The Review of Corporate Governance in Israel was prepared as part of the process of Israel’s accession to OECD Membership. The report describes the corporate governance setting including the structure and ownership concentration of listed companies and the structure and operation of the state-owned sector. The Review then examines the legal and regulatory framework and company practices to assess the degree to which the recommendations of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises have been implemented.

Around the OECD countries and beyond, there is a proliferation of initiatives in the life sciences to bring together disperse elements of global research and establish an effective virtual infrastructure for open innovation. Their common goal is to leverage innovative capacity by creating interconnected webs of knowledge and exploiting external expertise.
Some such initiatives have as their goal the monetisation and trading of knowledge in the form of intellectual assets. Others seek to create networks for pooling and exchange of knowledge. Together, these initiatives can be referred to as “knowledge networks and markets” (KNMs). This report considers the development of such KNMs and examines the impact of current initiatives and the possible options for governments, working with the private sector, to improve innovation efficiency and effectiveness.
Improving the interoperability of knowledge resources is fundamental to  the creation of a necessary shared infrastructure for efficient KNM to emerge, as is related sustainable funding and policy clarity. Governments can play a vital catalytic role in improving the productivity of KNMs through such infrastructure development and encouragement of associated social networking. the report makes suggestions for some priority actions based on existing case studies.    

The benefits of open markets are tangible. In the last decade, countries that have been more open to trade and investment have achieved double the average annual growth of more closed economies. More individuals, firms and nations than ever before depend on the gains from trade and investment liberalisation. Yet anxiety about the effects of greater market integration remains.

It is essential for long-term world prosperity that countries' commitment to trade and investment liberalisation be sustained. To be credible, that commitment must be rooted in and enjoy broad public support and understanding. This makes it all the more important to communicate what trade and investment liberalisation can and cannot do and be held responsible for.

Trade and investment liberalisation is not painless. It should not be viewed as a cure-all nor presented as an end in itself. It is, however, an essential component of any coherent set of policies aimed at helping societies adjust to - and take advantage of - technology-driven transformations whose pace and depth are unprecedented.

The stakes are high. This book examines the various channels through which open markets deliver considerable benefits to societies and their citizens; recalls the real pocket-book costs of protectionism; and addresses the full range of concerns that feature prominently in ongoing discussions over the effects of market liberalisation on employment, income distribution, environmental protection and national sovereignty.

A central message of this book is that liberalisation forms part of the solution to the concerns of citizens, rather than being their root cause. The book's comprehensive treatment of the ins and outs of trade and investment liberalisation should make an important contribution to the public debate. It is essential reading for public officials, business leaders and private citizens who wish to take an active part in it.

Assessing Scientific, Reading and Mathematical Literacy: A Framework for PISA 2006 presents the conceptual framework underlying the PISA 2006 survey. It includes a re-developed and expanded framework for scientific literacy, an innovative component on the assessment of students’ attitudes to science and the frameworks for the assessment of reading and mathematics. Within each domain, the framework defines the content that students need to acquire, the processes that need to be performed, and the contexts in which knowledge and skills are applied. The domains and their aspects are also illustrated with sample tasks.

What are students like as learners as they near the end of compulsory education? The answer matters greatly, not only because those with stronger approaches to learning get better results at school but also because young adults who are able to set learning goals and manage their own learning are much more likely to take up further study and become lifelong learners. This report analyses the results, focusing on students’ motivation, self-beliefs and use of various learning strategies. In particular, it looks at those characteristics that together make it more likely that a student will become a confident and self-managed learner.

What does PISA actually assess? This book presents all the publicly available questions from the PISA surveys. Some of these questions were used in the PISA 2000, 2003 and 2006 surveys and others were used in developing and trying out the assessment.

After a brief introduction to the PISA assessment, the book presents three chapters, including PISA questions for the reading, mathematics and science tests, respectively. Each chapter presents an overview of what exactly the questions assess. The second section of each chapter presents questions which were used in the PISA 2000, 2003 and 2006 surveys, that is, the actual PISA tests for which results were published. The third section presents questions used in trying out the assessment. Although these questions were not used in the PISA 2000, 2003 and 2006 surveys, they are nevertheless illustrative of the kind of question PISA uses. The final section shows all the answers, along with brief comments on each question.

