forecast to be between 10 per cent to 35 per cent higher by 2017. (OECD report)
• Fertig mit billigem Essen - Peter Keller, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
  20/04/2008 - ...Die OECD geht davon aus, dass sich die Weizenpreise bis 2016 auf einem hohen, wenn auch gegenüber dem zweiten Halbjahr 2007 etwas abgeschwächten Niveau einpendeln werden.
• World food prices soar as Asia consumes more - Russell Blinch and Brian Love, International Herald Tribune
  31/03/2008 - (Reuters) - ..."This is an additional setback for the world economy, at a time when we are already going through major turbulence, but the biggest drama is the impact of higher food prices on the poor," Angel Gurría, head of the OECD, said.

Corporate Governance

• G8 summit: Encouraging words for CSR - Ethical Corporation
  22/07/2008 - ...Another sign of government interest in CSR was the release in June by the OECD Secretariat of an overview paper on global CSR initiatives and instruments.
• Governance flaws seen as 'red flag' for short selling - Kate Burgess, Financial Times
  23/06/2008 - ...Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OECD, said at the ICGN conference that the arrival and increasing activity of new types of investors in global markets, such as hedge funds, "is obviously welcome. It provides countries and companies with deeper capital markets and a wider range of capital providers.
• Jesover Says OECD Focused on Global Standards for Governance - Bernard Lo and Sumit Sharma, Bloomberg
  18/06/2008 - Fianna Jesover, senior policy manager at the OECD, comments on the outlook for corporate governance in Asia.

Fighting Corruption

• UK accused of 'lacking political will' to punish bribery - Haroon Siddique, The Guardian
  24/06/2008 - ...Transparency International found the UK to be "lagging" in its enforcement of the 1997 OECD.
• Football clubs investigated over money laundering - Rupert Neate, Daily Telegraph
  19/06/2008 - The FATF, which concentrates on terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, will now investigate dirty money in the beautiful game.
• German corporate scandals now hit Deutsche Telekom - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Daily Telegraph
  27/05/2008 - ...The German government has in the past seemed to wink at the use of the "black funds" to help gain export contracts abroad. It allowed companies to offset foreign bribes against tax as recently as 2000, three years after an OECD accord prohibiting bribery.
• Woolf report into BAE throws a cloak of goodwill over an immoral trade - Carl Mortished, The Times
  04/05/2008 - ...There is an OECD convention (of which Britain is a signatory) that denounces bribery and the US Department of Justice is active in the pursuit of American executive corrupters.
• The fall guy - David Leigh, The Guardian
  18/04/2008 - ...Since then, as the OECD and other critics have pointedly reminded him, he has failed to bring a single prosecution.
• SFO unlawful in ending BAE probe - BBC News
  10/04/2008 - CAAT had argued that the SFO's decision to drop the probe was illegal under the OECD's Anti-Bribery Convention.
• The pressure mounts on Britain to stamp out the brown-envelope culture - David Connett, The Independent
  06/04/2008 - Britain's woeful record in combating bribery and corruption is again in the spotlight after an OECD team arrived in London to examine why we are failing to bring prosecutions against UK firms accused of kickbacks and graft.
• Government faces OECD bribery probe - Nick Mathiason, The Observer
  30/03/2008 - The UK government will this week face an unprecedented investigation by the powerful OECD over its failures to comply with international anti-corruption and bribery protocols.
  

Development

• OECD: Krise wäre Chance für Afrika - Der Standard
  14/05/2008 - Das Wirtschafts­wachstum in Afrika werde heuer knapp sechs Prozent erreichen. Allerdings profitieren derzeit laut OECD vornehmlich Ölexporteure. (OECD report)
• Major nations urged to help combat youth unemployment in Africa - The Earth Times
  13/05/2008 - The OECD called on industrial nations Tuesday to do more to combat youth unemployment in Africa. (OECD report)
• Africa: Continental Economic Outlook Launched - AllAfrica.com
  11/05/2008 - Strong growth in Africa's gross domestic product is expected to continue in 2008 and 2009, according to Louis Kasekende, the chief economist at the ADB. He was speaking in Maputo at the launch on Sunday of the seventh edition of the "African Economic Outlook", a report on the health of the continent's economy compiled by the ADB, the United Nations ECA, and the OECD. (OECD report)
• Kaffeebauern gegen Starbucks - Tobias Käufer, Financial Times Deutschland
  25/04/2008 - ...OECD-Direktor Santiso beobachtet den Wandel des kolumbianischen Kaffeeproduzenten zum Direktanbieter genau: "Der Erfolg von Juan Valdez ist deswegen so interessant, weil sich erstmals ein lateinamerikanisches Unternehmen aus der Landwirtschaft anschickt, in diesem Segment des globalen Marktes seinen Platz zu erkämpfen. Sie haben das Wertschöpfungspotenzial ihres Produkts erkannt."
• Global report says foreign aid by major donor countries slumping, threatening targets - International Herald Tribune
  04/04/2008 - The Associated Press - ...The OECD warned in a new report that the United States and other donors are falling behind ambitious targets set in 2005 to increase global aid to the needy and backtracking on pledges. (OECD report)
• Aid practice fails to match promise - Alan Beattie, Financial Times
  15/02/2008 - ...Last week’s annual report from the OECD, the Paris-based intergovernmental policy institute that acts as a global aid watchdog, reviewed an international drive towards making assistance more substantive and efficient. The OECD’s verdict was that the campaign has a fair way to go. (OECD report)
  

