Category Archives: Random Musings

Aachen – A Medieval Gem

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Aachen, Germany, is a wonderful small city near the border with Belgium and Netherlands. Charlemagne, king of the Franks made Aachen his capital in the 790s, in part because of the warm springs that are to be found there. His empire united the two halves of the Frankish people, both the Latin and Germanic oriented populations. Even today, the French and German peoples count Aachen as part of their heritage (though the French call it Aix-la-Chapelle).

However, even though Aachen is just a few hours drive from Paris, it has much different feel. Coming from Paris, the signs along the highway already shift from French to German a few kilometers before reaching the Belgian-German border. (There are a few German-speaking towns in Belgium.)

Once in Aachen, we are always struck by the restaurants, cafes, pubs and bakeries and the obvious gastronomic contrasts with those in our hometown in France. In Aachen, the food and drink are tuned to central European preferences and sensibilities. The beer offering shifts away from the sour and strong brews of Belgium (or sometimes watery beers of France) and towards the lighter but flavorful Pilsners and Koelsches. Goose and schnitzel turn up on the menus. Savory rolls of rye or whole wheat are to be had, along with kaiser rolls decked out with lox, onions and lettuce.

Aachen’s center has a comfortable feel with an extensive pedestrian zone that meanders among the old stones of the medieval city. It offers a balanced mix of museums and sites of historical interest, eating and drinking establishments, shops and parks.

The chapel from Charlemagne’s palace survives and forms the center of the current cathedral. It may be that one of the towers of city hall incorporates another part of the palace, but in any event the city hall is a splendid old structure in its own right. There are several of the original city gates still standing, as well as other interesting architectural features in some of the houses and shops. Together, these structures give Aachen an old and dark, but warm atmosphere.

Aachen has become a traditional destination for my family just prior to Christmas. Each December (through 23 Dec), there is a sprawling Christmas market along the pedestrian zones. The city is decorated with holiday lights and greenery. There is a festive atmosphere with convivial crowds of happy people patronizing stands selling hot mulled wine, stollen, cookies, bratwurst and potato pancakes, as well as all sorts of holiday gifts. Many stands offer handmade and artisanal products. There are brass bands and piped in Christmas music in the city squares, as well as choral presentations at the cathedral and other churches. The weather is often lousy, but the Christmas decorations brighten everything, regardless. It is wunderbar!

Recommendations:

Nobis: fine bakery; eat in (self-serve) or carry out; great for lunch (nice sandwiches), or coffee & cakes, special cookies, gingerbread, and other baked treats.

Rose am Dom: nice restaurant in an old inn (14th century) serving hearty, quality meals. In season, they serve game such as duck, goose, wild boar and venison as well as wild mushroom soup.

Aachener Dom (cathedral): a wonderful architectural gem built to house relics of the Virgin Mary. The heart of the structure is Charlemagne’s octagonal palace chapel, with an amazing, newly restored interior with elements from various periods. Take the docent tour, which offers interesting history and explanations, as well as a chance to see the throne of the Frankish kings possibly dating back to Charlemagne’s time.

Cathedral treasury museum: this is also worth a visit! It contains many interesting artifacts and relics including a marvelous reliquary with part of Charlemagne’s arm (bones).

City hall: Tourists can visit this medieval structure and see the great hall and several other fine rooms. Be sure to check out the city council chamber, which includes portraits of Napoleon and Josephine (gifts from the Napoleon to the city).

Aquis Grana Hotel This hotel is very centrally located, near the cathedral and Nobis, and offers a fine breakfast. Park your car in the city garage across the street and leave it there during your stay. Aachen is a city to explore on foot.

No Escaping Geneva

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No escaping Geneva

Geneva was meant to be a part of my life, apparently. It keeps inserting itself into my agenda. I find myself often pondering what I need to say or do there, when I can go next, how to fund the trip. It is not an unpleasant thing to contemplate. But when I am there, I know it will be intense. And, it happens a few times each year. There is no escaping Geneva.