Earthquake-prone communities need earthquake-resistant schools. In 2002, a primary school in San Giuliano, Italy, collapsed killing 29 children and one teacher. In May 2003, a medium-sized earthquake in the city of Bingöl, Turkey, caused the collapse of three new schools and a dormitory, killing many children as they slept. All too frequently, earthquakes cause the collapse of school buildings and the injury and death of staff and students. Further, when schools are closed because of earthquake damage, education is hampered, community life disrupted, and potential emergency shelters unavailable. Where school attendance is compulsory, communities have an obligation to provide a safe study and work environment.

Why do schools collapse even during moderate earthquakes? Experts agree that many collapse due to avoidable errors in design and construction. Often, the needed technology is not applied and laws and regulations are not sufficiently enforced. Application of existing knowledge can significantly lower the seismic risk of schools and help prevent further injury and death of school occupants during earthquakes. Moreover, this can be accomplished at reasonable cost and within a reasonable period.

Keeping Schools Safe in Earthquakes presents expert knowledge, opinions and experiences, and provides valuable insight into the scope of problems involved in protecting schools and their occupants. Its recommendations are a call to action to all governments in OECD and partner countries to help facilitate their implementation.

Information and communications technology (ICT) has become a key driver of economic growth over the past decade. The rapid diffusion of the Internet, of mobile telephony and of broadband networks all demonstrate how pervasive this technology has become. But how precisely does ICT affect economic growth and the efficiency of firms? And how well can these effects be measured?

This report provides an overview of the economic impact of ICT on economic performance, and the ways through which it can be measured. Using available OECD data, the first part of the book examines the available measures of ICT diffusion, the role and impact of ICT investment and the role of ICT-using and ICT-producing sectors in overall economic performance. The second part of the book offers nine studies for OECD countries, based on detailed firm-level data and prepared by researchers and statisticians from a wide range of OECD countries. These studies use a variety of methods and provide detailed insights on the effects of ICT in individual countries.

This book provides guidance on a whole-of-revenue body approach for managing service demand effectively. It sets out a possible ‘model’ for governance arrangements based on leading revenue body practice – in this case the Australian Taxation Office—that has been examined and is supported by the FTA’s Taxpayer Services Sub-group. It also sets out practical steps in the form of a step-by-step framework to support revenue bodies in their efforts to better identify, analyse and address the causes of service demand.

The guide has been designed to support all revenue bodies, from those that are in the early stages of developing comprehensive service delivery programs to those with mature programs in place. While it focuses on the revenue body’s role in tax administration it acknowledges that some revenue bodies have a broader set of responsibilities, for example, in the administration of some social policies. This guide has not explored how such roles should integrate at a broader demand management level and revenue bodies will need to assess this issue, if relevant, having regard to their individual circumstances.

The residues in Livestock studies are conducted in order to quantify levels of residues in meat, milk, eggs and edible meat by-products following the use of a pesticide product. The situations to which such studies apply include application of a pesticide to raw agricultural commodities (RACs), and the feeding by livestock; pesticides that may be directly applied to livestock; and pesticides that are used in livestock premises.

The primary purposes of the Residues in Livestock study are to provide: the basis for establishing maximum residue limits (MRLs) and for conducting dietary intake assessments for consumer safety. Separate feeding studies should be conducted for a ruminant (lactating dairy cows) and poultry (egg-laying hens). The test substance(s) should be applied daily (during at least 28 days) preferably by capsule. A Residues in Livestock study will normally comprise 3 different dose levels, 1X, 3X and 10X. Three animals per dose group (and one for the control) should be used for ruminants. For hens 9-10 animals per dose group (and 3 to 4 animal for control per study) should be used. The study report should include: daily feed consumption, bodyweights measurement, milk or egg production and analyse (after and before dosing), detailed observations (health problems...) and tissues analyse.

African agriculture is a sleeping giant. Agribusiness remains in its infancy in most sub-Saharan African countries. Many of them now pay higher prices for imported food products and struggle to keep inflationary pressures under control. Given the strong long-term prospect for world food prices, increasing the productivity of food crops becomes a top priority. It requires sizeable investments in irrigation, storage, transport infrastructure and logistics, as well as better access to markets for inputs (fertilizers, seeds, planting materials and credit).