Economics

• OECD area inflation accelerates to seven-year high in May - Forbes
  01/07/2008 - The OECD said inflation in the area accelerated to a seven-year high of 3.9 percent in May from 3.5 percent in April.
• After the credit boom comes the long and painful squeeze - David Smith, The Sunday Times
  15/06/2008 - ...The OECD has seen plenty of global economic crises during the past 60 years, but probably never anything quite as unusual as this one. What Jorgen Elmeskov, its head of economics, describes as months of “market turmoil” have left the outlook “particularly unsettled”. For an organisation whose natural language is understatement, this shows how worried it is.
• Zentralbanken brauchen ruhige Hand - Neue Zürcher Zeitung
  04/06/2008 - Die OECD empfiehlt den Zentralbanken der USA, der Euro-Zone und Japans eine Politik der ruhigen Hand. Trotz hoher Inflation bei gleichzeitiger Konjunkturabschwächung... «Die Leitzinsen sollten dieses Jahr in den grösseren Regionen unverändert belassen werden», schreibt die OECD. Nur für Grossbritannien verlangt sie weitere kräftige Zinssenkungen. (OECD report)
• OECD erwartet Wachstumsknick für 2009 - Financial Times Deutschland
  04/06/2008 - In diesem Jahr werde das deutsche Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) um 1,9 Prozent zulegen, heißt es im neuesten OECD-Bericht - das ist ein Zuwachs von 0,1 Punkten im Vergleich zur Dezember-Prognose. (OECD report)
• Capo economista Ocse: «Taglio Ici non serve alla crescita» - Il Messagero
  04/06/2008 - Il taglio dell'Ici «non è un ovvio punto di partenza» se si vuole stimolare la crescita, perché le tasse sugli immobili non hanno un impatto di rilievo sull'andamento economico. Questa l'opinione di Jorgen Elmesekov, il capo-economista dell'Ocse. (OECD report)
• OECD warning of sharper slowdown - Steve Schifferes, BBC News
  04/06/2008 - The OECD has warned that the global economic slowdown may last longer than expected. (OECD report)
• OECD cuts forecasts for economic growth in US and 15-nation euro zone this year and next - International Herald Tribune
  04/06/2008 - The Associated Press - The OECD is cutting its forecast for economic growth in the U.S. and the 15-nation euro region this year and next. (OECD report)
• OECD sees China's export competitiveness eroding on wage, price inflation - Forbes
  04/06/2008 - The OECD said China's export competitiveness will continue to erode over 2008 and 2009, reflecting wage and price inflation coupled with ongoing weakness in external demand. (OECD report)
• Japan's Domestic Demand May Help It Avoid Recession, OECD Says - Keiko Ujikane, Bloomberg
  04/06/2008 -  Japan's economy will probably avoid a recession as a rebound in residential investment and rising wages support domestic demand, the OECD said. (OECD report)
• OECD warning as stagflation goes global - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Daily Telegraph
  15/05/2008 - The OECD's early warning signal is flashing clear signs of economic weakness across the world, with mounting evidence that China, India, and Brazil may soon succumb to the downturn.
• OECD March composite leading indicator 98.1 vs 98.6; points to slowdown - Forbes
  14/05/2008 - The OECD said its composite leading indicator fell to 98.1 in March from a revised 98.6 in February, showing a decline of 3.2 points from a year earlier.
• "Deepest US housing slump" OECD warns - James Quinn, Daily Telegraph
  21/03/2008 - The United States will come to an economic standstill in the second quarter of this year as it struggles under the weight of what could prove to be the worst housing slump in history, the OECD has predicted.
• US recession looms as growth heads for zero - Gary Duncan, The Times
  21/03/2008 - The US economy is on the brink of recession, with growth grinding to a halt because of what will probably be America’s worst housing slump on record, the OECD said yesterday.
• OECD slashes US growth forecast - BBC News
  20/03/2008 - The OECD says the US economy is "moving sideways".
• OECD: Finanzkrise trifft vor allem USA - Handelsblatt
  20/03/2008 - Die OECD hat ihre Wachstumsprognose für die USA deutlich gesenkt und rechnet für das kommende Quartal sogar mit Stillstand. Die US-Wirtschaft bewege sich nun seitwärts, hieß es – oder schlimmer. Anders sieht die Lage für die Wirtschaft in Europa aus.
• OECD says US economy moving sideways, if not contracting outright - Forbes
  20/03/2008 - The OECD said the US economy is now moving sideways, if not contracting outright, but it is too early to say whether it is in recession.
• US-Wirtschaft wächst nicht mehr - Die Welt
  20/03/2008 - Renommierte Ökonomen haben ihre Prognose für das Wirtschaftswachstum in den USA drastisch gesenkt. Sie rechnen für das kommende Quartal mit Stillstand. Die Experten der OECD fürchten sogar, dass die amerikanische Wirtschaft schrumpfen könnte.