A bit of history and geography

The geography of Geneva is wonderful, with the Alps to the South and the Jura Mountains to the North West, and Lake Léman (aka, Lake Geneva) to the East. The city is bisected by the Rhone River, which flows westward from the lake. Coming from Paris the high-speed train (TGV) runs up the winding Rhone Valley, revealing remote and wonderful mountain vistas. Lake Léman is one of the largest lakes in western Europe and accommodates a fleet of large steamships that transit the lake in the milder seasons.

Geneva is a fascinating place: a Protestant, French-speaking city that broke with the Roman Catholic church in 1536, a city that invited John Calvin (1509-64) to come and serve in leadership and that hosted other famous protestants including John Knox (1513-72), Théodore de Bèze (1513-1605) and Guillaume Farel (1489-1565). The city itself struggled for its autonomy from time to time, suffering an attack from Savoy (1603) and invasion by France (1798), for example. Finally, in 1815, Charles Pictet-de-Rochemont and colleagues succeeded in having the city definitively attached to Switzerland and the country’s neutrality established.

Geneva grew into a major center of diplomacy. In 1863, Henry Dunant and Gustave Moynier, founded the International Committee of the Red Cross (a private institution) in Geneva. In the first half of the 1900s, the city was designated to host the League of Nations and the International Labor Organisation (ILO), international organizations founded at government initiative in the wake of WWI in the hope of promoting peaceful means to resolve conflicts and advance the cause of social justice. Unfortunately, the US failed to join the League of Nations.

In the aftermath of WWII, world leaders made a new attempt at development of an international framework for peace, this time with full US engagement and eventual membership. The result was the establishment of the United Nations and the UN family of international organizations (including the ILO). Later, other international organizations established headquarters or branch offices in Geneva. A recent notable example is the World Trade Organization (WTO), which began operations in 1995.

Making the world a better place

The big multilateral organizations are far from perfect. As institutions intended to be global, many compromises were necessary to get buy-in from around the world. The global scale of their operations entails complexity and makes it difficult to operate efficiently and effectively. But, constitutions underpinning these institutions and the international agreements they have subsequently achieved, form a body of rules for the conduct of international affairs ranging from economics, to technical standards, to war, among other policy areas. Though there have been some tragic failures (e.g., in Bosnia), the multilateral system has delivered many successes big and small, ranging from trade liberalization to progress in satisfaction of development objectives (Millennium Development Goals), peace truces and humanitarian relief.

Mutual respect for the rules is important for the system to function. Member nations expend time and resources to meet their obligations and commitments; to justify these actions, they expect that other members will generally play by the rules or that there will be consequences for those Member nations that do not. Thus, for example, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and subsequent amendments establish rights and protections for prisoners of war and non-combatants. There is to be reciprocity. This is why it was so dangerous, when in 2001-2002 the US administration decided to suspend the application of the Geneva Conventions in cases involving “enemy combatants“; this established a precedent that some individuals or governments might have interpreted as leaving some US citizens without reciprocal rights and protections. While the Geneva Conventions have not always functioned well (some nations, big and small, have violated these accords), they have helped to mitigate some of the misery of war for many.

In some areas of the multilateral system, there have been improvements in efficiency and effectiveness over the years. For example, the establishment of the WTO introduced a dispute settlement mechanism that has improved the possibility to enforce binding trade commitments. Further reforms are underway in other international organizations and there is continued pressure for progress in the functioning of the multilateral system.

Old Town and Tourism

Geneva is about more than a beautiful location and international organizations, of course. One highlight for tourists is the somewhat sleepy old town. The medieval part of the city is built on a hill that at one time afforded some defensive advantage. Now, it is a place of cafes and restaurants, historic sites and leafy parks. Many of the historical sites relate to the Protestant Reformation and the earlier Roman Catholic foundations. St. Pierre’s Cathedral offers splendid vistas from its two towers, a plain interior and a restored and ornate Chapel of the Maccabees. Inside the main cathedral one can see John Calvin’s fairly plain and minimalist chair, as well as wonderful, ornate carved choir stalls. Underneath the cathedral is an archeological site with layers going back 1600 years.

