As its next Secretary-General, I would spare no effort in ensuring that the OECD can make the greatest possible contribution to addressing the critical challenges the global economy faces as it battles a terrible global pandemic and an existential climate crisis, both of which are shifting fundamental values in a world struggling to achieve greater interdependence and balance.
03.12.2020
23.11.2020
29.10.2020
Engage the member states to promote measures to ensure a fair transition to a net-zero emission economy by 2050 and boost growth without relying excessively on increasingly exhausted demand policies.
Work closely with the membership to understand and address the growing tensions around economic and social inequality which have been such a hallmark of recent economic developments.
Promote and reinvigorate cooperation amongst the member countries and the global community in full recognition of the growing fragmentation of the global economy and its societal fabric in recent years.
The world is currently facing the dual challenge of a global pandemic and a fundamental transformation of the economy driven principally by climate change and technology. Monetary and fiscal policy have been used forcefully throughout the world to underpin financial markets and stabilise the economy. Going forward, sound structural policy measures will be essential to ensure an equitable long-term transformation of the global economy in support of a broad based rise in living standards. The OECD is ideally positioned to support its membership in this endeavour. Its first rate analytical capabilities can help member states design appropriate policies to recover from COVID-19, support more equitable post-COVID growth and find solutions to the longer-term digital and environmental challenges all countries face. Together with its membership, the OECD also has a unique opportunity to use its convening powers to play a forward leaning role in reinvigorating global cooperation in support of economic and social prosperity.
For nearly 60 years, the OECD has played a prominent role in shaping economic and social policies that foster global prosperity and equality. As the OECD membership prepares for its next leadership succession, the global economy finds itself at the cusp of a fundamental transformation.
After the great financial crisis in 2008, an extended series of political, financial and environ-mental crises have compromised countries and societies around the world. COVID-19 has now unleashed an unparalleled international health crisis. This confluence of crises has undermined growth and prosperity. It has also aggravated underlying and persistent trends towards economic and social inequality, both within countries and between countries.
At the same time, rapid technological change and widespread digitalisation have enabled extraordinary innovation in the global economy. But technological disruption has also exacerbated inequality, provided unmatched profits and market dominance for a small number of firms and raised existential fears in many parts of our societies.
Finally, climate change constitutes an existential long-term threat to our societies and our economies. The window for governmental and private sector action to enable the urgently needed transition to a net zero green gas emissions eco-nomy is rapidly closing.
For over a decade now, the global
policy community has been responding to these multiple crises points principally by mobilising an extra-ordinary mix of monetary and fiscal policy interventions unprecedented in size, scope and speed.
These measures have been successful in underpinning financial markets and stabilising the global economy, but have failed to create an equitable growth model and address the prevailing societal challenges. Fiscal policy clearly still has a role to play.
But going forward, it will no longer be possible to rely on monetary policy to create easier financing conditions in support of growth.
Once the pandemic is contained, sound structural policies will be required to allow for the adjustment of the economy to climate change and digitalisation. These policies will need to ensure an equitable long-term transition supported by the appropriate mobilization of private capital.
The current challenges notwithstanding, global cooperation will be essential for the coming transformation to support a broad based rise in living standards.
With its first rate analytical capabilities rooted in the members driven comparative study of best practices, the OECD is ideally positioned to continue to shape the global policy agenda. It can define appropriate policies to help its member states recover from COVID-19, design policies to support more equitable post-COVID growth and help find solutions to the consequential longer-term digital and environmental challenges. Together with its membership, the OECD is also optimally situated to play a forward leaning role with key emerging and developing countries in fostering global cooperation at this critical moment.
To seize this opportunity and maximize its impact, the OECD will have to focus on the most pressing challenges facing its member states. It needs to be inclusive, transparent and purpose-driven. Finally, it must uphold the highest standards of analysis, attract the best talent, allow for diversity of mind and remain relentlessly focused on good governance and operational excellence.
Guided by these principles, the following strategic objectives will provide clarity to the organization and its member states:
Simonetta Sommaruga, President of the Swiss Confederation
Head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications
Philipp Hildebrand
Candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the OECD
To achieve these objectives, the OECD’s analytical resources and its convening powers should be allocated and directed to the following immediate policy priorities:
LONG-TERM INVESTMENT
Long-term investment must be a critical component of any comprehensive sustainable growth strategy after COVID-19. The transition and transformation to a net-zero greenhouse gases emission economy and the challenges emanating from the expanding integration and influence of new technologies (fourth industrial revolution) demand comprehensive analysis of how tangible and intangible infrastructure spending can boost sustainable and equitable growth. Investment in education, skills and people will be a critical element of an impactful global investment strategy. The OECD has a unique advantage in member driven comparative analysis in this area.
TAX POLICY IN A DIGITAL AGE
The global economy is in the midst of a great transformation from physical to digital and from tangible to intangible value creation. This poses highly complex challenges to ensure adequate and fair taxation of economic output. Record levels of public debt in many countries make adequate taxation and combating tax evasion an even more critical global policy priority. The OECD is ideally positioned to serve its membership and the global community by offering its analytical and convening powers to advocate for and ultimately advance an effective global taxation framework for the digital age. In the absence of such a framework, individual countries will act on their own, often in conflict with each other and ultimately to the detriment of enhancing global prosperity.
PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT
One of the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis has been a remarkable expansion of the role of the state in the global economy, driven by unprecedented fiscal support schemes. These measures have averted a vicious economic downward spiral. In the long term, however, maximum innovation, productivity gains and prosperity can only be realised by way of private sector driven activities. The OECD is ideally positioned to use its analytical and convening powers to develop an impactful systematic framework to engage the private sector. Public policy frameworks become successful when private actors respond to them by allocating capital in a way that is consistent with the stated policy objectives. For example, a net zero-emission economy by 2050 is only achievable if the private sector allocates capital on a large scale in line with the net zero emission objective.
The challenges that lie ahead for the OECD and its members are very significant. As the world tries to navigate beyond the COVID shock and achieve greater economic, social and environmental balance, deep structural economic and social change is inevitable. The OECD has a unique opportunity to play an even more influential and respected role on the global stage during such a fundamental transformation of the global economy.
I. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
BLACKROCK, INC.
Vice Chairman
(London UK)
BLAVATNIK SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Senior Visiting Fellow
(Oxford UK)
Chairman of the Governing Board
(Zurich Switzerland)
Vice Chairman of the Governing Board
(Berne Switzerland)
Member of the Governing Board
(Zurich Switzerland)
Chief Investment Officer and Member of the Executive Board
(Geneva Switzerland)
Chief Investment Officer
(Zurich Switzerland)
Senior Managing Director, Partner (1997)
(London UK)
Associate Member of the Executive Board
(Geneva Switzerland)
II. EDUCATION
| 1994 | UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD Doctorate (D. Phil.) in International Relations | Oxford UK |
| 1993 | HARVARD UNIVERSITY Pre-doctoral Fellowship, Center for International Affairs (CFIA) | Cambridge USA |
| 1993 | EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE European Commission Research Fellowship | Florence Italy |
| 1990 | THE GRADUATE INSTITUTE (IHEID) Diplôme des Etudes Supérieures (DES) | Geneva Switzerland |
| 1988 | UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Bachelors of Arts (BA) in International Relations | Toronto Canada |
| 1984 | KANTONSSCHULE STADELHOFEN Maturität | Zurich Switzerland |
| 1981 | DARIEN HIGH SCHOOL High School Diploma | Darien, CT USA |
III. PERSONAL
Born in Berne, Switzerland, 19 July 1963
Swiss National, father of three daughters, resides in Zurich and London
Trustee of the British Museum, London
Member, Group of Thirty
Member, International Advisory Board, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University
Member, International Leadership Council for Europe for the University of Toronto
Honorary Fellow, Lincoln College, Oxford University
The Banker: Central Bank Governor of the Year, Europe 2011
Chevalier, L’Ordre National du Mérite (awarded by the President of the French Republic, 2009)
Member, Strategic Committee, Agence France Trésor, 2007 – 2009
President, International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies (ICMB), 2006 – 2010
Visiting Professor in Economics, the Graduate Institute IHEID, Geneva, 2003 – 2008
Twice Swiss National Swimming Champion
Simonetta Sommaruga, President of the Swiss Confederation
Head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications
On behalf of the Swiss government, I am very honoured to present and support the candidacy of Mr. Philipp Hildebrand for the post of Secretary-General of the OECD.
Switzerland has a long common history with the OECD, being one of the 20 founding countries that created it in 1961. Since then, it has been fully committed to ensuring that the OECD becomes the truly major player in global economic governance as it is today, with its 37 member countries and its solid network of partner countries. As a parliamentarian and minister, I have had the opportunity to participate in OECD meetings, and I have particularly appreciated the willingness and ability of this Organisation to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
I am convinced that Mr. Philipp Hildebrand represents a real opportunity for the OECD. His career path has led him to take on responsibilities at the highest level in international financial organizations (BIS, OECD, IMF, FSB). He has demonstrated a constant commitment to concerted multilateral solutions. His experience in the private sector provides him with a differentiated approach to economic problems specific to the business world. These are qualities and expertise that will best serve the destiny of the OECD!
Guy Parmelin, Vice-President of the Swiss Confederation
Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
Switzerland promotes the same values as the OECD: democracy based on the rule of law and adherence to the principles of an open and transparent market economy. As the OECD Convention stipulates, these values should serve our common goal of economic and employment growth and rising living standards for all. As Minister of the Economy, I hope that the OECD can remain a benchmark for both member and partner countries in the choice and implementation of their public policies.
Mr. Philipp Hildebrand not only has personal experience of the OECD, as he chaired one of its committees, WP3, which deals at a high level with global macroeconomic imbalances. He has also developed, in the context of his function as President of the Swiss National Bank, solid experience of collaboration with ministers and central bank governors. During his career in the private sector, he has played a central role in the fundamental reorientation towards sustainable investments. I am convinced that with his diverse career path and visionary character, Mr Hildebrand will make a full contribution to the OECD’s outreach. Together with members and partners, he will be able to adapt the organisation’s mission to a post-Covid-19 world.
I believe that my experience as a central bank governor, my long-standing involvement with international organisations and my knowledge of the financial markets provide me with a set of skills and a perspective that would allow me to serve as an impactful next Secretary-General of the OECD on behalf of its member states.