Achieving the economic development of poor countries remains, even in the third millennium, a formidable challenge which increasingly preoccupies OECD countries. The Organisation's Development Centre was founded in 1962 as one means to study and to try to confront the problems of comparative...

The OECD has actively promoted progressive liberalisation of current and capital account operations among its members for over 40 years. Since 1961, OECD countries have engaged in the opening of capital accounts, guided by the provisions and implementation procedures embodied in a unique...

The Environment Ministers of OECD member countries endorsed the Guidelines for moving towards Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) at their meeting in May 2001. These Guidelines are based on the results and conclusions of the EST project involving many OECD and non-OECD countries and...

Lagging information technology infrastructure can handicap emerging countries subjecting them to de facto trade discrimination in the world marketplace - but closing the gap will not be easy. In this collection of essays, renowned authors from various disciplines have drawn on supply chain...

The trade analysis and firm surveys conducted in several African countries in this study highlight an apparent mismatch between government policies and exporters' needs in the provision and use of trade support services. While acknowledging the weaknesses of firms in these countries, the study...

Good governance in modern times requires attention not only to shifting relations between governments, citizens and parliaments, but to the effective functioning of government itself. One important issue is "Distributed Governance" - a term coined in this publication to capture the notion of...

Mitigating climate change will require profound changes in world energy production and use. While the full effects of climate change are not likely to be felt for decades, the need for action is more immediate, for changes in greenhouse gas concentrations are almost irreversible. Solutions exist...

Expanding markets for clean and efficient technologies will increase energy security and help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But many promising technologies are still too expensive or face other obstacles to commercial deployment. Realising the potential for a cleaner and more secure energy...

One in five of the world's population live in extreme poverty, with a per capita income of less than a dollar a day. At least two-thirds of these people live in rural areas, where farming is the dominant source of income. At the same time, the poorest non-farm households spend a relatively large...

In most OECD countries, farm household incomes figure prominently among the wide and growing range of concerns described as motivating policy interventions in agriculture. The first part of this report provides an overview of the income situation of farm households and examines the influence of...