While successful contract-farming schemes exist for export crops, they remain rare for food crops. Greater involvement of the private sector in designing and implementing such food-crop commercialisation programmes could develop viable local food industries. Existing international financing facilities such as the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance (EPSA) for Africa should get full use. Whether Africa can unleash the potential of commercial agriculture in the coming decades also depends in no small part on the continuous and effective support of the international development community.

The findings summarised in this volume can serve as building blocks for further international discussions on fostering agro-based private-sector development and lifting smallholders out of poverty.

In the context of major public sector reform efforts in many OECD countries, increasing attention is being focused on the people-side of the reform equation -- the human resource management policies and practices available to public sector managers to shape and direct the workforce to achieve new organisational goals. The experiences of OECD countries show, however, that improving individual policies and practices is only part of the reform equation. The key factor lies in integrating human resource management with the core business of the public service -- the outcome and output goals of individual departments and agencies -- and in doing so, ensuring that effective management of people is recognised as an indispensable ingredient for accomplishing the business of government. Using surveys and selected country case studies, this monograph identifies the factors driving human resource management reforms in the national public administrations of OECD countries. In offering the lessons drawn from these wide-ranging experiences to the attention of policy makers and practitioners, it identifies promising reform strategies for ensuring that human resource management policies evolve in ways consistent with broader public management reforms aimed at building more productive, performance-oriented and responsive public services.

This publication reviews progress made since the 2008 OECD Seoul Declaration for the Future of the Internet Economy and identifies areas for future work. Seven themes are addressed in the work as follows: High-speed infrastructure Digital content and green ICTs The development of smarter applications Cybersecurity and privacy Consumer empowerment and protection An open Internet economy Global participation for development.

Overall, the review shows that the Internet economy has now reached a point where it has become a new source of growth, with the potential to boost the whole economy, to foster innovation, competitiveness and user participation, and to contribute effectively to the prosperity of society as a whole.

This handbook is intended to assist the assessment teams and the reviewed jurisdictions that are participating in the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the “Global Forum”) peer reviews and non-member reviews. It provides contextual background information on the Global Forum   and the peer review process. It also contains key relevant documents and authoritative sources  that will guide assessors and reviewed jurisdictions through the peer review process. This handbook is also a unique source of information for governments academics and others interested in transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.  

The space sector plays an increasingly pivotal role in the functioning of modern societies and their economic development as the use of satellite technology gives rise to new applications, uses and markets. Space Economy at a Glance offers a statistical overview of the global space sector and its contributions to economic activity using data from over 40 countries with space programmes, and identifies new dynamics in the space sector.

In most PISA-participating countries and economies, the average socio-economic background of students who attend privately managed schools is more advantaged than that of those who attend public schools. Yet in some countries, there is little difference in the socio-economic profiles between public and private schools. Why? An analysis of PISA results finds that while the prevalence of privately managed schools in a country is not related to socio-economic stratification within a school system, the level of public funding to privately managed schools is: the higher the proportion of public funding allocated to privately managed schools, the smaller the socio-economic divide between publicly and privately managed schools. This report also shows that those countries with narrow socio-economic stratification in their education systems not only maximise equity and social cohesion, but also perform well in the PISA survey.

The OECD has collectively underlined the importance of a high quality regulatory environment since the mid 1990s when the Council adopted the 1995 Recommendation on Improving the Quality of Government Regulation and its checklist as the first international standard on regulatory quality, and the 1997 Report on Regulatory Reform and its Principles of good regulation.
Since 1997, the OECD has carried out a series of country reviews based on the Principles, which have documented progress in the reviewed countries. Twenty OECD countries have been reviewed. The reviews have been multidisciplinary, covering the broader economic context, competition policy, market openness, sectoral reforms and not least, the development of regulatory policies, institutions and tools to build up capacities for a high quality rule-making environment supportive of economic growth and specific policy goals. This work has been complemented by the specific research of the OECD secretariat and others on issues such as the link between product market reforms and economic performance. Ample material is now available to take stock of the progress made in OECD countries and to reflect on the continued relevance of the 1997 Principles.
This report integrates more detailed papers prepared for the committees and working parties responsible for regulatory management, competition policy and trade, as well as relevant papers prepared for the Economic Policy Committee.

