The United States should do more to foster innovation and provide more equitable access to high-quality education in order to maintain its status as the world's most vibrant and productive economy, according to OECD's latest Economic Survey of the United States.
Growth in health spending slowed or fell in real terms in 2010 in almost all OECD countries, reversing a long-term trend of rapid increases, according to OECD Health Data 2012.
OECD countries have agreed new rules to strengthen current environmental and social due diligence processes when providing export credits and to create financially prudent incentives to support business projects with low CO2 emissions. The second agreement also aims to encourage support for advanced climate-friendly technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
Food commodity prices are anticipated to remain on a higher plateau over the next decade, underpinned by firm demand but a slowing growth in global production, according to the latest OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2012-2021.
Governments looking to boost their fisheries sector should review their policies to create incentives for economically and environmentally sustainable fisheries, according to a new OECD report.
Ghana has signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, a multilateral agreement developed jointly by the Council of Europe and the OECD. Ghana is the second African country, after South Africa, to sign the Convention since it was opened for signature to all countries in June 2011.
Employment: OECD sees high jobless rates continuing - more must be done urgently to boost job creation and help jobseekers
Kazakhstan has joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. As the 110th member of the Global Forum, it will participate in the peer review process which encourages all countries to adopt effective exchange of information in tax matters.
The OECD has updated Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention, which sets out the international standard on exchange of information. The standard provides for information exchange on request, where the information is “foreseeably relevant” for the administration of the taxes of the requesting party, regardless of bank secrecy and a domestic tax interest.
Switzerland tops for the first time the OECD fixed broadband ranking, with 39.9 subscribers per 100 inhabitants, followed closely by the Netherlands (39.1) and Denmark (37.9). The OECD average is 25.6, according to new OECD statistics.
