OECD oecd.org
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
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for students of Prof. W.T.G. Richardson
updated 2021 Feb 24
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. This Unit used in the courses
MRK 460
IBM600		 MGTC44
MGTC46
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The OECD is discussed under the heading of
Governmental/political  Influences on Trade
    o sub-heading
           Trading Agreements and International Trade Organizations
 
INTRODUCTION The primary purpose of the OECD is to gather information about the activities of various countries and regions, so that senior government persons can use this to make informed decisions.
Example: a senior member of a government Ministry of Communications might want to recommend something to the Cabinet Minister who is responsible for a new bill on communications - as part of the research to determine what the bill should deal with, a government person might want to know something about communications in other countries - they would seek that information from the existing OECD files, or ask the OECD to research the information if it did not exist.
The OECD does a lot of tabulation and "statisticial manipulation" to create information across several countries. In many cases, they simply seek out the existing statistics from whatever national agency of the country they are dealing with. 
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INTRODUCTION

some problems

 Sometimes there are difficulties when the information being sought is not available in the same form or with the same quantifiers; for example, someone at the OECD might be researching information related to the number of women lawyers in each country - which might apply to some education policy being developed. In some countries the records might be detailed, in some countries they might not be divided according to gender so you would only know the total number, not the number of women and men.
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OECD Basics The OECD groups 34 member countries in an organization that, most importantly,
provides governments a setting in which to discuss, develop and perfect economic and social policy. Parts of the OECD Secretariat collect data, monitor trends, analyse and forecast economic developments, while others research social changes or  evolving patterns in trade, environment, agriculture, technology, taxation and more.
 oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/list-oecd-member-countries.htm
 
KEY POINTS The key thing to understand about the OECD is that it develops statistics mostly dealing with member countries - that is the countries that provide the funding for the OECD. It is not the "U.N. of Statistics" .. it deals mostly with the economic and business matters of the richest nations who fund the OECD.
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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can impact Canadians
From the Wall Street Journal 2015 March 18th

As reported in several American and Canadian newspapers
" The Organization for Economic Corporation and Development is cutting its growth outlook for Canada this year and next, but acknowledging plunging oil prices will lead to lower interest rates.."

"... The Organization for Economic Corporation and Development is cutting its growth outlook for Canada this year and next, but acknowledging plunging oil prices will lead to lower interest rates..."

Financial Post
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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can be used by politicians http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/oecd-ocde/january2009-janvier2009.aspx?lang=eng
The webpage on the Canadian government website commenting on Canada's contributions to, and involvement with the OECD
 canadainternational.gc.ca/oecd-ocde/january2009-janvier2009.aspx?lang=eng
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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can provide helpful information Example of the OECD Reports and how they can provide helpful information:

Re: the "environment"
 
An OECD report on "Environmental performers" was used by the Suzuki Foundation as material to criticize Canada
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"Canada at bottom of OECD, new report"
is the title of a comment on the davidsuzuki.org site

Suzuki,citing the report author, says
out of the 30 member countries 
"Canada’s worst showings include: 28th in energy consumption, 26th in greenhouse gas emissions, 29th in water consumption, 27th in sulfur oxides pollution, and 30th in nuclear waste and carbon monoxide."

Using the material in the report
"Dr. Suzuki called on the federal government to pass a National Sustainability Act, which would require Canada to create a plan on how to reach sustainability. This plan would include clear targets to improve our environmental performance, a tim"
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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can provide helpful information Example of the OECD Reports and how they can provide helpful information:

Re: Inflationary spending:
 
Toronto Star reporter Steven Theobald reportedNov 30th 2005 that the OECD had some advice for federal politicians as they kicked off their election campaign.
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KEY POINTS Politicians like to make promises and pledges to get elected and the OECD is worried that in the federal election in the winter 2005, Canadian politicians may promise to cut taxes - which reduces federal income, or spend money - which also reduces federal income. A consequence of reduced national government income can mean inflation.
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Porter reports that the "OECD's latest Economic Outlook conceded its forecasters were caught off guard by the Canadian economy's ability to cope with the rising currency. "The economy exhibited a more solid economic performance than previously envisaged," quotes Porter
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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can provide helpful information Example of the OECD Reports and how they can provide helpful information:

