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This third edition updates information on key features of pension provision in OECD countries and provides projections of retirement income for today’s workers. It offers an expanded range of indicators, including measures of assets, investment performance, coverage of private pensions, public pension spending, and the demographic context and outlook.
Four special chapters provide an in-depth look at important issues in pension policy today. The first examines the implications of the present financial and economic crisis on pension systems. Which countries and which individuals are most affected? What can governments do to help and which policies should they avoid? The second looks at incomes and poverty of older people, looking at trends over the past two decades. In many countries, the position of pensioners has improved relative to the population as a whole, but there remain pockets of old-age poverty. The third updates the analysis of pension reforms in the second edition of Pensions at a Glance. How have pension systems changed in the period 2004‑08? The final special chapter considers coverage of voluntary private pensions, extending the analysis to look at how this varies with age and earnings. It also evaluates five different policies to expand coverage.
This book includes StatLinks, URLs under each graph and table linking to Excel® files containing the underlying data.
“An extraordinarily useful and careful compilation of pension information for a wide-range of countries, presented in a common format and following a thoughtful structure. The authors have brought cross-national pension comparisons to a new level, and they are to be commended for their intensive efforts. [This] represents some of the smartest comparative work out there, by people intimately familiar with the nuances – and complexities – of comparative pension work.”
– Olivia Mitchell, Director of the Boettner Centre for Pensions and
Retirement Research, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
West African Perspectives: Resources for Development conducts a cross-cutting analysis of the main development challenges in the region and offers suggestions on how to meet them. It provides an overview of West Africa’s abundant resources , examining not only economic and natural resources but also human, social and cultural capital. Finally, it presents the perspectives of six prominent West Africans involved in the development of their region.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a major driver of globalisation. The OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment sets the world standard for FDI statistics. It provides a single point of reference for statisticians and users on all aspect of FDI statistics, while remaining compatible with other internationally accepted statistical standards. This edition introduces new analytical data breakdowns and statistical treatments that better reflect the realities of today’s world economy. The revised Benchmark Definition provides methods for classifying different types of FDI (e.g., mergers and acquisitions, greenfield investments) and for identifying the ultimate investor. The new edition now addresses the uses of FDI statistics, including globalisation indicators, and provides a chapter relating to the statistics on the activities of multinational enterprises.
Since the IEA Scoreboard 2009 is published in conjunction with the 35th anniversary of the IEA, 35 themes, ranging from diversification to prices, show how IEA countries have performed in their efforts to attain energy security, environmental protection and economic growth. This book, which combines statistical rigour with easy access and readability, is an ideal resource for anyone who would like to have a quick overview of energy development in IEA member countries over the last 35 years. The publication also includes selected energy-related statistics for over 140 countries, economies and regions in the world.
This 2009 edition of OECD's periodic review of Japan's economy includes chapters on overcoming the global crisis, improving the efficiency of the banking sector, the fiscal response to the crisis and fiscal sustainability, health care reform, and the climate change policy framework.
Les sciences biologiques apportent une valeur ajoutée à de très nombreux biens et services qui sont génériquement réunis sous le terme de « bioéconomie » et les progrès dans ce domaine peuvent aboutir à des avancées socioéconomiques majeures, dans les pays de l’OCDE. En utilisant des analyses quantitatives des données concernant les innovations en cours et les dépenses de recherche et développement tirées des bases de données privées et publiques, elle estime les évolutions futures dans le domaine des biotechnologies d’ici 2015. Adoptant un point de vue institutionnel plus large, elle examine également les rôles joués par le financement de la recherche et du développement, les ressources humaines, la propriété intellectuelle et la réglementation de la bioéconomie, ainsi que les évolutions futures qui seraient susceptibles d’influer sur les nouveaux modèles économiques. Des scénarios fictifs à l’horizon 2030 sont pris en compte pour encourager les lecteurs à réfléchir sur l’interaction entre les choix de politique économique et les avancées technologiques dans la mise en place de la bioéconomie. Enfin, l’ouvrage étudie les différentes options de politique économique permettant de tirer parti des avantages sociaux, environnementaux et économiques de la bioéconomie.
The cement energy technology roadmap outlines a possible transition path for the industry to make continued contributions towards a halving of global CO2 emissions by 2050. As part of this contribution, this roadmap estimates that the cement industry could reduce its direct emissions 18% from current levels by 2050. This roadmap is a first step. It is only attainable with a supportive policy framework, and appropriate financial resources invested over the long term.
Wind energy is perhaps the most advanced of the “new” renewable energy technologies, but there is still much work to be done. This energy technology roadmap identifies the key tasks that must be undertaken in order to achieve a vision of over 2 000 GW of wind energy capacity by 2050. Governments, industry, research institutions and the wider energy sector will need to work together to achieve this goal.
This report covers a broad range of SME taxation issues, including possible effects of taxation on the creation and growth of SMEs, and considerations arising from a relatively high compliance burden. Differing income tax and social security contribution burdens of unincorporated and incorporated SMEs are considered in detail, with analysis of average statutory tax rates carried out to investigate possible tax distortions to business creation and business structure decisions of a single worker/owner of an SME. Various arguments are presented for and against the targeting of tax incentives at SMEs. Country examples of SME tax incentives and compliance cost reduction measures are provided in the report.