Volume II of PISA's 2009 results looks at how successful education systems moderate the impact of social background and immigrant status on student and school performance. The volume opens with an introduction to PISA and a Reader's Guide providing information that will help readers understand the data. Chapter 1 focuses on the magnitude of differences in student performance across countries and the extent to which these differences relate to socio-economic background. Chapter 2 examines the extent to which students and schools with different socio-economic backgrounds have access to similar educational resources, and the impact of background and school on learning outcomes. Chapter 3 examines the relationship between student performance and different aspects of socio-economic background. Chapter 4 compares the performance of students with an immigrant background with the performance of other students. Chapter 5 analyses the impact of socio-economic background of schools on reading performance. The final chapter examines policy implications of the findings.  Annexes provide detailed statistical data and technical information.

This book describes the instruments underlying the PISA 2000 assessment. It introduces the PISA approach to assessing reading, mathematical and scientific literacy with its three dimensions of process, content and context. Further, it presents a sample of PISA 2000 tasks, and explains how these tasks were scored and how they relate to the conceptual framework underlying PISA.

Is life getting better? Are our societies making progress? Indeed, what does “progress” mean to the world’s citizens? For a good portion of the 20th century there was an implicit assumption that economic growth was synonymous with progress: an assumption that a growing GDP meant life must be getting better. But we now recognise that it isn’t quite as simple as that. Access to accurate information is vital when we come to judge our politicians and hold them accountable. But access to a comprehensive and intelligible portrait of that most important of questions - whether or not life has got and is likely to get better - is lacking in many societies.

The OECD’s 2nd World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy 'Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies' held in Istanbul in June 2007 brought together a diverse group of leaders from more than 130 countries to debate these issues. These proceedings contain 40 papers presented at the Forum.

This publication provides all the information required to understand the PISA 2003 educational performance database and perform analyses in accordance with the complex methodologies used to collect and process the data. It enables researchers to both reproduce the initial results and to undertake further analyses. The publication includes introductory chapters explaining the statistical theories and concepts required to analyse the PISA data, including full chapters on how to apply replicate weights and undertake analyses using plausible values; worked examples providing full syntax in SAS®; and a comprehensive description of the OECD PISA 2003 international database.  

The PISA 2003 database includes micro-level data on student educational performance for 41 countries collected in 2003, together with students’ responses to the PISA 2003 questionnaires and the test questions. A similar manual is available for SPSS users.

This joint publication of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the World Bank complements the recommendations of the System of National Accounts, 1993 (1993 SNA), and reflects changes and improvements that have been introduced to the system of national accounts since its last revision in 1993.

Along with the 1993 SNA, Updates and Amendments supports the implementation of international standards of national accounting and provides the methodological basis for improving the international comparability of national accounts data. The publication contains the text of the 1993 SNA that has been updated as a result of the adoption of new international standards for the statistical measurement of financial derivatives. It also includes four functional classifications that were fully elaborated and updated after the 1993 SNA was published. It also provides for the first time a glossary of terms and definitions.

Languages: [Arabic]; [Chinese]; [English]; [Russian]; [Spanish]

Orders should be sent to:
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This Test guideline describes the Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). This method permits to determine the molecular weight distribution and the average molecular weights (Mn, Mw). GPC is a special type of liquid chromatography in which the sample is separated according to the hydrodynamic volumes of the individual constituents. Low molecular weight is arbitrarily defined as a molecular weight below 1000 dalton.According to their size, the eluted molecules can or not penetrate in the porous material (typically an organic gel) of which the columns are filled. Thus, the smallest molecules are retained whereas largest elute more quickly. At exit of column, detectors (generally by differential refractometry) provide the refractive index or UV-absorption and yield a simple distribution curve. However, to attribute actual molecular weight values to the curve, it is necessary to calibrate the column by passing down polymers of known molecular weight and, ideally, of broadly similar structure, e.g. various polystyrene standards. For each sample analyzed, two independent experiments must be undertaken.