Education

• OECD bestraft deutsche Pisa-Forscher - Barbara Gillmann, Handelsblatt
  01/06/2008 - ...Deutsche Bildungsforscher und Bildungspolitiker werden nach Informationen des Handelsblatts vorerst bis Ende 2008 von exklusiven Vorabinformationen der Pisa-Forschung der OECD ausgeschlossen.
• China earthquake brings faulty school design to the fore - Andrew C. Revkin, International Herald Tribune
  14/05/2008 - In 2004, the 30-nation OECD released a study, "Keeping Schools Safe in Earthquakes," concluding that schools "routinely" collapsed in earthquakes around the world because of avoidable design or construction errors, or because existing laws and building codes were not enforced. (OECD report)
• When the lights go on - Fran Abrams, The Guardian
  06/05/2008 - ...The report from the OECD is the result of nine years' work by neuroscientists. Using new magnetic resonance imaging technology, scientists can watch the physical processes by which we learn.
• A beacon of excellence – or just a recipe for confusion? - Fiona MacLeod, The Scotsman
  23/04/2008 - ...A December 2007 report by the OECD backed scrapping Standard grades, saying they are low-level and have little status.
• Was gute Bildung kostet - WirtschaftsWoche
  22/04/2008 - ...Der in diesem April erschienene OECD-Wirtschaftsbericht listet gleich 15 Punkte auf, an denen das deutsche Bildungssystem krankt.
• Let's applaud what's been achieved -  David Eastwood, The Guardian
  26/02/2008 - ...OECD comparisons reinforce this. The UK lies fifth in the OECD world table for "survival rates" for higher education.
• PISA study results bring thousands of foreign visitors to Finnish schools - Helsingin Sanomat
  25/02/2008 - ...Finland's high scores in the PISA studies conducted by the OECD on the scholastic skills of 15-year-olds have led to a stream of foreign education professionals travelling to Finland to learn about Finnish special education, teachers' training, and the school system in general.
• When modern life just doesn't add up - Peter Kingston, The Guardian
  19/02/2008 - ...Adult illiteracy is a headache for much of the developed world, as anyone strolling into a conference hosted by the OECD in Paris last week would have quickly picked up.
• Schulen sind moderner geworden - Die Welt
  06/02/2008 - Bei dem Gedanken an die Pisa-Studie wird so manchem Bildungspolitiker in Deutschland mulmig.
• A league table to worry us all - Peter Mortimore, The Guardian
  08/01/2008 - The results of the third phase of Pisa make interesting reading. (OECD report)
• Never again: a nation works to cure ills that made teenager into a killer - Roger Boyes, The Times
  05/01/2008 - ...The new scheme was designed to cut the dropout rate, apparently one of the few blemishes on a system that regularly turns out top scores in the OECD international performance surveys.

Employment

• Job shortage for unskilled youths - BBC News
  09/07/2008 - ...A report from the OECD shows worsening conditions for poorly-qualified 16 to 24 year olds. (OECD report)
• Unskilled faring worse internationally - Natasha Gilbert, The Guardian
  09/07/2008 - ...But more highly qualified young people find work than their counterparts in many other countries, says the figures in a report from the OECD, out today. (OECD report)
• Recession threat as UK jobs vanish - Richard Blackden, The Daily Telegraph
  07/07/2008 - ...This snapshot of the labour market follows hot on the heels of a warning from the OECD that unemployment in Britain will rise by 100,000 over the next two years. (OECD report)
• In Canada, we work hard for the money - Eric Beauchesne, National Post
  02/07/2008 - ..."Labour market discrimination is still a big obstacle," said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria. "Many workplaces not only have a glass ceiling but also a glass door, which keeps out women and ethnic minorities." (OECD report)
• Waging War On Wages - Vidya Ram, Forbes
  03/07/2008 - ...The OECD predicts that the number of unemployed in its 30-member nations will rise by one million this year and by two million in 2009. (OECD report)
• OECD: Thinktank predicts Britain's unemployment will rise by more than 100,000 - Ashley Seager, The Guardian
  03/07/2008 - Unemployment in Britain is likely to rise by more than 100,000 as a result of the credit crunch and slumping housing market, the OECD said yesterday. (OECD report)
• En 2008, les pays de l'OCDE compteront 1 million de chômeurs en plus - Rémi Barroux, Le Monde
  03/07/2008 - ...Dans son rapport Perspectives de l'emploi 2008, rendu public mercredi 2 juillet, l'organisation internationale prévoit une dégradation dans la plupart de ses trente pays membres. (Rapport OCDE)
• OECD gibt dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt schlechte Noten - Die Welt
  03/07/2008 - ...Unter den 30 OECD-Ländern wiesen 2007 lediglich Polen und die Slowakei noch höhere Quoten als Deutschland auf, geht aus dem Beschäftigungsausblick der OECD hervor. (OECD report)
• OECD: Japan Wasting Its Female Labor Power - Shu-Ching Jean Chen, Forbes
  03/07/2008 - ...The OECD made the assertion in its first report on the issue of discrimination. (OECD report)
• Report: Unemployment to Rise in OECD Countries - VOA News
  02/07/2008 - ...A report issued Wednesday shows the average unemployment rate in the 30 OECD countries rising to six percent next year, reversing the downward trend of past years. The OECD attributes increased joblessness to a worldwide economic slowdown. (OECD report)
• OECD-Studie: Zahl der Arbeitslosen wird steigen - Die Presse
  02/07/2008 - Der Arbeitsmarkt der OECD-Ländern hat sich in den letzten Jahren stark verbessert. 2007 ist die durchschnittliche Arbeitslosenquote auf 5,6 Prozent gefallen, in einigen Ländern ist das der niedrigste Wert seit den 1980er Jahren. (OECD report)
• OECD says unemployment to start rising this year as growth slows - Forbes
  02/07/2008 - The OECD said unemployment is expected to start increasing this year after declining steadily in recent years. (OECD report)

