ETHICS.(survey of political values of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries)(Brief Article)

Economist (US), The, October, 2000

A survey of OECD countries has found that a dozen different values guide the Swedish and German governments, giving them the most codified ethical infrastructures. Among those countries' core values are impartiality, confidentiality and service in the public interest. Fewer such codes regulate the behaviour of other governments' officials.

The French identified only three values (responsibility, confidentiality and obedience), and the British named five (impartiality, legality, integrity, transparency and responsibility). The most common value of the 16 that were mentioned in the survey was impartiality; representatives of 24 countries cited its importance. Other widely held values were legality (named by 22 countries), integrity (18), transparency (14) and efficiency (14).