The objective of OECD Test Guidelines for the pesticide residue chemistry is to assess pesticide exposure by identifying these residues in food or animal feedstuffs for purposes of dietary risk assessment and setting Maximum Residue Levels. They have been developed and are based on guidelines in use for many years in OECD countries and by the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Because of the unique nature of each study, the pesticide expected use, and the particular methods needed to elucidate the metabolic pathway for each chemical, the description of the test method cannot be as prescriptive as usually required for other OECD Test Guidelines. Pesticide residue studies are complex; guidelines cannot specify all parameters in advance, but each study must be designed individually. Given these characteristics, the guidelines in Part A of Section 5 include elements that differ from those in the other sections (1-4) of the OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals.

These Guidelines provide ways for donor governments to honour their commitment to conflict prevention as an integral part of the quest to reduce poverty. They cover key issues such as: security, development and dealing with small arms; regional co-operation; peace processes, justice and reconciliation; engaging in partnerships for peace; working with business; and grappling with the political economy of war - situations where powerful groups acquire a vested interest in sparking or perpetuating violent conflict. They identify concrete opportunities for donor assistance in support of peace that include: democratisation; inter-community relations; education and cross-cultural training; human rights training; freedom and access to information; the reintegration of uprooted populations; the demobilisation of former combatants; landmine clearing; and the restoration of a capacity for economic management.

This full set of guidance on conflict prevention to date from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) includes the 2001 Supplement and the ground-breaking 1997 Guidelines. This work marks a reaffirmation of the international community’s commitment to work together across government systems to improve their analyses of violent conflicts and establish more coherent policies.

“... We are promoting the consideration of conflict prevention in development assistance strategies with a view to achieving quicker and better co-ordinated assistance strategies – including the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HPIC) initiative – and ensuring a smooth transition from relief to post-conflict development. A significant example of such consideration is the April 2001 OECD/DAC Supplement to the 1997 Guidelines on Conflict, Peace and Development Co-operation.”

– Excerpt from the Conclusions of the G-8 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, July 2001.

This document contains revised standards for transfer pricing documentation and a template for country-by-country reporting of revenues, profits, taxes paid and certain measures of economic activity. These new reporting provisions, and the transparency they will encourage, will contribute to the objective of understanding, controlling, and tackling BEPS behaviours. Countries participating in the BEPS project will carefully review the implementation of these new standards and will reassess no later than the end of 2020 whether modifications should be made to require reporting of additional or different data. Effective implementation of the new reporting standards and reporting rules will be essential. Additional work will be undertaken to identify the most appropriate means of filing the required information with and disseminating it to tax administrations.

Few systematic economic evaluations have been carried out on patent system to better inform policy choices. This report, which covers a range of areas, and highlights some issues that policy makers should address in the near future, including markets for technology, patenting by public reserach organisations, biotechnology, and software and services.

 

This Framework provides policy makers with a practical and accessible guide to best practice evaluation methods for SME and entrepreneurship policies and programmes. It uses case studies from a wide range of OECD countries to examine the benefits of evaluation and how best to address common issues that arise when commissioning and undertaking SME and entrepreneurship evaluations.

Key evaluation principles are set out, including the ‘Six Steps to Heaven’ approach. These principles are illustrated with examples of evaluations of national, regional and local programmes that can be explored further by the reader.

The publication focuses not only on the evaluation of individual policies and programmes, but also on peer review evaluations and assessment of the impact of SMEs and entrepreneurship of mainstream programmes that do not have business development as their principal aim. This book complements other existing guidelines, as it focusses particularly on problem situations and exceptions to the general rules.

Investment in human capital is to the fore of debate and analysis in OECD countries about how to promote economic prosperity, fuller employment, and social cohesion. Individuals, organisations and nations increasingly recognise that high levels of knowledge, skills and competencies are essential to their future security and success. Investment in skills and competencies takes place in a variety of settings ranging from early childhood education to informal learning in the workplace, and involves a wide range of actors from individuals to enterprises and governments.

This report aims to clarify what is now known about human capital and how it can be measured. It responds to a request by governments represented in the OECD Council "to develop an initial set of indicators of human capital investment based on existing data, analyse areas where significant gaps remain in internationally comparable data, identify the cost of development of data collection for new measures and performance indicators, and report to Ministers in 1998".

This book analyses the domestic policy challenges facing China in the context of trade and investment liberalisation.  The entry of China into the WTO marks a new era for its integration into the world economy.  Drawing on the experiences of OECD members over the past 50 years, and the Organisation’s extensive work with non-members, this landmark study provides readers with a comprehensive view of the interrelated domestic policy issues at stake and with specific recommendations.  It is an essential reference book for policy makers, governments, international organisations and researchers.

