Hot Topics

On this page (www.oecd.org/hottopics) you will find a selection of key issues the OECD is working on. For each of them, we have selected background documents, key reports and important relevant links.  If you want to know more about these topics and the latest developments, please use the links as indicated for each of the topics.

Agriculture | Biofuels | China | Climate change | Corruption 
Development | Economics and Growth | Education | Employment
 OECD enlargement | Environment | Gender | Globalisation | Health 
Investment | Migration | Science and Technology | Tax | Water

 

Agriculture
www.oecd.org/agriculture

• Government support to farmers falls slightly amid higher world food prices
  Government support to farmers in OECD countries represented 27 % of total farm receipts in 2006, a slight fall from the 29% share the previous year. The drop was due mainly to rising world food prices.
  23/10/2007
• Growing bio-fuel demand underpinning higher agriculture prices
  Increased demand for bio-fuels is causing fundamental changes to agricultural markets that could drive up world prices for many farm products, according to a new report published by the OECD and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation.
  04/07/2007

Biofuels
www.internationaltransportforum.org

• Are biofuels as green as they seem? (Video)
  Interview with Martin Von Lampe, OECD agricultural Policy Analyst and author of a report on biofuels, and Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency.
  01/05/2008
• Biofuels and food prices
  Summary of a meeting of international experts with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
  23/04/2008
• Moving away from fossil fuels - are biofuels the answer?
  Are biofuels for transport a viable alternative to power our cars, trucks and buses? Do they deliver the expected environmental benefits?
  05/02/2008

China
www.oecd.org/china

• Innovation Policy Review of China
  China needs a better return on its fast-rising investments in research and development (R&D) and higher education if it is to meet its goal of becoming an “innovation-oriented” economy by 2020.
  27/07/2007
• Environmental Performance Review of China
  China should redouble its efforts to improve its environment in order to achieve sustainable economic growth.
  17/07/2007

Climate change
www.oecd.org/env/cc

• Sustainable Development and Climate Change: International and National Perspectives
  Achieving ambitious climate stabilisation goals is possible provided all major emitting countries and sectors act immediately, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría in a speech in Norway.
  6/03/2008
• Climate change could triple population at risk from coastal flooding by 2070
  The impact of climate change and urban development could more than triple the number of people around the world exposed to coastal flooding by 2070.
  04/12/2007
• Climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability
  What can countries do to limit their vulnerability to climate change?
  06/07/2007

Corruption
www.oecd.org/corruption

• More commitment needed to fight international corruption
  "Much more needs to be done" to fight international corruption, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría today at a conference in Rome to mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
  21/11/2007

Development
www.oecd.org/development

• Overseas development aid in 2007
  Most donors are not on track to meet their stated commitments to scale up overseas development aid and will need to make unprecedented increases to meet the targets they have set for 2010.
  04/04/2008
• Development Co-operation Report 2007
  Increased development aid is helping very poor countries. But despite efforts by donor and recipient countries to use aid more effectively, progress is modest and problems such as inequality and climate change are growing.
  14/03/2008

Economics and Growth
www.oecd.org/economics

• Reform progress in OECD countries uneven, says Going for Growth 
  Governments in many OECD countries have made good but uneven progress over the past 12 months in implementing the economic reforms needed to improve living standards.
  04/03/2008
• Housing weakness to drag down US growth but will not trigger recession, says Economic Outlook
  The weakness in the US housing sector will drag down growth in the near term but is unlikely to trigger a recession. In the Euro area the slowdown will be less pronounced while in Japan the continuing, though weakened, expansion will eventually lift the econonomy out of deflation.
  06/12/2007
• Latin American Outlook 2007
  Latin American countries need to invest more public funds in health, education services, infrastructure and innovation, but to afford this they will have to make major changes in the way their tax systems operate.
  07/11/2007
• Country surveys
  The OECD publishes regular reports on the economies of its member countries. Recent surveys include Chile, Denmark, India, Japan, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Education
www.oecd.org/education

• PISA 2007 survey
  OECD’s latest PISA survey of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds shows that some countries have seen significant improvements in student performance since 2000.
  04/12/2007
• Education at a Glance 2007
  More widespread university education means more prosperous economies and provides rich rewards in the labour market for those who graduate.  Furthermore, the job prospects for the less well qualified do not appear to be damaged by the expansion of higher education and may even be improved.
  18/09/2007

Employment
www.oecd.org/employment

• Benefits and Wages 2007
  Faced with labour shortages and pressures on pension funding due to ageing populations, one in three OECD countries has cut unemployment benefits in the last six years with a view to encouraging unemployed people to find jobs.
  13/12/2007
• Babies and Bosses 2007, Reconciling Work and Family Life
  Getting family-friendly policies right will help reduce poverty, promote child development, enhance equity between men and women and stem the fall in birth-rates.
  29/11/2007
• Employment Outlook 2007
  Rather than seeing globalisation as a threat, OECD governments should focus on improving labour regulations and social protection systems to help people adapt to changing job markets. 
  19/06/2007

Enlargement of the OECD

www.oecd.org/membershiptalks

• OECD invites five countries to membership talks, offers enhanced engagement to other big players
  OECD countries agreed to invite Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia and Slovenia to open discussions for membership of the Organisation and offered enhanced engagement, with a view to possible membership, to Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa.
  16/05/2007
• Interview of the OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Andrey Denisov, First Deputy Minister Foreign Affairs, Russia, on membership talks.