Energy

• Rubbish idea that could make driving cheaper - Catherine Boyle, The Times
  21/07/2008 - ...The OECD said this month that it believed that current biofuel production in North America and the European Union did little to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. (OECD report)
• Die Biospritbranche steht vor dem Ruin - Die Welt
  18/07/2008 - ...Als dann vor wenigen Monaten auch noch Greenpeace gemeinsam mit der Weltbank und der OECD den Biodiesel für den Hunger in der Welt verantwortlich machte, war es um die Branche geschehen. Der Direktor der OECD Stefan Tangermann sagte: "Die weltweit hohen Preise für Weizen und Mais sind auch eine Folge der Politik in den reichen Ländern. Das ist überhaupt keine Frage." (OECD report)
• Les agrocarburants accusés de tous les maux - Christian Losson, Libération
  17/07/2008 - Biocarburants = biocatastrophe ? Un nouveau rapport réalisé par l’OCDE flingue une alternative présentée un peu vite comme révolutionnaire. Moratoire ? Le mot ne figure pas dans le rapport. Ou a été gommé. Mais le constat, accablant, revient au même. (Rapport OCDE)
• OECD report says massive biofuel subsidies not helping to cut greenhouse gases - International Herald Tribune
  16/07/2008 - Massive government subsidies for biofuels are not helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to an OECD report released Wednesday. (OECD report)
• Biofuel Aid Worth $11 Billion Called Ineffective at Cutting CO2 - Jeremy van Loon, Bloomberg
  16/07/2008 - The U.S., Canada and the European Union's combined $11 billion in annual subsidies for plant- derived fuels does little to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, the OECD said. (OECD report)
• OECD blasts biofuels as costly, ineffective - The Bangkok Post
  16/07/2008 - Government support of the production of biofuels is costly and has only a limited impact on the reduction of greenhouse gases, the OECD said Wednesday. (OECD report)
• Speculators are not to blame for oil, says IEA - Carl Mortished, The Times
  02/07/2008 - The oil market is tight and speculators are not to blame for the high price of crude, the IEA said in a detailed criticism of the call for action against speculators in the crude oil futures market.
• South Korea gets serious about reducing its dependence on foreign oil - Sarah J. Wachter, International Herald Tribune
  20/06/2008 - ...That has put pressure on the Korean currency, the won, which by mid-June had lost about 11 percent of its value against the dollar so far this year, adding to the pain of high oil prices, said Randall Jones, an economist at the OECD.
• IEA cuts 2008 demand forecast again; blames subsidy reductions in non OECD - Forbes
  10/06/2008 - The IEA Monday cut its oil demand forecast again in its latest monthly report, citing the decision by several non-OECD countries to reduce subsidies in the face of record oil prices.
• Oil lower amid profit taking as IEA downgrades 2008 global demand forecast - Forbes
  13/05/2008 - Oil was lower midday as traders took profits after yesterday's record high, with a demand downgrade for 2008 from the IEA weighing on sentiment.
• 'Entente nucleaire': What, why? - Richard Black, BBC News
  27/03/2008 - ..."The UK is the only country in Europe that could soon be setting up a new nuclear programme with lots of reactors," notes Luis Echavarri, director-general of the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency.
• Biofuels: 'Green gold' or problems untold? - Rachel Oliver, CNN
  25/02/2008 - ...Europe only has a limited amount of land to set aside for biofuels, and according to the Soil Association, quoting OECD figures, if the EU gave up 72 per cent of its arable land, it would only only be able to serve 10 percent of its fuel needs.
  

Enterprise, Industry and Services

• Slowakei strebt Unabhängigkeit von Autoindustrie an - Tomas Czwitkovics, Financial Times Deutschland
  18/04/2007 - ...Ángel Gurría, Generalsekretär der OECD, hatte bei einem Besuch Anfang April in der Hauptstadt Bratislava gewarnt, der Anstieg der Autoproduktion berge auch Risiken.
• OECD seeks to close SME financing gaps in MENA - Lucia Dore, Khaleej Times
  25/03/2007 - ..."SME financing is very difficult, which is paradox because there is so much money in the region," said Rainer Geiger, deputy director, directorate for financial and enterprise affairs at the OECD, who was in Dubai last week to take part in the MENA-OECD Enterprise Financing Network.
  