Cette brochure est publiée dans le cadre du Régime pour l’Application de normes internationales pour les fruits et légumes établi par l’OCDE en 1962. Elle fournit des notes explicatives et des illustrations en vue de faciliter l’interprétation commune des normes en vigueur pour les onions. Cette version actualisée de la brochure illustre le texte révisé des normes (2012), les nouvelles pratiques en matière de  commercialisation et le développement de la production. Elle illustre  les paramètres qualitatifs par des photographies de haute qualité. La brochure comprend également une clef USB contenant une version électronique de la publication. Elle constitue par conséquent un outil précieux pour les autorités de contrôle, les organes professionnels et les commerçants s’intéressant au commerce international des onions.

This 2011 edition of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises commits 42 countries to new, tougher standards of corporate behaviour. The updated Guidelines include new recommendations on human rights abuse and company responsibility for their supply chains, making them the first inter-governmental agreement in this area.

The Guidelines establish that firms should respect human rights in every country in which they operate. Companies should also respect environmental and labour standards, for example, and have appropriate due diligence processes in place to ensure this happens. These include issues such as paying decent wages, combating bribe solicitation and extortion, and the promotion of sustainable consumption.

The Guidelines are a comprehensive, non-binding code of conduct that OECD member countries and others have agreed to promote among the business sector. A new, tougher process for complaints and mediation has also been put in place.

Health care is one of the largest sectors in OECD countries, and accounts now for over 8% of GDP on average. This manual of the System of Health Accounts (Version 1.0) provides a set of comprehensive, consistent and flexible accounts to meet the needs of government and private-sector analysts and policy-makers. These accounts constitute a common framework for enhancing the comparability of data over time and across countries, and suggest basic links with non-monetary indicators. The manual establishes a conceptual basis of statistical reporting rules compatible with other economic and social statistics and proposes a newly developed International Classification for Health Accounts (ICHA) which covers three dimensions: health care by functions of care; providers of health care services; and sources of funding. Once this new accounting standard has been implemented in a large number of OECD countries, it will allow for more consistent and reliable comparisons of health care expenditure across countries.

 

Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators is the authoritative source for accurate and relevant information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances, and performance of the education systems in the OECD’s 34 member countries, as well as a number of non-member G20 nations.

Featuring more than 140 charts, 230 tables, and 100 000 figures, Education at a Glance provides key information on the ouput of educational institutions; the impact of learning across countries; the financial and human resources invested in education; access, participation and progression in education, and the learning environment and organisation of schools.

In the 2012 edition, new indicators focus on:
• the effect of the global economic crisis on education expenditures;
• the state of early childhood education systems around the world;
• intergenerational mobility in higher education among different socio-economic groups;
• the impact of education on macroeconomic outcomes, such as GDP;
• the specific factors that influence the level of education spending in different countries;
• career expectations among boys and girls at age 15, as compared to higher education graduation rates by field;
• the makeup of the teaching force in different countries and training requirements to enter the teaching profession; and
• the impact of examinations on access to secondary and higher education.

The ExcelTM spreadsheets used to create the tables and charts in Education at a Glance are available via the StatLinks provided throughout. The tables and charts, as well as the complete OECD Online Education Database, are freely available via the OECD Education website at www.oecd.org/edu/eag2012.

Developing countries, with the support of multilateral institutions, the bilateral development assistance community and civil society organisations, are focusing as never before on the development priority of reducing poverty by half by 2015. Country-led and country-owned poverty reduction strategies focusing on local needs and priorities as determined by stakeholders are now the focus of all development assistance efforts. The DAC Guidelines on Poverty Reduction provide practical information about the nature of poverty and best practice approaches, policies, instruments and channels for tackling it. They also break new ground in setting out the parameters for building effective partnerships with governments, civil society, and other development actors, and in describing how institutional change and development within bilateral agencies themselves could be undertaken for mainstreaming poverty reduction, partnership and policy coherence.

This book provides a detailed examination of the environment chapter of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and other relevant provisions of the Guidelines and gives concrete ideas and guidance to enterprises wishing to implement the Guidelines. Topics covered include environmental management systems; public information and stakeholder consultation; life cycle assessment; risk management; emergency preparedness and response; continuous improvements in environmental performance; environmental education and training; and contributing to the development of environmental policy.

