Monetary aggregates are the money circulating in an economy to satisfy its current monetary needs. There are two indicators for monetary aggregates collected by the OECD: "narrow money" (M1); a means of exchange and "broad money" (M3); a way to store value. Monetary aggregates are measured as a...

House prices have been moving up strongly in real terms since the mid-1990s in the majority of OECD countries, with the ongoing upswing the longest of its kind in the OECD area since the 1970s. If interest rates were to rise significantly, real house prices may be at risk of nearing a peak. The...

Social safety nets protect citizens against hardship. By offering compensation, social safety nets may help overcome the political resistance to trade liberalisation and structural reform, but they can also weaken the incentives to work and save. Depending on their design, safety nets may also...