Decoding GDP: How to measure pastries, pencils, and pyjamas

How does the richest group of households in a country compare to the poorest? How can we expose the growing importance of the digital economy, often hidden in macroeconomic statistics? These questions are at the centre of upcoming updates to the System of National Accounts (SNA), which aim to provide policymakers with the information required to better understand the distribution of income, consumption and saving, and the scale and impact of the digital transformation. In this second episode of Behind the Numbers, Ashley Ward delves into the critical work that ensures ensure that the System of National Accounts (SNA), which provides the international standard for countries to measure their economies, keeps up with an ever-changing world, in conversation with Jorrit Zwijnenburg (Acting Head of National Accounts Division), Bram Edens (Environmental Accounts and Supply-use Tables), and former analyst Li Hiang Ng. Host: Ashley Ward, Advisor and Communications Manager (Statistics and Data Directorate). Guests: - Jorrit Zwijnenburg, Acting Head of Division (National Accounts Division) - Bram Edens, Head of the Environmental Accounts and Supply-use Tables Sections (National Accounts Division) - Li Hiang Ng, Former Analyst (National Accounts Division) To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to www.oecd.org/about/ To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit www.oecd.org/ Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: www.oecd.org/newsletters

Most people know Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the go to number to evaluate an economy's performance. It is often referenced in the news, sometimes directly, other times implied in discussions of economic recession, recovery or boom. But other indicators, further removed from the limelight, are also vital for economic analysis: for example, Household Disposable Income (HDI) helps us to monitor changes in money that households have available to either spend or save for the future. In this episode of OECD Podcasts, Ashley Ward goes behind the numbers to learn how they're compiled, what they're good for, and how they complement each other with the help of the National Accounts Division’s Sofia Sacks Ferrari and Philip Chan. Host: Ashley Ward, Advisor and Communications Manager (Statistics and Data Directorate). Guests: o Sofia Sacks Ferrari, Statistician (National Accounts Unit) o Philip Chan, Analyst (National Accounts Unit) To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to https://www.oecd.org/about/ To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit https://www.oecd.org/ Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: www.oecd.org/newsletters

Guest: Frida Grundhal, Project Co-ordinator, Yalla Trappan. In this edition of OECD Podcasts, Katrina Baker and Shayne MacLachlan are Joined by Frida Grundahl from Yalla Trappen; a groundbreaking social enterprise dedicated to creating job opportunities and fostering financial independence for Sweden’s foreign-born women. Statistically, foreign-born women are said to be one of the most distant from the labour market and Yalla Trappen is working to empower these women by giving them an opportunity to break down their social isolation, and to help them stand on their own two feet financially. In their conversation, Shayne and Frida discuss examples of Yalla Trappen’s work and strategies, the struggles of establishing a non-profit in a competitive environment and how Yalla Trappen has partnered with business and local government to crack policy challenges regarding foreign-born women and getting them meaningful employment. For more on OECD Local Development https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/local-development.html

In this edition of OECD Podcasts, Shayne MacLachlan from the OECD Centre of Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities is joined by Jesse Shapins from Urban Partners. Together they discuss how Urban Partners’ involvement in projects on local, municipal and national levels can help to achieve climate action and social sustainability. In their conversation, they cover the concept of green and thriving neighbourhoods and cities, emphasising the fact that “a great city is not just green buildings”. They also investigate examples of the repurposing of state land and efforts to improve the social landscape in less-advantaged areas. Finally, they explore how to bridge the investment gap in climate action to ensure that local development is inclusive, green and accessible to all local communities. Guest: Jesse Shapins - Co-Head of Neighborhood Investments at Urban Partners. For more on OECD Local Development https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/local-development.html

Young entrepreneurs have a huge role to play as slow productivity growth, climate change, demographic change and the digital transition come together in a perfect storm for many economies. The new OECD-EU “Missing Entrepreneurs” report finds that if youth (18-29 years old) participated in early-stage entrepreneurship at the same rate as “core age” men (30-49 years old), there would be an additional 3.6 million “missing youth entrepreneurs” in OECD countries. This accounts for about 11% of the total number of “missing entrepreneurs” in the OECD as young people face a range of barriers to success. David Halabisky from the OECD and Anita Tiessen, the CEO of Youth Business International, unwrap issues around money, mindset and motivation for young people in the world of business. Guest: Anita Tiessen, CEO of Youth Business International Host: David Halabisky To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to www.oecd.org/about/ To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit www.oecd.org/ Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: www.oecd.org/newsletters