Re: Agricultural Subsidies:
 
OECD Reports in 2001 that for every dollar the Canadian government subsidizes Canadian farmers, the U.S. government spends $2.25, the E.C. $2.65 and the Japanese government $3.
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The conclusion is that Canadian farmers will have to spend more money to produce their agricultural products, therefore they need a higher price at which to sell, to recover costs. If the American farmers have higher subsidies, then they can sell products at a lower price which makes it more attractive for overseas customers to buy American farm products, compared to Canadians. Some Canadian politicians, particularly those with rural constituents) will use this OECD information to argue with NAFTA administrators that American subsidies are unfair and therefore Canadians should be allowed to have import tariffs on American farm products coming into Canada - even if we have NAFTA.

KEY POINTS This is a good example of how it is important to learn about NGOs like the OECD since the activities they are involved in can have a direct effect on your circumstances - in this case, Alberta beef farmers.
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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can provide information 2003 Sept 16th, CTV news aired a story on their network about an OECD study that showed 15 yr old Canadian high school students had scores on standardized reading and math and science tests that ranked Canada high compared to the rest of the world. No doubt this information will be used in the positive and negative by the political parties in the current provincial election (Sept-Oct 2003) in Ontario. The political party in power, the Conservatives, might say the OECD ranking shows education is working well in Ontario, the Liberals and the NDP may use this information to show education needs to improve so we can rank higher. 
 http://www.nides.bc.ca/GlobeArticle.asp 
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An interesting stat from the OECD Canada spends more per capita on education than any other country in the OECD
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The diagram below is an example of OECD research.
The particular chart shows university degrees by gender.

found by Yulia P. in MRK 460 section MS at Seneca in March 2013

University degrees by gender in 1991..

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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can be used by politicians The OECD Report on Canada 2009
 www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/53/42671752.pdf

Immigration: OECD says "Canada has more immigrants than the United States, with 20% (still 20% in 2021) of the population foreign-born." - such stats can be used by the government in a number of differents ways

  • when it comes to developing immigration policy
  • dealing with the U.S. and immigration matters
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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can be used by political parties
 
 The federal Progressive Conservative party quotes the OECD on their website when they are making a point about taxation effecting Canadian competitiveness.
"Canada has the highest personal income taxes in the G7 and we have the second highest corporate taxes in  the OECD. This creates a competitive disadvantage between Canada and our other trading partners. In today's global economy it is clear that competitive tax rates are essential."
from  www.pcparty.ca/policy_document.htm
The federal NDP also quote from the OECD (same document ! )
"Canada ranks second highest in national wealth, and lowest in family support"
from  http://socialpolicy.ca/52100/m10/platformfuture.html
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Example of the OECD Reports and how they can be used by companies Companies use OECD reports to make positioning statements.

For example, some companies might want to quote OECD reports that make favourable statements about the business sector or the market situation that the company is involved in.

Royal LePage Real Estate Services - a rather large Canadian company, has a section on their website in which they talk about the attractive reasons to invest in Canada - the angle is that if companies invest in Canada it means they need to acquire real estate and hopefully Royal LePage can position themselves to be the broker. Part of this "pitch" is to explain why Canada is attractive, so Royal LePage quotes from an OECD report saying

"The OECD says Canada has the highest computer literate population in the G7.
Canada has a world-class technology infrastructure, with the lowest telecom and Internet charges, and the best research and development structure in the G7."
 
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link was http://www.royallepage.ca/farms/foreign_invest.htm

above - screen capture from Royal LePage's website
- section on "Information for Foreign Investors"

permission to use the screen capture, and link to Royal LePage, comes from Andrea Kuch
National Communications Director, Royal LePage in an email 2005 July 5th. Copies of emails kept in the permissions binder.

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