Reviews OECD data on the relationship between living standards and cuts in company tax rates compared with the provision of better education services.

The graphs show the relationship between living standards and other variables that are at the centre of the disputes about the future direction of economic policy; cuts in company tax rates and the provision of better education services.

By examining OECD data it is a relatively simple matter to compare how country to country differences in these variables show up in perhaps one of the most important economic indicators, living standards. To measure living standards we use GDP per capita measured using the OECD’s purchasing power parity (PPP) estimates. Essentially PPPs correct for market foreign exchange rate movements that may give misleading measures of relative living standards across countries.