Scientific concerns in an economic environment: science in OEEC–OECD

Abstract

This paper describes the origins of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) in the post-war reconstruction effort and charts its evolution as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). From its initial concern with the potential contributions of science toward reconstruction, the organization took on the larger task of developing policies for managing national research resources. An early example of OECD's new charge was investigation of the ‘technological gap’ in research expenditures between the United States and other industrialized countries in the 1960s. The role of OECD in exploring science policy for national technological development is discussed.