Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Note:  The updates and revisions for the OECD Central Government Debt Database have been suspended. This dataset is no longer updated. For more info, please read http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=GOV_DEBT   Statistical population The focus of this dataset is to provide comprehensive quantitative information on marketable and non-marketable central government debt instruments in all OECD member countries. The coverage of the data is limited to central government debt issuance and excludes therefore state and local government debt and social security funds.

This table presents data on Government appropriations or outlays for RD (GBAORD) by socio-economic objective (SEO), using the NABS 2007 classification i.e.: Exploration and exploitation of the Earth, Environment, Exploration and exploitation of space, Transport, telecommunication and other infrastructures, Energy, Industrial production and technology, Health, Agriculture, Education, Culture, recreation, religion and mass media, Political and social systems, structures and processes, General advancement of knowledge: RD financed from General University Funds (GUF), General advancement of knowledge: RD financed from sources other than GUF, Defence. Please note that in this new NABS 2007 classification, the three socio-economic objectives -- Education, Culture, recreation, religion and mass media, and Political and social systems, structures and processes -- were previously grouped under a single objective: Social structures and relationships. At the time of this publication there is no breakdown of historical data into the three new SEOs. Another issue relating to the transition from NABS 1993 to NABS 2007 is that what was formerly Other civil research is now to be distributed among the other chapters. This distribution has not yet been done in this database. Therefore, until the countries are in a position to provide breakdown according to the NABS 2007 classification, in some cases GBAORD by SEO is greater than the sum of its chapters.

Data on grants by type is not available for all OECD countries. A partial dataset is available for one or more years in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal. No data on grants by type is available for Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom, United States. The different types of grants are defined as follows: Earmarked grants An earmarked grant is a grant that is given under the condition that it can only be used for a specific purpose. Non-earmarked grants Non-earmarked grants can be spent as if they were the receiving sub-national government's own (non-earmarked) tax revenues. Mandatory grants Mandatory grants (entitlements) are legal, rules-based obligations for the government that issues the grant. This requires that both the size of the grant and the conditions under which it is given be laid down in a statute or executive decree and that these conditions be both necessary and sufficient. Discretionary grants Discretionary grants, and the conditions under which they are given, are not determined by rules but decided on an ad hoc, discretionary basis. Discretionary grants are often temporary in nature and include, for example, grants for specific infrastructural projects or emergency aid to a disaster area. Matching grants Matching grants are grants designed to complement sub-national contributions. Matching grants are dependent on normative or actual spending for services for which the grants are earmarked or on local revenue collection related to these services. Non-matching grants Non-matching grants are grants not directly linked to any sub-national contribution. Current grants Current grants are grants assumed to be spent on either current or capital expenditures. Capital grants Capital grants are grants assumed to be spent only on capital expenditures.

OECD National Account Statistics are based on the System of National of Accounts (SNA), a set of internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications and rules for national accounting. Using SNA terminology, general government revenue consists of central, state and local governments, and social security funds. State government is only applicable to the nine OECD member countries that are federal states: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Spain (considered a de facto federal state in the National Accounts data), Switzerland and the United States. Revenues encompass social contributions (e.g. contributions for pensions, health and social security), taxes other than social contributions (e.g. taxes on consumption, income, wealth, property and capital), and grants and other revenues. Grants can be from foreign governments, international organizations or other general government units. Other revenues include sales, fees, property income and subsidies. The aggregates presented (taxes other than social contributions, social contributions, and grants and other revenues) are not directly available in the OECD National Accounts, and were constructed using sub-account line items.

Data on government sector receipts, and on taxes in particular, are basic inputs to most structural economic descriptions and economic analyses and are increasingly used in international comparisons. This annual database presents a unique set of detailed and internationally comparable tax data in a common format for all OECD countries.

Social expenditure aggregates: The OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) has been developed in order to serve a growing need for indicators of social policy. It includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and mandatory and voluntary private social expenditure at programme level. SOCX provides a unique tool for monitoring trends in aggregate social expenditure and analysing changes in its composition.