Along the base of the hill (facing the Rhone River) is a nice park with the Reformation Wall, with sculptures commemorating the Protestant reformation, including Geneva’s shift to Protestantism in 1536 and statues of key founding theologians of this movement. (A small monument to Ulrich Zwingli, a Swiss theologian and an intellectual father of the Anabaptist reform movement sits vandalised in the park across from the Reformation Wall, as if he were outcast.) Along the base of the hill facing the lake, there is a fancy shopping district. After a few hours of hiking around the old town, there are wonderful cafes and pubs where a traveler can relax. Fortunately, some of the austerity of the puritan forefathers has worn off and comfortable establishments abound.

Time for a visit to Geneva?

Certainly, there is luxury and even a measure of grandeur to be found in the international hotels and institutions of Geneva. The many watch shops and the Patek Phillippe museum are certainly upscale. But, on balance, the urbanism is somewhat understated, in contrast to what one finds in Paris with its grand spaces. For me, “comfortable”  is indeed a good word for Geneva. The natural setting, the neighborhood cafes and bistros, the streetcars, the fairly compact city center, the fact that most things work most of the time, the calm on Sundays, all work together to create a comfortable environment. If this is your cup of tea, then it may be time for a visit to Geneva. You, too, may find it difficult to escape the charms of this city.

Photos from a recent visit to Geneva (October 2012)

(Use the arrows to scroll down to see additional photos)

Visit to the UN and surrounding area

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Visit to Geneva Old Town

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Map showing Geneva in relation to Paris

Chestnuts

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It has been a wet Fall around Paris. Running through the forest on my weekly jog last Sunday, it felt as if the moisture had transformed the place into a quasi rainforest. Pounding the trails, I could sense that the moisture had expanded the organic material underfoot; it felt like running on cork. The forest smelled of decaying wood, a rich, fecund smell. As I ran along, the occasional chestnut would fall. I cruised past three fellows from eastern Europe (well, speaking a Slavic language, anyhow) collecting chestnuts in sacks. Further down the trail, I spied some other folks rummaging through the underbrush in search of these edible nuts.

According to the French National Forest Office, chestnut trees make up about 50% of the forest in our area. These trees are an important part of the fabric of the place. In part of our forest they are cultivated and eventually cut, in other places they are protected. On sunny days, people come out to stroll on forest paths under their branches, particularly from the time of flowering in the Spring until it is time to collect and eat the nuts in the Fall. Our daughters, too, sometimes collected and roasted the nuts. (We discovered that if you don’t pierce the shell adequately, the chestnuts explode upon roasting.) Year round, one finds joggers, hikers and bikers out communing with the chestnut trees.

When my kids were young, we were walking through the forest near our home and came across a chestnut nut that had sprouted. We brought it home and planted it in a pot. Soon the nut was a small tree. Now, ten or twelve years later that tree has gone through several pots and is in the biggest size pot that we’ll tolerate in our garden. It is a sort of large bonsai. The tree fits nicely in our garden, standing about two meters (>6 feet) tall, but constrained by the size of the pot. Each spring it happily flowers and makes me smile. Unfortunately, the joy of chestnuts is now missing from much of the US forestland.

In the eastern US, the chestnut tree used to make up a large part of the forest (ca. 25% in 1900), but a blight accidentally imported from China struck. By the 1940s, most of the trees were wiped out or stunted. These fast growing and long-lived trees had been a major source of food for wildlife and people, as well as providing durable, rot-resistant wood for construction. It is hard to imagine the tremendous extent of the loss from the blight, but it is clear that it transformed the eastern US woodlands.

