The OECD: A Decade of Transformation

Book excerpt: In the last decade, the OECD has undergone a period of transformation under the leadership of Secretary-General Angel Gurría and his senior management – a transformation that has revitalised the organisation’s operations and outputs. Now celebrating its 60th anniversary, the OECD provides an increasingly valuable resource for its members and partners worldwide. This, the only book to cover the last ten years of the OECD’s work, focuses on the policy-related advice, evidence-based global standards, trusted statistics and analysis, and support for policy reform that it has developed. The book commences with a brief history of the OECD and its key decision processes and then examines the impact of its leadership in driving a wide range of achievements and in securing an expanding, increasingly global role. It focuses on the organisation’s green agenda and the move to measure living conditions in a more detailed fashion, rather than relying largely on GDP, and on the inclusive growth project that aims at making markets work for all. It discusses the OECD’s remarkably influential work in education, including PISA and PIAAC, and demonstrates the capacity of the OECD to embrace new areas of work – the importance of innovation and the digital economy in driving economic growth. Based on access to a wide range of documents and extensive interviews with senior officials and members, this comprehensive book also sheds light on the OECD’s partnership with the G20 in the push for stronger international co-operation and transparency in tax matters as well their Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit shifting (BEPS), aimed at tackling tax avoidance. The OECD’s strategic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the drive to develop ‘Smart Data’ are also covered.