Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

An international organization studying proper economic policies and promoting cooperation in those policies between members. The OECD consists of member accepting the principles of the free market and the democratic process, or, informally, it consists of the so-called developed world. The OECD produces working papers and other documents detailing economic statistics and data and often offering recommendations for policy courses. The organization also provides an open forum for members to discuss these policies, with an aim of members taking roughly the same stand on economic policy. This has not always been successful. However, the OECD also offers a forum for pursuing policies of common interest, for example, setting up an office to discourage tax havens. It was established in 1961 as a successor organization to the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which was originally established to help implement the Marshall Plan.