Following the OECD Council decision, the Test Guideline 482 ‘Genetic Toxicology: DNA Damage and Repair, Unscheduled DNA Synthesis in Mammalian Cells in vitro’ was deleted on 2nd April 2014.

The OECD Biotechnology Statistics – 2006 edition brings together the latest available economic and activity data on biotechnology and innovation, collected by OECD member and a number of nonmember countries. The report builds on the extensive work of the OECD and national experts to improve the comparability of biotechnology statistics. The results should provide a valuable source of information on biotechnology for policy makers, academics and business managers.

This Test Guideline describes an in vivo assay that detects chemicals that may induce gene mutations. In this assay, transgenic rats or mice that contain multiple copies of chromosomally integrated plasmid or phage shuttle vectors are used. The transgenes contain reporter genes for the detection of various types of mutations induced by test substances. A negative control group and a minimum of 3 treatment groups of transgenic animals are treated for 28 consecutive days. Administration is usually followed by a 3-day period of time, prior to sacrifice, during which the agent is not administered and during which unrepaired DNA lesions are fixed into stable mutations. At the end of this 3-day period, the animals are sacrificed, genomic DNA is isolated from the tissue(s) of interest and purified. Mutations that have arisen during treatment are scored by recovering the transgene and analysing the phenotype of the reporter gene in a bacterial host deficient for the reporter gene. Mutant frequency, the reported parameter in these assays, is calculated by dividing the number of plaques/plasmids containing mutations in the transgene by the total number of plaques/plasmids recovered from the same DNA sample.

This report draws a range of new analyses and case studies carried out in preparation for the Accra High-Level Forum held in September 2008. It it is organized into four parts. Part 1 examines trends in aid for health from a global perspective, focusing both on how increases in aid finance have been used, and on financing modalities and patterns that impact on the implementation of the Paris declaration. Part 2 then draws on a series of country cases studies-including Rwanda, Uganda, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mali and Tanzania-looking at practical experience from the perspective of the main pillars of the Paris Declaration. Part 3 examines current issues and future directions, highlighting new work on predictable financing, showcasing developments in mutual accountability through country compacts, and innovations in cross-cutting issues such as gender and human rights. Part 4 summarizes the key messages and recommendations following the structure and format of the Accra Agenda for Action.

The spread of the digital economy poses challenges for international taxation. This report sets out an analysis of these tax challenges. It notes that because the digital economy is increasingly becoming the economy itself, it would not be feasible to ring-fence the digital economy from the rest of the economy for tax purposes. The report notes, however, that certain business models and key features of the digital economy may exacerbate BEPS risks. These BEPS risks will be addressed by the work on the other Actions in the BEPS Action Plan, which will take the relevant features of the digital economy into account. The report also analyses a number of broader tax challenges raised by the digital economy, and discusses potential options to address them, noting the need for further work during 2015 to evaluate these broader challenges and potential options.

Corruption in public procurement has become a major issue in the Asia-Pacific region as elsewhere in the world. As a result of corruption, private mansions are being built instead of bridges; swimming pools are dug instead of irrigation systems; funds destined to run hospitals and buy medicines find their way into the pockets of corrupt officials; economic growth is held back; and public trust in government is undermined.Governments in Asia and the Pacific have recognized the urgent need to fight corruption in public procurement. To identify risk-areas in their public procurement frameworks and to foster reform in this field, member governments of the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific have reviewed the mechanisms and safeguards in place.

This method provides information on health hazard likely to arise from short-term exposure to test substance. The determination of sub-chronic oral toxicity using repeated doses may be carried out after initial information on toxicity has been obtained from acute or repeated dose 28-day toxicity tests.

The method is based on the repeated oral administration of the substance of interest over a prolonged period (one dose level daily during 90 days). This Test Guideline is intended primarily for use with non-rodents species. The commonly used non-rodent species is the dog (the beagle is frequently used). At least 8 animals (4 female and 4 male) should be used for each test group. Three concentrations, at least, should be used. The test compound is administered in the diet or in the drinking water, by gavage or in capsules. A limit test may be performed if no effects would be expected at a dose of 1000 mg/kg bw/d. The results of this study include: measurements (weighing at least once a week, food/water consumption) and daily (preferably at the same time) and detailed observations (ophtalmological examination, haematology, clinical biochemistry and urinalysis), as well as gross necropsy and histopathology. A properly conducted 90-day subchronic test should provide a satisfactory estimation of a no-effect level.

