Publishing Institution: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Ireland has continued its exemplary economic performance, attaining some of the highest growth rates in the OECD. After a remarkable decade, per-capita income has caught up with and overtaken the EU average. Further progress will require strong productivity growth and continued increases in labour supply. These challenges are familiar to most OECD economies. But it also faces some issues that are less common: it is going through a transition phase in upgrading its social services; infrastructure levels need to catch up with the boom in activity and population that has occurred over this period; and it has to manage some sizeable macroeconomic risks.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:: Europe and Ireland

Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Access to water that is safe to drink is vital to human health and to development. Recognising this, world leaders have set themselves the goal of halving by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. This is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to reduce world poverty set out in the United Nations Millennium Declaration in the year 2000, and reaffirmed at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Topic:: Development, Environment, and Health

Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Securing safe and reliable water and sanitation services for all is one of the leading challenges facing sustainable development. All but a few OECD countries have connected 100% of their populations to safe water supplies, and the majority are connected to wastewater treatment. Progress has also been made in developing countries, where between 1990 and 2000 access to safe water supply rose from 73% to almost 80% of the population. But there is still a long way to go. Over 1 billion people worldwide still lack access to safe water and 2.6 billion people are without access to adequate sanitation. About 80% of all diseases in developing countries are water-related, leading to an estimated 1.7 million deaths each year.
Topic:: Development, Environment, Health, and Third World

Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: China's economic growth has averaged 9½ per cent over the past two decades. The rapid pace of economic change is likely to be sustained for some time. These gains have contributed not only to higher personal incomes, but also to a significant reduction in poverty. At the same time, the economy has become substantially integrated with the world economy. A large part of these gains have come through profound shifts in government policies. Reforms have allowed market prices and private investors to play a significant role in production and trade.
Topic:: Agriculture, Government, and International Organization
Political Geography:: China and Asia

Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The OECD represents the governments of its 30 member countries, but it does not work for them in a vacuum. The major stakeholders of democratic societies – business, trade unions and other members of civil society – also have an important role in OECD work.
Topic:: International Relations, Civil Society, Economics, and Government

Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Fish piracy, or illegal fishing activity, depletes global fish stocks and undermines efforts to ensure continued, renewable stocks for the future. It also damages the economic and social welfare of those involved in legal fishing, and reduces incentives to play by the rules. But despite national and international efforts, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing continues to thrive worldwide.
Topic:: Economics, Environment, Human Welfare, and International Law

Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: E-learning is becoming increasingly prominent in tertiary education, with universities increasing provision and more students signing up. But is it actually changing the way universities teach and students learn, or is it simply a case of students typing up their essays on computers and professors sending them course reading lists or work assignments by e-mail?
Topic:: Development, Education, and Science and Technology

Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Predatory pricing is the practice of offering goods or services at exceptionally low prices, thereby forfeiting some profit in order to drive competitors out of the market, discipline them, and/or deter entry. It is among the most frequently discussed topics in competition law and economics.
Topic:: Economics, Government, Industrial Policy, and Markets

Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Governments pay out some USD 6 billion a year to support the fisheries sector in OECD countries. This money, variously called subsidies, support or financial transfers, is used to help manage fish stocks, to modernise fishing fleets, and to help communities and regions that can no longer make a living out of fishing to develop other economic activity. The money is also intended to assist in resolving problems of over-fishing and over-capacity that affect many parts of the OECD fishing industry.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Environment, and Government

Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: China is the world's sixth largest economy and its most populous country, home to 1.3 billion people or 21% of the Earth's total population. But it faces a major challenge in providing its people with food – China has only 10% of the world's arable land and only one quarter of the average world water resources per person.
Topic:: Agriculture, Civil Society, and Economics
Political Geography:: China and Asia

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