By OECD Statistics Directorate. This year’s OECD Productivity Compendium includes a special chapter that casts a spotlight on some of the potential villains stalking the stage, together with insights from the OECD Productivity Database, and frames the discussion under the umbrella of the Productivity Paradox: a reference to the fact that productivity has slowed during a period of significant technological change, increasing participation of firms and countries in global value chains and rising education levels in the labour force. More...

By Gabrielle Smith. In his report to the UN World Humanitarian Summit taking place this week in Istanbul, UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon writes that during crises: “social protection mechanisms and infrastructure may be unavailable or overwhelmed by the volume of demand. More...

By Melinda Brown and Ian Cremer. International trade is one of the pillars of globalisation and one of the jobs of customs officers is to help trade contribute to socio-economic development by making sure that goods flow efficiently across borders. Ensuring that customs duties are collected in a fair, effective, and efficient manner is a major part of this task. More...

By Patrick Love. Before there was the Insights blog, there were the Insights books. One of the first, on sustainable development, mentioned “a magical place, seemingly untouched for thousands of years”, on the Poland-Belarus border. More...

By Adrian Blundell-Wignall. More than seven years after the global financial crisis reached its trough the world economy is still sputtering. Banking systems in advanced economies have been strengthened and recapitalised, regulatory reforms of financial systems are well into their implementation stage and monetary policy remains highly supportive. More...