Environment

• Wie wir unsere Nachfahren vor Atommüll warnen - Die Welt
  16/07/2008 -  ..."Wir dürfen keine Endlager einrichten, die völlig abgeschnitten sind von bewohnten Gebieten", sagt Claude Pescatore, Atomexperte bei der OECD.
• High water marks for city - John Schmid, Journal Sentinel
  05/07/2008 - ...The OECD in Paris projects that 47% of the world’s population will live with scarce or unhealthy water by 2030.
• L'OCDE veut des actes contre le réchauffement - Marc-André Miserez, Swissinfo
  01/06/2008 - Il y a deux mois, l'OCDE publiait un rapport censé réveiller les gouvernements face à l'urgence climatique. Cette semaine, pour son Forum annuel à Paris, l'OCDE en débat avec la société civile.
• Desalination, for a World Short of Water - Vaughan Scully, Business Week
  21/05/2008 - ...Already, 2.8 billion people—or 44% of the world's population—live in areas of high water stress, according to a March report by the OECD. (OECD report)
• OECD berät über Klimawandel - Der Standard
  14/05/2008 - Die wirtschaftlichen Folgen des Klimawandels, die Verteuerung der Nahrungsmittel sowie Fragen zu Wirtschaftswachstum und Konjunkturentwicklung stehen im Mittelpunkt des OECD-Ministerrats, der am 4. und 5. Juni in Paris stattfindet.
• OECD ministers plead for environment despite economic concerns - Energy Daily
  29/04/2008 - ... In a speech on Monday, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria urged governments to ignore arguments that green reforms damage overall competitiveness."We found no convincing evidence that environmental policies to date have harmed competitiveness at a macro-economic level," he said.
• Klimawandel heizt Wirtschaft an - Blick
  29/04/2008 - In der Klimadebatte geben Pessimisten den Ton an. Doch es gibt auch Chancen... Anlass der Erklärung war die Konferenz der Umweltminister der OECD in Paris, an der auch die Schweiz teilnahm... In ihrem «Klimaausblick 2030» rechnet die OECD vor, dass die Kosten des Klima- und Umweltschutzes sich auf gerade mal 0,03 Prozent Wirtschaftswachstum pro Jahr beschränken liessen.(OECD report)
• Germany to Use Heat-Warning System to Cope With Global Warming - Jeremy van Loon, Bloomberg
  15/04/2008 - ...By 2030, the number of premature deaths worldwide caused by airborne particles will double to almost 400 per million inhabitants, while deaths from ground-level ozone, a condition worsened by higher temperatures, will quadruple, according to the Paris-based OECD.

Finance

• Regulator role in crisis up for debate -  David Uren, The Australian
  21/07/2008 - ...What role did banking regulators play in the financial crisis still sweeping the globe?
  A primary cause _ according to the OECD's deputy director of financial markets, Adrian Blundell-Wignall.
• Battle of the Bulges: Obesity, Financial Illiteracy and the Role of Behavior - Jamie Zimmerman, The New America Foundation
  28/05/2008 - ...At the high-level International Conference on Financial Education host this month by the US Department of Treasury and the OECD, INSEAD Professor Klaus Wertenbroch presented is research on psychological biases in financial decision-making.
• OECD fordert fundamentale Reform der Finanzmärkte - Neue Zürcher Zeitung
  16/04/2008 - Die OECD hat eine fundamentale Reform der Finanzmärkte und ihrer Aufsicht gefordert. Für eine rasche Rekapitalisierung der Banken sei aber der Einsatz öffentlicher Gelder notwendig.
• Sovereign Wealth Funds and Europe - Peter Mandelson, eGov monitor
  31/03/2008 - ...So when we clear away all these misconceptions we are left with a question: what expectations should be placed on states that wish to become investors? That is the question that the European Commission offered an answer to a month ago and on which the OECD and the IMF are doing important work.
• Bank accounts linked to Eta are frozen in Liechtenstein - Elizabeth Nash, The Independent
  31/03/2008 - ...Liechtenstein generally ignores requests to investigate tax evasion, and is on an OECD blacklist for its opaque practices and uncooperative attitude.
• OECD relaxed on sovereign funds - BBC News
  25/03/2008 - The OECD, which groups 30 of the world's richest economies, has found no cases where sovereign wealth funds have acted to further political goals. OECD boss Angel Gurria said these funds should not be unduly restricted.
• Sovereign wealth funds reach agreement with US Treasury - Tom Bawden and James Rossiter, The Times
  21/03/2008 - ...“The US welcomes sovereign wealth fund investment and looks forward to continuing to work with these two countries and others to support the initiatives under way at the IMF and OECD to develop best practices for sovereign wealth funds and recipient countries.”
• US deal with Abu Dhabi and Singapore funds - James Quinn, Daily Telegraph
  21/03/2008 - ...The trio will now work with the IMF, the OECD and other governments to push for an international code to ensure the principles laid out will operate on a more global basis.
• Can banks self-regulate? - Carter Dougherty, International Herald Tribune
  25/01/2008 -  ...Ángel Gurría, who is Mexican and heads the OECD, seemed to sum up the mood in a comment delivered with shaking, outstretched arms - and a bit of Latin flair.
  