Environment

www.oecd.org/environment

• 2008 OECD Environmental Outlook - How much will it cost to address today's key environmental problems?
  "Solutions to the key environmental challenges are available, achievable and affordable, especially when compared to the expected economic growth and the costs and consequences of inaction", OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said at the worldwide launch of the 2008 OECD Environmental Outlook in Oslo.
  05/03/2008

Gender
www.oecd.org/gender

• OECD promotes the economic and social benefits of gender equity 
  Family-friendly workplace practices and attention to gender equity in hiring and management help to improve productivity and economic performance, OECD studies show. To mark International Women's Day, OECD is highlighting aspects of its work on gender issues and promoting diversity in its workforce.
  07/03/2008

Globalisation

• New Global Economic Challenges: Charting the Course for Policy Responses
  In his lecture to the London School of Economics and Political Science, Mr. Gurría talked about globalisation’s key global economic policy challenges, their implications and possible solutions. 
  01/03/2007

Health
www.oecd.org/health

• Health at a Glance 2007
  The quality of medical care, measured by the provision of recommended interventions or actual health outcomes, is improving in OECD countries. Advances in diagnosis and treatment mean that, across OECD countries, only 10% of people hospitalized after a heart attack now die within 30 days of being admitted to hospital, down from 20% in the 1980s.
  13/11/2007

Investment
www.oecd.org/daf/investment

• OECD countries stay open to commercial investments by sovereign wealth funds
  OECD countries are committed to keeping their investment frontiers open to sovereign wealth funds as long as these funds invest for commercial, not political ends.
  09/04/2008
• Preventing investment protectionism
  A growing number of countries have reassessed their international investment policies in response to national security concerns and the emergence of new categories of foreign investors, including Sovereign Wealth Funds.
  07/02/2008

Migration
www.oecd.org/migration

• Helping immigrants integrate better into society must become a priority
  OECD governments need to do more to help immigrants integrate and make better use of their skills, according to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.
  20/02/2008
• International Migration Outlook 2007
  Migration to OECD countries continues to rise. About four million new immigrants entered OECD countries on a permanent basis in 2005, an increase of 10% from 2004.
  25/06/2007

Science and Technology
www.oecd.org/sti

• Economic and social impact of Internet in developing countries
  Where will the next billion Internet users will come from and what impact will they have on the Internet as we know it today? Read the online debate held on this issue here.
  14/02/2008
• Science, Technology & Industry Scoreboard 2007
  More and more OECD governments are giving firms tax breaks to drive innovation while cutting their direct spending on business research and development (R&D), and are also encouraging public research organisations to commercialise their inventions.
  25/10/2007
• Communications Outlook 2007
  Telecommunications investment continues to rise and consumers are generally paying less for more and better services across the OECD area but technology developments are presenting new challenges to telecoms operators.
  12/07/2007

Tax
www.oecd.org/tax

• Taxing Wages
  Families with children have paid less in tax as a percentage of their income in recent years in Australia, Hungary, Ireland and New Zealand, thanks to family-friendly tax policies, but wage-earners in some other OECD countries, including Greece, Iceland, Korea and Mexico, have wound up with higher tax bills due to so-called fiscal drag.
  11/03/2008
• Tax disclosures in Germany part of a broader challenge, says OECD Secretary-General
  Disclosures concerning alleged widespread tax evasion by German citizens through Liechtenstein highlight a much broader challenge in today's globalised economy: how to respond to countries and territories that seek to profit from tax dodging by residents of other jurisdictions.
  19/02/2008
• Revenue Statistics 2007
  The average tax burden in OECD countries, measured as the ratio of tax to gross domestic product (GDP), is back up to the same levels as in 2000 after a brief reduction between 2001 and 2004.
  17/11/2007

Water
www.oecd.org/water

• The water challenge: understanding the issues
  Securing safe and reliable water and sanitation services for all is one of the leading challenges facing sustainable development.
  13/12/2007
  

See also:

• Topics: the complete list of key areas of work of the Organisation
• Index: an alphabetical list of topics, resources, key documents and publications.
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