This energy technology roadmap focuses on electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (EV/PHEV), presenting for the first time a detailed scenario for their evolution from annual production of a few thousand to over 100 million vehicles by 2050. It finds that the next decade is a key “make or break” period for EVs and PHEVs: governments, the automobile industry, electric utilities and other stakeholders must work together to roll out vehicles and infrastructure in a coordinated fashion, and ensure that the rapidly growing consumer market is ready to purchase them. The roadmap concludes with a set of near-term actions to achieve the roadmap’s vision.
This energy technology roadmap on carbon capture and storage (CCS) identifies, for the first time, a detailed scenario for the technology’s growth from a handful of large-scale projects today to over three thousand projects by 2050. It finds that the next decade is a key “make or break” period for CCS; governments, industry and public stakeholders must act rapidly to demonstrate CCS at scale around the world in a variety of settings. The roadmap concludes with a set of near-term actions that stakeholders will need to take to achieve the roadmap’s vision.
Experimental facilities are essential research tools both for the development of nuclear science and technology and for testing systems and materials which are currently being used or will be used in the future. As a result of economic pressures and the closure of older facilities, there are concerns that the ability to undertake the research necessary to maintain and to develop nuclear science and technology may be in jeopardy.
An NEA expert group with representation from ten member countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Commission has reviewed the status of those research and test facilities of interest to the NEA Nuclear Science Committee. They include facilities relating to nuclear data measurement, reactor development, neutron scattering, neutron radiography, accelerator-driven systems, transmutation, nuclear fuel, materials, safety, radiochemistry, partitioning and nuclear process heat for hydrogen production.
This report contains the expert group’s detailed assessment of the current status of these nuclear research facilities and makes recommendations on how future developments in the field can be secured through the provision of high-quality, modern facilities. It also describes the online database which has been established by the expert group which includes more than 700 facilities.
This report follows the March 2008 report that hightlighted the energy, economic and environmental benefits of CHP and DHC (IEA, 2008). That report also provides a technical introduction to CHP/DHC and describes its global status and potential.
Statistics from the IEA contains timely, clearly-presented data on the supply, transformation and consumption of all major energy sources. The interested businessman, journalist or student will have at his or her fingertips the annual Canadian production of coal, the electricity consumption in Thailand, the price of diesel oil in Spain and thousands of other useful energy facts. Gathering and analysing statistics is one of the important IEA functions.
Despite many examples of good practice, large weaknesses exist in many countries’ national career guidance services, according to extensive research conducted by the OECD, and by the Centre for the Development of Vocational Training and the European Training Foundation on behalf of the European Commission. Access is limited, particularly for adults. In addition, services often focus upon immediate decisions, and fail to develop career management skills. Training for those who provide services is frequently inappropriate, failing to reflect the full range of client needs or to take account of modern, more flexible delivery methods such as ICT. Services are poorly co-ordinated between different ministries, and between governments and other stakeholders. The evidence base is too weak to provide policy makers with useful data on outcomes, costs and benefits. These gaps stand in the way of governments’ attempts to implement lifelong learning, active employability and social equity policies. This joint publication by the OECD and the European Commission (staff working paper) gives policy makers practical tools to tackle these problems. In simple, non-technical language, the publication addresses a broad range of policy issues that are central to the effective delivery of career guidance services. These include: how to widen access to career guidance; ways of improving the quality of career information; ensuring that staff qualifications meet policy objectives; and improving strategic leadership. This publication is essential reading for all policy makers, especially those in education and labour, who are responsible for planning, managing and delivering career guidance services.
A set of indicators has been developed to analyse the energy efficiency of electricity production from fossil fuels on a global level and for a number of key countries and regions.
This paper explores different measures of energy efficiency performance (“MEEP”) and considers the importance of so-called boundary definitions when measuring energy performance, and how these affect the appropriateness of country comparisons to guide policy decisions.
The paper also addresses the limitations of both energy intensity and technology diffusion indicators as measures of energy efficiency performance. A case study on Japan’s iron and steel industry illustrates the critical role of proper boundary definitions for a meaningful assessment of energy efficiency in industry.
The coal sector – producers, consumers and equipment suppliers – as well as governments and agencies in countries where coal is essential, have a long experience of stimulating clean coal technology deployment.
To aid this adaptation key areas of the handbook have been highlighted for “Country Specific Insertions”. While the aim of this handbook is to raise the awareness of tax examiners and tax auditors about the possible implications of transactions or activities related to money laundering and tax crimes, the handbook is not meant to replace domestic policies and procedures.
La crise économique mondiale a contraint la communauté des donneurs à reconsidérer ses positions concernant la conditionnalité de l’aide au développement. Cette étude évalue les controverses persistantes à ce sujet et dans quelle mesure les donneurs sont parvenus à contenir la tendance, constatée au cours des années 1980 et 1990, à durcir la conditionnalité de l’aide. Le rapport vérifie si l'aide se répartit effectivement selon les critères de gouvernance et de développement invoqués par la communauté des donneurs. Il montre à quel point la crise financière compromet de plus en plus le respect des procédures habituelles de la conditionnalité. À la lumière du caractère inapplicable des procédures existantes, il propose des stratégies visant à réduire le nombre des critères de conditionnalité et à renforcer l'appropriation des politiques d'aide par les pays bénéficiaires.