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January 1999, No. 215
Editorial
Economy
Spotlight: Taxation
Resources
Microbial pollutants of water are a major cause of health and eco-nomic problems. Progress is being made in the techniques used to identify the pollutants, but there are questions about the costs. They have to be answered if a crisis is to be averted.
Society
Human capital is one of the buzzwords of the knowledge society. But how do we value it? And what does it tell us about education and future wages? The Observer invited a leading expert in labour economics, Professor Joop Hartog, to explain.
Development
China’s great history is a checkered one, but its economic performance since 1978 has been impressive. Though still essentially poor, it could, according to certain measurements, overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy in the next 20 years.(This article is based extensively on the Development Centre book, China’s economic performance in the Long Run, by Angus Maddison, 1998,
http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?411997101P1)
In the first of a series on development, we take a brief look at the problems of assessing and measuring development needs.
OECD.org
The OECD and several other international organisations and associations joined forces for the Global Year 2000 Summit in London last October, to call for stronger action to address the Year 2000 problem.
The Oslo Conference brought together 150 participants from 25 OECD member countries, representatives of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) (http://www.biac.org/) and the Trade Unions Advisory Committee (TUAC) (http://www.tuac.org/) to the OECD, as well as experts from the European Commission, the International Labour Office, the Council of Europe, the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. The conference followed the line of the Ministerial meetings on labour and social policy held in Paris in 1998. At Oslo, Lucy Smith drew four conclusions, of which the following is an extended extract.