Yet, all is not lost. The American Chestnut Foundation is working to develop new hybrid chestnut trees that can resist the ravages of the blight. They are cross-breeding some resistance from Chinese chestnuts into the American variety, while preserving as much as 95% of the original characteristics of the American tree. Some of the work is being done near Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland, not far from the junction of the Monocacy and Potomac Rivers and a favorite hiking area for me back when I lived in Maryland. A breeding program is underway there. For the moment the chestnut tree remains largely absent from the US forests, but perhaps one day conditions will enable it to resume its natural place in American life.

American Chestnut

American Chestnut                    © Michael Zmasser-Drexler, Shutterstock.com

Neither here nor there…

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Expatriate life in France

On 5 October 1992, I started my career at OECD in Paris. While the experience since then has been rich and interesting, occasionally wonderful, I can’t say that it has been easy. Somehow I managed to make it this far and, with mixed feelings, celebrated my 20th anniversary last Friday with a few colleagues at Le Mozart (Le Mozart being the pub of choice these days for OECD economists). After all these years in France, I am still not certain where we will settle. Long discussions with spouse, family and friends have proven inconclusive. Where will we find the optimal setting for the next phase of life: here? there? or perhaps neither here nor there?

Living internationally has brought rewarding experiences and personal growth, albeit accompanied by the stresses and strains of cross-cultural life, as well as various challenges at work and in daily life. It makes me want to celebrate “Life’s Rich Pageant“, in the words of Inspector Clouseau; that is, I would like to have access to the best bits of both my home and adopted cultures simultaneously, though without falling into the fountain as Clouseau did.

France has welcomed my family and the quality of life here has been quite high for us. Our kids got a solid education here in the public schools. I love our house and the forests surrounding our little town. The countryside is gorgeous and the food is wonderful. The list of pros — and, admittedly, a few cons — goes on and on. Judging by several best-sellers, such as Peter Mayle’s “A Year In Province”, recounting my personal experience in this regard could easily fill a book.

What to do for an encore?

Once a person has lived for a prolonged period in another culture, one’s horizons shift a bit. There is a good chance that whatever one does for an encore (stay or return home or move on to somewhere else), something will be missing from the next phase of life. And, during a prolonged absence from one’s native land, it too will have changed. A bit like the situation of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, pondering her return to Kansas: can one really go home again or will home now be a different place? Kids growing up in such multicultural  situations are sometimes called “third culture kids”, because they have hybrid roots in two or more countries. Their cultural perspectives extend beyond a traditional base. Together with other expatriate kids they share a culture that is neither wholly from here or there, but has elements from various international sources.

In truth, my reflections on expatriate life leave me a bit conflicted. Surely, if we return to the US, there will be things that we will miss from France. (Where to find a proper stinky cheese?) And, if we stay, some things will be things missing here. (Where to find a proper bagel?) Therein lies the rub. For me, the experience of living internationally has been a positive one on balance, but it is not without trade-offs. I am not alone in this sentiment. I’ve had the conversation many times as I meet folks around the world who are living internationally. This is a real hazard of expatriate life: having one foot here and one foot there, or perhaps both feet on shifting lands.

Ethiopian epilogue?

This week I found myself careening down the Dulles airport access road in a mini-van taxi driven by an Ethiopian immigrant. We were discussing what it was like to live outside of our homelands. With my bags sliding off the seat and jacket long since slipped onto the floor, he turned and said “I love this country. Here, in the US I am free to say what I want.” Among a long list of other injustices in Ethiopia, he was explaining to me the plight of journalists reporting there: two Swedish journalists wrongly incarcerated in Ethiopia were recently released, but a number of Ethiopian reporters are still being held. (The media rights group Reporters without Borders discusses the situation on their website.)

