OECD

• 1. Introduction

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  The OECD was born from the rubble of a continent. In April 1948, European nations shattered by World War II gathered under the banner of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation to share out American Marshall Plan aid. That body would eventually give way to something far more ambitious: a global club of wealthy democracies, now 38 countries strong, whose collective population reached 1.38 billion people by 2024. Together they account for more than half the world's nominal economic output. What does an organisation like that actually do? How did a postwar relief mechanism become one of the world's most influential economic institutions? And why does it matter who chairs it?

• 2. From Marshall Aid to Global Club

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  Robert Marjolin, a Frenchman, ran the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation from its founding in 1948 until 1955. His successor, fellow Frenchman René Sergent, held the post until 1960. Under both men the OEEC had a clear and limited job: allocate American reconstruction dollars among Western European governments. When Marshall aid ended in 1952, the organisation kept going but pivoted toward broader economic coordination. The challenge became acute in 1957, when the Rome Treaties created the European Economic Community and its nuclear counterpart Euratom, giving the six founding EEC members their own coordinating machinery. The OEEC suddenly looked redundant. Senior figures began arguing that the organisation had outlived its original purpose but could be rebuilt for something bigger. A series of meetings at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, starting in January 1960, hammered out a resolution: the successor body would tackle not just European and Atlantic economic questions but also development policy for poorer countries. The United States and Canada, previously observers, would become full members. Japan was identified as the next recruitment target.

• 3. Founding and First Decades

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  On the 14th of December 1960, representatives signed the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The OECD formally superseded the OEEC in September 1961, with a founding roster that included Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Three of those countries - the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy - ratified the convention after the September 1961 cutover but are still counted as founding members. Japan arrived in 1964, followed over the next decade by Finland, Australia, and New Zealand. Yugoslavia, uniquely, held observer status from the organisation's founding until the country itself dissolved. Almost immediately, the OECD began spinning up specialised agencies: a Development Centre in 1961, the International Energy Agency in 1974, and the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering. The aims written into Article 1 of the founding convention were straightforward - sustainable growth, rising living standards, financial stability, and expanding world trade. That text has governed the organisation ever since.

• 4. Expanding Eastward

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  The Revolutions of 1989 opened the organisation's next chapter. As communist governments fell across Central Europe, the OECD began advising countries in the region - especially the Visegrád Group - on how to build market economies. A Centre for Co-operation with European Economies in Transition opened in 1990. The following year, a programme called "Partners in Transition" offered Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland a structured path toward membership. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia all joined between 1996 and 2000, as did South Korea and Mexico. East Germany arrived on the 3rd of October 1990, through its reunification with West Germany, without a separate application process. The expansion continued into the 2000s, guided by a working group headed by ambassador Seiichiro Noboru. That group defined four criteria for new members: "like-mindedness", "significant player", "mutual benefit", and "global considerations." At the Ministerial Council Meeting on the 13th of May 2004, the group's recommendations were presented. By 2007, the OECD had opened accession talks with Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia, and Slovenia - while also designating Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa as priority partners for deeper engagement. Russia's path ended abruptly in March 2014 when the OECD halted talks after the annexation of Crimea. That suspension became a permanent termination on the 25th of February 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine. Belarus was suspended from all OECD participation in March 2022.

• 5. The Architecture of Influence

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  Mathias Cormann of Australia has led the OECD Secretariat as Secretary-General since the 1st of June 2021. Around him work roughly 2,500 staff organised into directorates covering everything from education and employment to environment and agriculture. Decisions across the organisation require unanimity among voting members; countries that disagree but do not wish to block a measure can abstain rather than vote no. Each member country maintains a permanent delegation in Paris led by an ambassador, and a former Deputy Secretary-General estimated in 1997 that the cost to member governments of sending officials and maintaining delegations matches the cost of running the secretariat itself. The roughly 200 committees, working groups, and expert groups that meet regularly form the real engine of OECD work. Representatives debate policy, review progress, and carry conclusions back to their capitals. The annual Ministerial Council Meeting gathers economy ministers from all member countries. The OECD Forum, held every year since June 2000, brings together leaders from business, government, labour, and civil society and is open to public participation. The budget underpinning all of this reached annual revenues over 900 million euros in the 2023-2024 reporting period. The United States carries the largest assessed share - 18.3% of the Part I Budget in 2024 - which amounted to an estimated total of 229.9 million euros in contributions that year.