Health

• Do the French do it better? - BBC News
  03/07/2008 - ...Valerie Paris, a health economist at the OECD, says: "In France the access to physicians and hospitals is easier than in the UK. We don't have waiting lists."
• A common market for health - Jeremy Laurance, The Independent
  20/12/2007 - ...The health statistics published on our front page, taken from the OECD report Health at a Glance 2007, provide a snapshot of the overall performance on health of a selection of EU countries. (OECD report)
  

Information Technology

• Waiting for the internet meltdown - Mark Harris, The Times
  06/07/2008 - ...The end of the internet is nigh - and in less than three years, according to the OECD.
• The world's most wired countries - International Herald Tribune
  01/07/2008 - Forbes - ...The OECD publishes an annual report on broadband growth and policies among its member countries.
• Net a key productivity driver: OECD - Karen Dearne, The Australian
  01/07/2008 - Policies affecting the internet can no longer be seen as narrow sectoral telecommunications issues, according to OECD secretary general Angel Gurria.
• Britain finally signs up to making government data free for re-use - Michael Cross, The Guardian
  26/06/2008 - ...The commitment to make public sector information free, or charge no more than the marginal cost of maintaining and distributing the extra copy, appears in the Seoul declaration for the future of the internet economy, signed in the South Korean capital last week. The UK was one of nearly 40 countries to endorse the declaration, drawn up by the OECD club of developed nations.
• Cybercrime risk to the internet economy - Ambrose McNevin, Computing
  18/06/2008 - Government ministers from across the world have issued a call for greater vigilance against cybercrime at the close of meeting on the future of the internet economy.
• Le coût exorbitant de l'usurpation d'identité sur le Net - Eric Nunès, Le Monde
  18/06/2008 - L'usurpation d'identité en ligne devient un mal majeur sur le Net. Une épidémie qui trouble tant le cyber-commerce planétaire qu'elle devait être analysée par les représentants des pays membres de l'OCDE, lors d'une conférence ministérielle sur le "Futur de l'économie" sur Internet, les 17 et 18 juin à Séoul.
• Lee Calls Internet 'Double-Edged Sword' - Kim Yon-se, The Korea Times
  17/06/2008 - Lee made the remarks in a speech at the opening session of the two-day OECD Ministerial Meeting in Seoul, with global leaders warning that pressing issues such as Internet security and a growing information gap pose a significant threat to the future of the emerging Internet-based economy.
• No Vacancy: Make Room for New Internet Addresses - The Korea Times
  17/06/2008 - ...But when the OECD Ministerial Meeting on The Future of the Internet Economy takes place in Seoul, Korea, discussions about those underlying technologies and systems will be front and center.
• OECD IT Ministerial Meeting Kicks off in Korea - Telecoms Korea
  17/06/2008 - The 2008 OECD Ministerial Meeting on information technology kicked off in Seoul Tuesday, bringing together more than 2,500 IT experts and officials from around the world to discuss how the Internet can play a role in aiding economic growth.
• Future Economy Now - Angel Gurria, The Korea Times
  16/06/2008 - It is a great honor to open the OECD Ministerial meeting on the Future of theInternet Economy in the Republic of Korea, a country where Information and Communication Technologies have played a prominent role. Korea has one ofthe highest "broadband connectivity" rates in the world.
• OECD teams with YouTube to build a better world - IT Wire
  30/05/2008 - ...In June the OECD will hold a ministerial meeting on the Future of the Internet in Seoul. It will be attended by at least 40 ministers from OECD member countries along with leaders from international government organisations, business, organised labour, the Internet's technical community and civil society.
• The broadband myth - The Economist
  23/05/2008 - ...The OECD regularly releases a ranking of broadband penetration, speeds and prices across its 30 countries.
• OECD warns on net address change - BBC News
  16/05/2008 - Slow progress on the net's new addressing system risks breaking it into regional blocks, warns the OECD.
• Internet may run out of addresses by 2011, warns OECD - Emma Thelwell, Daily Telegraph
  15/05/2008 - The internet could run out of addresses by 2011, cutting off access to new users and stifling creativity across the globe, unless governments step up their investment, the OECD warned today.
  

Insurance and Pensions

• OECD says more pension reforms needed, action too slow in some countries - Forbes
  11/06/2007 - The OECD said governments still need to carry out further reforms of their pension systems, on top of the substantial reforms already implemented. (OECD report)
• Pensions slashed in OECD states - BBC News
  08/06/2007 - An OECD report says the value of compulsory pension systems will drop by an average of 22% in 16 member states. (OECD report)
  