But as he spoke of his homeland, he grew a little wistful. He went on to tell me how Ethiopian expatriates often buy property back home, seeking to maintain ties. With a sense of longing, he explained that he is hoping the situation will permit him to visit next Spring. Though committed to his life in the US and grateful for the welcome he has had, he seemed to me a bit unsettled. He proudly told me that his son, having mastered English and Amharic (the main language of Ethiopia), is now learning Spanish. It seemed to me like the family might be caught between homes, and not quite at home, neither here nor there…

Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more

Such stories are certainly not rare in the mobile, modern world. During the 1990s, I co-authored a study of the US labor market for the OECD. One factoid that struck me as remarkable: 25% of the US population moved more than 25 miles from home every 10 years. That pace has decreased somewhat with the housing finance crisis, but certainly many people are not where they used to be and some are cut off from their roots.  Dislocation is a common phenomenon in a globalized world with constant adjustment pressures and far-flung economic opportunities. And, this comes on top of more traditional drivers of dislocation such as strife.

Thank goodness that distance is now less of a definitive impediment to maintaining relationships. Back when I lived in Burkina Faso, a move away from home meant being cut off from real-time communications. Now thanks to services such as Skype, Microsoft Messenger or Apple Face Time staying in touch is less of a challenge. Still, it is not the same as being there.

For me, the question of what to do when I grow up and where to do it remains unresolved. A bit like Kurt Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five, my geographic center has come unstuck in the space-time continuum. It is anchored by relationships that span vast distances, contexts and years, but it is no longer fixed to a specific place. But, maybe that is the point?  Perhaps the relationships are what matter most.

Reflecting on the past at 30,000 feet

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    29 September

At the present time I am cruising through the air over the East coast of the USA, flying in an Airbus 380 and listening to the album Murray Street by Sonic Youth on noise cancelling headphones. The sound is great. “Sympathy for the Strawberry.” I am reflecting on the past at 30,000 feet.

Looking down through the clouds at places from my earlier days got me to reminiscing fondly about people who have left us. Here are a few observations that have stuck with me:

– Great Aunt Coressa had an opinion about Woodrow Wilson’s long-ago Presidential candidacy (positive overall: “a decent man, who wanted peace”).

– The US Navy made port calls to mainland China after the end of WW2. I have photos of my Dad in Shanghai, riding in a rickshaw and chatting with a military policeman from India (a Commonwealth soldier) on the Bund, the waterfront.

– My Dad’s family raised turkeys in their garage in Aurora, Colorado, to help make ends meet during the Great Depression. Dad did not like dealing with the birds.

– As a child, my Mom used to swim in the stream behind her Dad’s ice plant in Glen Burnie, Maryland (something unimaginable now).

– My Uncle Bob extolled the virtues of having a longish walk at one end of his daily commute. He worked in Baltimore and one day he was mugged. He still walked, though.

– My Mom’s Irish grandmother had a house on the South River near Baltimore. Mom used to love to go there and visit with her. The grandmom had a goose who was mean-spirited and used to bite the kids.

I am grateful to have such memories enabling me to reach back into history through a first-person narrative. These family stories provide a view into the pre-digital era, linking me personally to the past. My reflections in mid-air remind me that it is important to take time for such conversations, because such opportunities are transient.

 

Impressions and photos from a visit to Korea

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Impressions and photos from a visit to Korea

Rounding out my recent series of blog posts, I would like to offer a few further impressions and photos from a visit to Korea (Republic of Korea). During our trip, we toured the periphery of the country and then spent a couple of days in the center (Andong) and a few days in Seoul, as well as taking a tour to the border with North Korea (i.e., the demilitarized zone, DMZ). Based on these travels, I can recommend the Haerang Rail Cruise and Rak Ko Jae traditional B&B stays to anyone seeking an authentic experience in Korea.

We have a few connections to Korea through my work (Korea joined the OECD in 1996), my wife’s family (who lived in Korea for several years), and via friends. This gave us some insights and notions as to what to expect, as well as some contacts. Still, Korea is developing and changing rapidly, so much of what we encountered was new to us and there is — in any event — a tremendous amount for a traveler to explore and discover.