• 6. Setting the Rules of Global Taxation

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  On the 1st of July 2021, finance officials from 130 countries agreed on a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15%. If any country taxes a multinational below that threshold, the company's home-country government collects the difference. Secretary-General Cormann called it "a historic package" to ensure large multinationals pay their fair share everywhere. Governments hoped to recover an estimated 100 billion to 240 billion dollars in tax revenue each year that had been lost to low-rate jurisdictions. The agreement grew out of two interlocking OECD proposals. Pillar 1 would redirect some multinational profits to the countries where customers actually are, even without a physical corporate presence - a direct challenge to countries like France, which had already introduced their own Digital Services Tax. Pillar 2 is the global minimum rate itself. Alongside these initiatives the OECD maintains a Model Tax Convention that serves as the template most countries use when negotiating bilateral tax treaties. That model generally gives primary taxing rights to the country where investment originates rather than where it lands, which works well between equally matched economies but can disadvantage weaker countries paired with stronger OECD members. The OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, updated continuously since 1995, govern how multinational companies allocate profits among their subsidiaries. For non-financial conduct, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises set out voluntary standards for responsible business behaviour, attached as an annex to the OECD Declaration on International Investment.

• 7. The People Who Led the Numbers

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  British economist Christopher Dow served as the OECD's first Chief Economist from September 1963 until 1973. In January 1980, Canadian economist Sylvia Ostry became the first woman appointed to that role; she held it until August 1983. A significant appointment came in May 1992, when Kumiharu Shigehara, former Chief Economist of the Bank of Japan, took the position. He was the first person from outside the English-speaking world to hold the job. The Financial Times, in a piece titled "Japan's Turn" published on the 22nd of January 1992, described Shigehara as representing a new generation of Japanese figures defined by self-confidence, strong international awareness, and a willingness to speak openly. Shigehara served until May 1997. In February 2026, Italian economist Stefano Scarpetta was announced as the next Chief Economist. Scarpetta had previously led the Directorate's work on employment, migration, and health. Secretary-General selections follow a different path from Chief Economist appointments: the Secretary-General is chosen by consensus, meaning every single member state must agree on the candidate before a selection is confirmed.

• 8. Publishing and Open Data

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  In July 2024, the OECD announced a shift to an open-access model, with Creative Commons CC-BY-4.0 licences applied to all data and publications. That decision opened up a library stretching back to 1947, when the Committee for European Economic Co-operation - the OECD's earliest predecessor - began keeping records. The OECD releases roughly 600 books and more than 400 papers each year on public policy topics, most published in both English and French. Flagship titles include the OECD Economic Outlook, which appears twice a year and tracks GDP growth, inflation, and labour markets; the Main Economic Indicators, published monthly; and the alternating OECD Communications Outlook and Internet Economy Outlook. In 2007, the organisation launched a series called OECD Insights with a book on human capital, aimed at non-specialist readers; the series was discontinued in 2017. The OECD Observer magazine ran from 1962 through the fourth quarter of 2019 - its final double edition examined artificial intelligence and, in a characteristic touch, asked why statistical offices should consider hiring a comedian. The Observer's website closed in the first quarter of 2021, though its archive remains available at oecd.org. For raw statistics, the OECD Data Portal went public in July 2014, letting anyone build custom charts from the organisation's official indicators. Scarpetta's appointment as Chief Economist in April 2026 marks the next chapter in the institution that will be responsible for shaping those numbers.