According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 100 million people were forcibly displaced in 2022. With Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, Europe has seen the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War with more than 6 million people fleeing Ukraine. This is a big challenge for refugee protection and reception systems. Clearly something public services cannot stem on their own. This is where the social and solidarity economy steps in and steps up to both support governments and fill gaps and public support. This podcast discusses how the social and solidarity economy can fast track the labour-market integration of refugees and migrants. Guests: Anne Kjaer-Bathel: Co-founder and CEO of ReDI School of Digital Integration, Berlin Thomas Liebig, Principal Administrator, OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Host: Christine Langenbucher To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to https://www.oecd.org/about/ To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit https://www.oecd.org/ Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: www.oecd.org/newsletters

Digitalisation in procurement comes with a variety of opportunities, but also challenges. Can digital resources such as artificial intelligence, e-procurement and data systems improve the ways governments obtain services and goods? This podcast is the third and final episode of a series in collaboration with the MAPS Initiative, Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems. Edwin Lau, OECD, Head of Division of Infrastructure and Public Procurement and Hunt La Cascia, Senior Public Sector Specialist at the World Bank, speak with us to help us understand the world of procurement digitalisation. Guests: Edwin Lau, OECD, Head of Division of Infrastructure and Public Procurement and Hunt La Cascia, Senior Public Sector Specialist at the World Bank Host: Robin Allison Davis Producer: Samia Basille To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to https://www.oecd.org/about/ To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit https://www.oecd.org/ Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: www.oecd.org/newsletters

As urban heat waves become more frequent and severe, meet the leaders on the frontlines of responding to extreme heat in cities. The Chief Heat Officers for Santiago, Chile, and Athens, Greece, discuss their innovative strategies to spread awareness of the dangers of heat, keep vulnerable residents safe in scorching temperatures, and create more green spaces to cool their cities down. Guests: Cristina Huidobro, Chief Heat Officer for Santiago, Chile, and Elissavet Bargianni, Chief Heat Officer for Athens, Greece Host: Jessica Voorhees Learn more about OECD’s work on cities: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/cities/ To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to https://www.oecd.org/about/ To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit https://www.oecd.org/ Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: www.oecd.org/newsletters

Extreme heat is creating major challenges for cities. The urban “heat island” effect traps cities in a bubble of scorching temperatures, which endangers lives and puts pressure on emergency services and infrastructure. Often the poorest neighbourhoods bear the worst consequences of rising heat waves. Andrew Lombardi discusses how heat exacerbates inequalities in cities and breaks down what cities can do to save lives now and enhance heat resilience through better policies and practices. Guest: Andrew Lombardi, OECD Policy Analyst Host: Jessica Voorhees Learn more about OECD’s work on cities: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/cities/ To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to https://www.oecd.org/about/ To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit https://www.oecd.org/ Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: www.oecd.org/newsletters

In 2015, the United Nations released the Sustainable Development Goals to help create a more sustainable and equitable world. The 17 goals included procurement systems, calling governments to procure in a more sustainable manner. But how does this actually work? How can governments include sustainability in their procurement systems? And can sustainable public procurement help mitigate the climate crisis? Steven Schooner, Professor of Government Procurement Law at George Washington University, helps us to answer these questions and more on this podcast. This is the second episode in the series with MAPS. Guest: Steven Schooner, Professor of Government Procurement Law at George Washington University Host: Robin Allison Davis Producer: Samia Basille To learn more about the MAPS Initiative, go to MAPSinitiative.org. To learn more about the OECD, our global reach, and how to join us, go to https://www.oecd.org/about/ To keep up with latest at the OECD, visit https://www.oecd.org/ Get the latest OECD content delivered directly to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletters: www.oecd.org/newsletters