We found the country to be very accessible. Some Koreans have had experience in the United States via their education or work and many others have studied some English. Many signs and menus are in English as well. So, we were able to get by with English and a Korean phrase book. Nonetheless, outside of Seoul, we found it very helpful to have a guide.

Initial impressions

The dynamism of Korea is impressive. Economic growth is modernizing many aspects of life. Construction seems to be booming. Cultural sites and traditions are being renewed. Innovation is valued and is being pushed forward on many fronts ranging from smartphones to K-pop music. Most people we encountered radiated optimism and a healthy confidence, as well as good humor. Other countries in the region have taken note. For example, Korean soap operas and music are popular across Asia and beyond (e.g., this wild K-Pop music video by Psy has had more than 255 millions hits). All of this seems to me in striking contrast with the gloom that in recent years sometimes seems to hang in the air in Western Europe or the United States.

There remain some significant challenges for Korea. Most notably, the terrible situation in North Korea is a clear concern. In addition to the strain on the South from provocations and threats by the North, many people we spoke with were clearly pained by the fate of folks in the North and the separation that has unnaturally split the Korean people.

There are also some economic challenges in the South. For example, productivity growth in agriculture and the retail sector greatly lags that of the industrial sector. Another example is duality in the labor market, whereby workers for large industrial firms benefit from stable and relatively well compensated employment while workers in smaller establishments may face much tougher conditions of employment. However, these are challenges that arise partly because much of the rest of the economy is surging forward.

Our visit to Korea left us with a very positive impression. From the beautiful landscapes, and warm welcomes, to traditional arts, good food and interesting cultural experiences, we found ourselves being pulled in and wanting to see and do more. A main conclusion from our trip is that we need a lot more time in Korea!

Photos

Linked below is a gallery with a sampler of landscapes, cultural sites and food, as well as some glimpses of the economic progress.

(Use the arrows to scroll up or down, click on the photos to see a full edition)

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Traditional Korean folk village stay

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Hahoe: A traditional Korean folk village

During a traditional Korean folk village stay, one of the first things that one notices in the evening are the crickets. Especially if you come from Paris, the contrast is striking.

With their song as a backdrop, one tends to lower the voice and to speak in warm tones. Here in Andong, Korea, in a traditional village called Hahoe, the pace is calm and the echo of tradition a bit more clear than in the city. Situated at a bend in the Nakdong River, beneigth a high cliff, and surrounded by hills and forests, the village has an idyllic setting.

We are staying at an excellent, small, Korean guest home called Rak Ko Jae, which I would recommend to those seeking a glimpse of rural life here in Korea. The food and hospitality are wonderful. The ambiance is a genuine echo of the past, though updated with a few key modern amenities discretely folded into the simple room design (e.g., wi-fi).

Restorative Properties

There is art in the structures and depth in the approach to life that resonates with people, even many who come from different cultures, like me! One can sit under an ancient tree or at a former Confucian study centre and gaze out at the river while pondering what really matters. I’m thinking the experience might help to restore those bruised urban warrior souls who take the time to visit and soak it all in.

A few random musings while sitting in Seoul, Korea

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Sitting in Seoul

Just sitting in Seoul, Korea, one can see that it is an amazing case study in development. There is evidence all around demonstrating that economic and social policy can make a difference.

Seoul, the capital, is huge, clean and modern, while also keeping alive its traditions and remembering its past. The city is bursting with entrepreneurial activity, public investment in infrastructure and education, cultural initiatives, new housing and much more.

During an hour-long stroll in Seoul, one can encounter sprawling markets, wonderful palaces, great food, world-class museums, and quaint leafy lanes. But, the city is expansive, and there are many worthwhile hour-long strolls to be had around various neighborhoods such as Bukchon, Etaewan or Insadong (to name just a few).

For optimal enjoyment, you will want to take your time and allow for a bit of serendipity. There might be something interesting just around the corner, such as a fine old tea room. And, sometimes it is interesting just to stop a while in the shade and watch the city go by.

