It takes collaboration across a community to develop better skills for better lives.
Jose Angel Gurria
In a world that places a growing premium on social skills, education systems need to do much better at fostering those skills systematically across the school curriculum.
There is no upside for the U.K. in Brexit. Only costs that can be avoided and advantages to be seized by remaining in Europe. No one should have to pay the Brexit tax.
High levels of inequality generate high costs for society, dampening social mobility, undermining the labour market prospects of vulnerable social groups, and creating social unrest.
Social cohesion and inclusive growth are additional crucial perspectives to incorporate into public policies, targeting a renewed social contract that reduces inequalities and benefits the whole of society.
Transparency and effective tax co-operation must be shared principles applied by all. Until they are, nations will need to protect themselves against loss of revenues to tax havens.
To give students the best possible chance to succeed, education must prepare them to handle issues that transcend national boundaries.
We never tell countries that they should have a particular number in terms of a tax number, you know, if countries can make do with whatever average tax they have. The question is, do they apply it to everybody? Or do they give sweetheart deals to some companies?
The OECD should promote everything that's consistent with its mandate, which is to make the world economy work better.
The G7 doesn't have a permanent secretariat. The OECD can help the G8 and set the agenda for them. The secretary general of the OECD should be going to them proactively and discussing issues and priorities.
Governments need to be seriously sceptical about whether new coal provides a good deal for their citizens.
Water security is not just for domestic policies. International co-operation is crucial to sustainably manage trans-boundary water bodies and river basins.
A more robust approach to global warming is needed if we are to avoid catastrophe. Unlike the recent financial crisis, there is no bailout option for the earth's climate.
In order to encourage private investors to pursue long-term, responsible projects, governments need to promote consistent policies and frameworks.
There probably could be some mileage in running a comparative study about how best to finance electoral campaigns around the world.
Most businesses do not take governments seriously when it comes to climate, primarily because many governments have inconsistent and incoherent policies and then often keep changing them, sometimes retroactively. This makes businesses reluctant to invest in greener technologies.
Principles of fair and equitable treatment included in many treaties are uncontroversial as general principles of good public governance.
Unlike other essential goods, like clothing, shelter, or food, we take cheap or even free water for granted. It often takes a crisis, such as a major drought or flood, to spur investment and policy reforms in improving water security.
When, as an individual, you are not paying taxes, it is evasion. As a corporate, it is legal shrewdness or tax engineering.
Governments must address inconsistencies in their energy strategies, consider the links with broader economic policies, and stop sending mixed signals to consumers, producers, and investors. In particular, they must assess whether the right regulatory arrangements are in place to allow clean-energy investments to compete on a risk-return basis.
When a large financial institution is allowed to fail, you put in jeopardy hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people.
Governments can and do expropriate investors or discriminate against them. Domestic judicial and administrative systems provide investors with one option for protecting themselves.
In a country like Mexico, you can't forget about poverty - about how half of the population lives in poverty, and how half of that half live in extreme poverty.
We need to focus much more on the bottom 40 per cent. They are losing ground, and the fact that they are losing ground blocks social mobility and brings down economic growth.
Creating a global platform for collaboration in education research and innovation has been the PISA initiative's aspiration from its conception in the late 1990s.
In a globally interdependent world, a better financial and investment system cannot be achieved on a country-by-country basis. There may be no one-size-fits-all model for economic development, but without global standards and complementary regulations, the long-term outlook for the world economy will remain bleak.
Some refugees will find it relatively easy to find jobs. A university-educated Syrian civil engineer arriving in Munich will need to learn some German, but once this is done, he or she is unlikely to have to wait too long before employers come knocking.
'Tax' is a bad word for politicians.
You do need more revenues, and you do need to cut expenses. But you also don't want to go in a direction whereby increasing taxes creates a reticence to create new jobs. You don't want to increase taxes on work. You don't want to increase taxes on investment and the creation of wealth.
Our leaders must get to grips with the huge risk that carbon dioxide emissions pose to the economy and the environment. As we know, carbon dioxide is a long-lived gas. It hangs around.
Ending our reliance on fossil fuels was never going to be easy.
I feel confident that leaders will rise to this challenge with a stronger commitment to tackle climate change and seize the economic opportunities that a post-carbon world has to offer.
Providing investors with recourse against governments is valuable.
The concept of national treatment is a core component of investment and trade agreements. It promotes valuable competition on a level playing field. Investment treaties should not turn this idea on its head, giving privileges to foreign companies that are not available to domestic companies.
Some politicians fear the burden that migrants will impose on local communities and taxpayers. Others fear extremists masquerading as genuine refugees.
European leaders cannot afford to be afraid. The refugee crisis is not one from which they can opt out. No magic wand will empower leaders to transport more than a million people back across the Aegean and the Bosphorus to Mosul and Aleppo, or across the Mediterranean to Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan.
Our work at the OECD shows that migration, if well managed, can spur growth and innovation. Unfortunately, in the past, migration has not always been well managed: migrants have been concentrated in ghetto-like conditions, with few public services or employment prospects.
Regulations for international accounting and funding will have to be examined to identify policies that inadvertently discourage institutional investors from putting their resources into longer-term, illiquid assets.
History is full of lessons for how water crises could have been avoided or better managed.
The OECD advocates a risk-based approach to water security and is calling on governments to speed up their efforts to improve efficiency and effectiveness of water management. We recommend improving water pricing to recover costs and to reflect the value of water to users and society.
By assessing the capabilities and knowledge of students in the highest-performing and most rapidly improving education systems, the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment provides valuable options for reform and information on how to achieve it.
Countries like Japan do not have to change their cultures to address their educational shortcomings; they simply have to adjust their policies and practices.
The whole banking sector in Mexico was literally bankrupt. For whatever reason, instead of intervening in the sector or supporting the banks, the government expropriated them. We went through the very laborious period of selling the failing banks to the wealthy people of Mexico.
It doesn't really matter who owns things so long there is enough competition, which means lower pricing, better quality goods, more variety, and an economy where the consumers are the big winners.
I was an economist out of the National University of Mexico, where you lived the realities of Mexico all the time.
Every single stage of reform becomes more difficult because you use political capital.
Labour and land are always politically sensitive.
The benefits of growth have not trickled down. Income inequalities have become one of the biggest global challenges, attracting growing attention not only in academic literature but also among policymakers globally.
At the OECD, we stand ready to continue to help our member and partner countries to design, promote, and implement Better Policies for Better Lives.
The OECD deals with the economic aspects of a host of issues, including education, health, and the environment.
