18th March 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
This month in the UK we launched the ‘What Works’ Network – new centres of evidence to help ensure better decisions across £200 billion of public service spending. It’s the first time a government has set up such a model. The video launch at NESTA is well worth a look. The Network consists of two existing […]
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8th March 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Today is International Women’s Day, an annual event launched over a century ago, in 1910, to celebrate the social and economic achievements of women.
The situation for women since then has changed profoundly…
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18th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Prime Minister’s speech at Davos, and the Chancellor’s article in yesterday’s Observer, describe how the UK is working with OECD experts to push reform of the international tax system – to reduce tax base erosion and the shifting of profits by global corporations. I remember being struck by this issue at an Economic Club lunch in Washington […]
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16th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Today saw the launch of a very significant new initiative by the OECD and WTO, called Trade in Value Added, or TiVA. Why is it attracting so much attention? Don’t we already have statistics on trade? We do, but the the way we’ve looked at trade statistics for years no longer necessarily reflects the way […]
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21st December 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Along with the OECD Secretariat, and other member state representatives, I’ve been busy finalising 2013 and 2014 OECD work priorities in the last few days (more on those priorities in the New Year – lots of exciting work coming on stream in areas of UK interest). But I did want to quickly go back and reflect on […]
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30th October 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The International Energy Agency, a sister organisation to the OECD, has been doing some of the world’s leading energy analysis for years, much of it captured in its renowned annual World Energy Outlook (WEO) publication. In recent years its in-depth country studies of Chinese, Indian and Russian energy sectors have been important new contributions to […]
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24th October 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Dr O’Dell fell down a well, And broke his collarbone. But doctors should attend the sick, And leave the well alone. (Indian-born) Spike Milligan I was in Delhi last week for the “World Forum on Measuring Progress and Wellbeing” organised by the OECD and the Indian Government. Participants included Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Joe Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, Richard […]
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2nd October 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Gareth Ward’s blog about Russia joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) caught my eye last week. It brought back fond memories of working on economic and trade issues as a diplomat in Beijing in 2001, when it was China who was joining the WTO. I remember how WTO accession was a lightning rod for China’s reform […]
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3rd August 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
In November 2010, UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the government was asking the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to devise a new way of measuring well-being: “we’ll start measuring our progress as a country, not just by how our economy is growing, but by how our lives are improving.” Between April 2011 and March 2012, 165,000 UK adults aged 16 and over answered four ONS questions:
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30th July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
June and July 2012 have been a time for openings. First of all, opening data. The UK Government’s Open Data White Paper is about creating a culture where public data is available to make public services more effective and responsive to individual needs. Big data like this remains a huge untapped resource, and has been […]
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