Under which it proliferates. They know first hand that corruption jeopardizes security and economic growth, perpetuates poverty, and exacerbates social inequities. The knowledge has prompted the governments of more than half the world's population to commit to working together to fight corruption under the umbrella of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)/Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific. Civil society and the business community have joined them in this commitment, and together, the 25 member countries of the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific are taking action against corruption in Asia and the Pacific.

This 2006 edition of Education at a Glance enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ performance. It provides a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators on the performance of education systems and represents the consensus of professional thinking on how to measure the current state of education internationally.  The indicators look at who participates in education, what is spent on it and how education systems operate and the results achieved. The latter includes indicators on a wide range of outcomes, from comparisons of student’s performance in key subject areas to the impact of education on earnings and on adults’ chances of employment.

New material in this edition includes further analysis of results of the 2003 survey of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), including student access to and use of ICT, analysis of the lowest performing students; and the effects on students performance of family background and the way classes are organised in schools; trend data on tertiary qualifications, including projections for the year 2014; trend data on survival rates in tertiary education; the impact of demographic trends on education systems, as well as projections on expenditure for the year 2015; trend data on expected years of education; instruction time per subject for 9-to-14-year-olds; and a picture of student mobility and the significance of internationalisation of higher education.

The ExcelTM spreadsheets used to create the tables and charts in this book are available via the StatLinks printed in this book. 

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the legal and institutional framework for extradition and mutual legal assistance in corruption cases in 27 of the 28 jurisdictions which have endorsed the Anti-Corruption Action Plan for Asia-Pacific of the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific: Australia; Bangladesh; Cambodia; P.R. China; the Cook Islands; the Fiji Islands; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Japan; Kazakhstan; Korea; the Kyrgyz Republic; Macao, China; Malaysia; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Samoa; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Thailand; Vanuatu; and Vietnam. This report does not cover Bhutan which became the 28th member of the Initiative in September 2007 after the thematic review began.

The book introduces several models for assessing health and economic policies in relation to NCDs; shows how the models can be used for different diseases or risk factors; and provides case studies of those models’ application in various countries in the Americas. The ultimate goal is to help policymakers find the best strategies for cost-effective and evidence-based NCD interventions.

The 2009 edition of Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ performance. It provides a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators on the performance of education systems and represents the consensus of professional thinking on how to measure the current state of education internationally.

The indicators look at who participates in education, what is spent on it and how education systems operate and at the results achieved. The latter includes indicators on a wide range of outcomes, from comparisons of students’ performance in key subject areas to the impact of education on earnings and on adults’ chances of employment. New material in this edition includes first results from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) on teacher practices as well as teacher appraisal and feedback; an analysis of the social benefits of education; information on long-term unemployment and involuntary part-time work among young adults; a review of trends in attainment; data on the incentives to invest in education which show the benefits of education in dollar amount across OECD countries; and a picture of excellence in education for 15-year-olds, based on findings from the PISA study.

The ExcelTM spreadsheets used to create the tables and charts in this book are available via the StatLinks printed in this book. The tables and charts, as well as the complete OECD Online Education Database, are freely available via the OECD Education website at www.oecd.org/edu/eag2009.

A condensed version of this publication is also available: Highlights from Education at a Glance 2009.

Catalonia is the main contributor to Spain’s economy. For a long time it has led strategic investment in research and development in Spain and developed highly successful programmes to attract talent. The region also has a unique identity with its own language and a distinct cultural heritage.

Catalonia is now feeling the effects of the economic crisis. How can it prepare for the post-crisis economy with the help of the university system? How can it balance attracting expertise from abroad with nurturing talent among its diverse population? How can it unleash the potential of universities to contribute to local and regional development?

The second ‘green skills’ forum organised by Cedefop and the OECD-LEED in February 2014 provided an open space for discussion between researchers, policy-makers, social partners and international organisations on skills development and training needs for a greener economy. The focus of this ...