International Migration

• French illegal workers' strike puts their value to test - Celestine Bohlen, International Herald Tribune
  27/05/2008 - Bloomberg - ...These workers do jobs the French don't want to do. The hotel and restaurant industries have 35,000 to 40,000 vacancies, employers say, even though the French jobless rate is 7.8 percent, one of the highest in Europe, according to the OECD.
• The forces driving the middle class into exile - Minette Marrin, The Times
  24/02/2008 - ...There are now more than 3.2m British-born people living abroad; of them 1.1m are highly skilled university graduates, according to the exhaustive OECD report.
• Migration strains rich and poor - Steve Schifferes, BBC News
  20/02/2008 - Migration is putting growing strains on rich and poor countries alike, according to the OECD. (OECD report)
• Influx of migrants brings a ‘brain gain’ for the UK - Alexi Mostrous, The Times
  21/02/2008 - ...The OECD found that 1.1 million Britons with university degrees are living overseas in other developed countries, about 10.3 per cent of the total. (OECD report)
• Brain drain from poorer countries not so big - OECD - Reuters
  20/02/2008 - The belief that rich countries are draining poorer ones of their best-qualified people is largely unfounded, the OECD said in a report published on Wednesday. (OECD report)
• North-south divide opens for migrant jobs in Europe - International Herald Tribune
  13/02/2008 - ..."It's a contrasting trend," said Jean-Pierre Garson, head of the international migration division at the OECD. "The European Union is a free market, with free settlement of people. Qualified people are now more mobile."

Investment

• OECD says FDI outflows expected to fall sharply in 2008 - Forbes
  24/06/2008 - The OECD said foreign direct investment outflows from member countries are projected to fall sharply in 2008.
• OECD nations pledge against discrimination of sovereign wealth funds - Forbes
  12/04/2008 - ...As members of the Paris-based OECD, the 30 countries are 'saying we are open for business,' OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria told reporters in a briefing on the sidelines of the IMF meeting.
• Sovereign wealth funds an opportunity, not a threat - Angel Gurría, The Guardian
  09/04/2008 - Sovereign wealth funds, welcome! OECD markets are open for your investments. That's the message from OECD countries. The emergence of SWFs should be seen as an opportunity, not a threat.

Public Governance and Management

• Why governments miss their targets - Hamish McRae, The Independent
  06/02/2008 - ...According to the OECD, which monitors government performance across the developed world, we are about the middle of the pack.

Regulatory reform

• OECD hilser kinesisk skattereform velkommen - Mette Mandrup, Dagbladet Børsen
  27/03/2007 - Da den kinesiske folkekongres var forsamlet for 10 dage siden, vedtog den at lave ens beskatning for alle virksomheder. Det er meget positivt, melder OECD nu ud i en analyse. (OECD report)
• Korea, Land of Regulations - The Chosun Ilbo
  23/03/2007 - ...On Monday, the OECD released its policy review of Korea’s regulatory reform efforts over the past five years. (OECD report)
• OECD Slams Restrictions on Higher Education in Korea - The Chosun Ilbo
  20/03/2007 - The Korean government should reform the nation’s higher education, an OECD report advised Monday. (OECD report)
  

Science and Innovation

• Could nuclear warheads go off 'like popcorn'? - Rob Edwards, New Scientist
  26/06/2008 - ...Stefan Michalowski, a senior scientist at the OECD in Paris, France, who researched warhead safety at Stanford University in California in the 1990s, is concerned about the risks of an extreme event such as a firefight with direct gunshots. "The explosion of a boatload of missiles in a port would be an unimaginable catastrophe," he says. "It's a very, very scary thought."
• Nanotechnology at the OECD - Nanowerk News
  28/02/2008 - The OECD has prepared an overview of its work on nanotechnologies for Forum VI of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety. This event will be held in Dakar, Senegal, September 15-19, 2008. 
• Langsamer steigende Forschungsausgaben - Neue Zürcher Zeitung
  25/10/2007 - ...Die Unterschiede zwischen den einzelnen OECD-Ländern im finanziellen Forschungsaufwand sind beträchtlich. (OECD report)
• China needs innovation, OECD says - International Herald Tribune
  27/08/2007 - ...Better protection of patents and other intellectual property, more cooperation between the government and the private sector and reforms to foster competitive markets are among the top needs the Paris-based OECD outlined in a report issued in collaboration with China's Ministry of Science and Technology. (OECD report)

Social Issues

• Abstieg von Staats wegen - Dorothea Siems, Die Welt
  20/05/2008 - ...Die OECD hatte im vergangenen Herbst ebenfallsgerügt, dass die Steuer- und Abgabenbelastung in Deutschland im unteren und mittleren Einkommensbereich Spitzenwerte erreiche.
• Mindestlohn und Marmeladenbrot - Der Spiegel
  19/05/2008 - ...Allerdings: Die Steuergesetze allein sind nicht das Problem, wie "Kalix" schreibt: "Es gibt kein Argument, das widerspricht, wenn die 'Reichen' gleich hoch oder niedrig besteuert werden, wie dies innerhalb der OECD üblich ist.
• Fair wages are a fantasy in the brutal underside of Cowboy Boss Britain - Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian
  05/05/2008 - ...The OECD puts Britain second only to the US for the lowest levels of employment protection in the developed world.
• L'OCDE ouvre le Wikipédia des inégalités hommes-femmes - Véronique Lorelle, Le Monde
  17/03/2008 - Sur www.wikigender.org, l'internaute peut consulter les informations issues des travaux de recherche du Centre de développement de l'OCDE, mais il est aussi invité à les compléter et à les enrichir en publiant de nouveaux articles ou des témoignages.
• G7 Finance in Tokyo: Unions call for aggressive and coordinated fiscal and monetary response to counter economic crisis - Union Network International
  05/02/2008 - ...On 31 January the OECD released figures showing that labour costs in industry fell for most major OECD economies in the third quarter of 2007.
  