A few decades ago, Korea was war-torn and poor. Now, the country is counted among the advanced nations of the world. And, Seoul is a fine showcase for this progress!

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Looking back from Korea

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Looking forward to looking back from Korea

The summer has been a frantic time at the office, with a number of projects at critical stages of development. Almost anything done at an international organization requires collaboration, and I’ve been fortunate to be working with great partners on several continents, as well as across my own organization, the OECD. But, the volume of activity still has my little office swamped. Reference papers, drafts, copies of outgoing publications and other materials are building up to worrying heights. I cringe when the fire brigade members come down the hall. Have I crossed the limit?

All of this activity spans a broad range of substantive issues and highlights the hazards of being a knowledge worker bounced around in the turbulence. We are organizing events to communicate findings of our recent work in Washington, Geneva and Jakarta. There are new analytical projects underway on other unrelated issues. And, there is routine operational work to be done. It takes time to think your way into an issue area and more time to discover the key problems and then tackle them. Sometimes, it is a real challenge to accelerate such a process, even when under pressure; sometimes it is not possible.

So, it was with some relief that I reached several interim milestones on Friday and could squeeze in a September vacation. Based on past experience, I’m thinking that some distance and time away from the frenzy could be therapeutic, a way to restore some perspective on life and what is really important. So, I went airborne. And, I am about to land at Inchon airport and exit into a Sunday morning in Seoul looking forward to looking back from Korea … (to be continued)

Ideas and the value of international organisations

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Periodic reflection on positive things in life can change one’s attitude for the better and create a more open attitude to new opportunities. I use such reflections to develop my List of Positive Things, which I keep on my iPod and update a few times a week during my commute to work. I sometimes scroll through the list and come away feeling renewed. For example, I’ll do this after a bad day at the office or when looking for ideas for new projects. Among the multitude of topics, the value of international organisations is one that comes up repeatedly.

The value of international organisations: a few entries from my list of positive things

This list is not comprehensive, but rather focuses on the topic of international organisations and ideas. It reflects observations arising from the course of my work at an international organisation (20+ years).

  • International organisations have helped to develop innovation as a field of study in its own right. This provides a powerful, cross-cutting perspective on the economy that can deliver policy insights that otherwise may be missed. The Innovation Strategy initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an example of this type of work.
  • International organisations have supported a vast, on-going wave of research on a range of topics. Analysts will sometimes develop research that is remarkable for its novelty or depth. This can lead to concrete ideas for ways to improve economic performance.  Many papers resulting from this work have been posted on the Social Science Research Network. (I’m grateful to this network for making available and distributing a broad range of papers. Browsing the abstracts, I can follow developments in my field. Some of the material is relevant to my current research and some inspires new research directions.)
  • International dialogue at OECD and other international organisations can lead to creativity and diffusion of ideas. In some cases, this can promote understanding where there was a risk of conflict. Some dialogue happens via the day-to-day operations inside these organisations. Some of it takes place at international conferences and workshops, where various stakeholders come together. 
  • Staff at international organisations, particularly analytical staff, often demonstrate a high level of professional competence. I am continually impressed by the intelligence, dedication and energy that many of my colleagues bring to their work. This is often accompanied by a strong desire to promote development and make the world a better place. There are certainly occasional problems associated with ambition, turf, bureaucratic intrigues and politics (both within the organisations and among their member countries). But, on balance, the staff calibre is high.  
  • Improving government policy: International comparisons and peer review can be powerful catalysts to stimulate positive changes in government. The process of sharing and learning among experts is often catalysed by new insights from staff papers from international organisations. It is great to see this process in operation!

 Bottom line: International organisations can be powerful sources of new ideas for government, private sector, academia and non-governmental organisations. While there is certainly room for improvement in their operations (e.g., via better management practices and evaluation), the contributions of these organisations to making the world a better place should not be underestimated.