Available in several languages, this booklet provides basic information about the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the most comprehensive set of government-backed recommendations on responsible business conduct in existence today. Adhering governments aim to encourage the positive contributions MNEs can make to sustainable development and to minimise the difficulties to which their various operations may give rise.

As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), Canada, Iceland, India, Israel, New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China signed today the Multilateral Competent Authority agreement for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports (“CbC MCAA”), bringing the total number of signatories to 39 countries. The signing ceremony took place in Beijing, China.

Four decades after their adoption, the OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises have never been more relevant to ensuring that businesses behave responsibly, wherever they operate.

This paper sheds light on their potential costs in terms of foregone investments. Applying an augmented gravity model, covering 60 advanced and emerging countries over the period 1997–2016, it estimates the elasticity of bilateral FDI positions and cross-border M&A activity to FDI restrictions as measured by the OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index.

In Henrik Ibsen’s play, An Enemy of the People, a town is divided over whether or not to clean up the municipal baths following a water contamination report. But a doctor’s good intentions to save the town come up against special interests. In the end, the facts are rejected, the truth reshaped and the water is not cleansed. As for the doctor, he is cast out as the enemy.

12/10/2016 – Adults in many countries around the world display low levels of financial knowledge, fail to engage in financial behaviours that could improve their financial security and have financial attitudes oriented towards the short-term, as shown in the OECD/INFE International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy Competencies released today.

As we celebrate International Biodiversity Day, the outlook is not very encouraging. Around 12% of birds, 25% of mammals, and at least 32% of amphibians are threatened with extinction over the next century. Humans may have increased the rate of global extinctions by up to 1000 times the “natural” rate typical of Earth’s long-term history.

New business models can help reduce environmental pollution, optimise the use of natural resources, increase productivity and energy efficiency, and provide a new source of economic growth. The development of new business models is also affected by a range of barriers, many of which can be addressed by well-designed policies.

Although the market for green goods and services is growing, the development of new business models is affected by a range of barriers, many of which can be addressed by well-designed policies.

The Green Growth and Sustainable development Forum is an annual event, and the third Forum will take place on 13-14 November 2014. This blog highlights the importance of the Forum, and how, far from being "abstract", this year's Forum offers an invaluable opportunity to address the social implications of implementing green growth strategies.

Risks That Matter 2018 Country Highlights: Germany (German)

This chapter analyses how skills are used at work, why skills use matters for workers and economies and its key determinants. It draws on data for the 28 OECD countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills.

The talk of the town this year has truly been the so-called fourth industrial revolution–and rightly so. Digitalisation causes an increasing interconnectivity of people, production and processes. Combined with the rapid development in artificial intelligence, self-learning machines and robot technology it heralds a new time of revolutionary technological progress.

Russia still needs to make substantial progress on key recommendations issued by the OECD Working Group on Bribery in 2012 and 2013.

Peru is taking important steps toward fighting corruption and fostering greater transparency and exchange of information by completing the necessary steps to become a Party to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Anti-Bribery Convention) and the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

Successful education systems guarantee that all students succeed at high levels. As this month’s PISA in Focus notes, some school systems not only do well on international assessments, like PISA, they also manage to minimise the difference between the best- and poorest-performing students.

Around one in seven students in the 13 OECD countries and economies that took part in the first OECD PISA international assessment of financial literacy are unable to make even simple decisions about everyday spending, and only one in ten can solve complex financial tasks.

Studies show that interpersonal trust is fundamental for promoting the resilience of our societies, but many individuals say that they have little trust in others.

A sense of self-efficacy is essential if students are to fulfil their potential. Yet too many students, particularly disadvantaged students, do not have confidence in their ability to tackle mathematics tasks.

In 2012, 15-year-old students spent over two hours on line each day, on average across OECD countries. The most common online activities among 15-year-olds were browsing the Internet for fun and participating in social networks, with over 70% of students doing one of these every day or almost every day.

Teacher professionalism is about a teacher’s knowledge, their autonomy and their membership of peer networks. These are the key elements that lead to more effective teaching.