Taxation

• Steueraffäre kann Liechtenstein nichts anhaben - Detlef Gürtler, Die Welt
  21/07/2008 - ...Als Mitte 2000 die Einsatztruppe der OECD für den Kampf gegen Geldwäsche ihre erste schwarze Liste nicht kooperativer Staaten veröffentlichte, stand Liechtenstein mit 14 anderen Staaten am Pranger: Das Fürstentum war eine Art Schurkenstaat geworden, der einzige in Europa.
• Germany Punishes First of Liechtenstein Tax Dodgers - Deutsche Welle
  18/07/2008 - ..."Excessive bank secrecy rules and a failure to exchange information on foreign tax evaders are relics of a different time and have no role to play in the relations between democratic societies," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said Tuesday in a statement.
• Que faire face aux paradis fiscaux ? - Elise Vincent, Le Monde
  08/07/2008 - ...Depuis 2002, l'OCDE a lancé un vaste programme - le Forum mondial pour la fiscalité - visant à instaurer une "équité et une concurrence loyale" en matière fiscale. A terme, le but est d'obliger les paradis fiscaux, par la négociation, à limiter leur "dumping fiscal".
• OECD's Heady says VAT, property tax may rise to compensate falling company tax - Forbes
  08/04/2008 - Chistopher Heady, head of the OECD's centre for tax policy and administration said changes in European tax system could lead to higher VAT and property tax a corporate tax rates decline.
• Spain wants 'tax haven' Gibraltar blacklisted - Fiona Govan, Daily Telegraph
  17/03/2008 - ...Spanish authorities will this week ask the OECD to list the disputed territory as "uncooperative" because it is failing to help investigate financial corruption.
• Budget 2008: Labour declares war on the middle class - Iain Martin, Daily Telegraph
  13/03/2008 - ...The OECD revealed on Tuesday that British middle-class families are paying an extra £1,250 a year after enduring the sharpest rise in their tax bill of any leading Western economy in the past five years. Of course, our rivals spent the same period reducing tax burdens. (OECD report)
• Tax rise on middle class 'highest in the West' - Edmund Conway and Andrew Porter, Daily Telegraph
  12/03/2008 - ...During the same period the average tax burden in most countries actually declined, according to the report from the OECD. (OECD report)
• Germany urges crackdown on tax havens - Ian Traynor, The Guardian
  05/03/2008 - ...But Steinbrück extended his criticism to EU countries Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium, whom he criticised for their secrecy and because they were negotiating double taxation agreements with tax havens in the far east that failed to observe the OECD's code on tax transparency.
• Targeting the tax havens - Mark Mardell, BBC News
  04/03/2008 - ...But what they can do? Britain would be keen on putting pressure on the small countries to at least abide by OECD rules on openness.
• Europe vs the super-rich - Sean O'Grady, The Independent
  04/03/2008 - ...Crime has pushed many governments against tax havens. In 2000, for example the OECD published its blacklist of 35 "uncooperative" tax regimes; action was taken.
  

Territorial Economy

• Country may do more good than you thought - Alan Cochrane, The Daily Telegraph
  23/02/2008 - A remarkable report from the OECD on life in rural Scotland was published this week; remarkable for the fact that few of the people who actually live in those parts of the country covered by the report would have recognised its generally positive conclusions.
  

Trade

• Letzte Runde für die Doha-Runde - Peter Deselaers, Deutsche Welle
  20/07/2008 - ...Nach Berechnungen der OECD bezogen die Landwirte der 30 OECD-Länder 2007 direkte und indirekte öffentliche Hilfen in Höhe von 258 Milliarden US-Dollar.
• Globalisation is good - Peter Mandelson, The Guardian
  09/06/2008 - ...Look at OECD data for the last 20 years and it is clear that where they have encouraged labour market flexibility, high levels of education and retraining, and helped women and older people stay in the workforce, strong welfare states have equipped countries for globalisation much better than weak ones.
• Trade debate rages at OECD meeting - Steve Schifferes, BBC News
  04/06/2008 - While the OECD discussed high-minded but long-term measures to tackle global warming and economic development, a fierce debate has been going on at the sidelines of the meeting over the growing protectionist pressures around the world.
• OECD says steel demand slowing in mature economies, strong in emerging markets - Forbes
  23/05/2008 - The OECD said steel demand in advanced economies is slowing but demand from emerging economies remains strong.

Transport

• World economy is consuming around 30 billion barrels of oil every year - Matthew Knight, CNN
  14/05/2008 - ...According to an OECD International Transport Forum discussion paper published in 2007 there are around 47,000 oil fields in the world. But only a fraction of these -- around 500 - are considered 'giant' -- harboring upwards of 500 million barrels.
• Shipping's impact on the air - CNN
  20/01/2008 - ...The opening statement of a 2005 report issued by the OECD's Maritime Transport Committee is quite revealing in this regard...