Browse by: "PRE-2006"
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Will the next century see the private sector become more involved in decisions regarding the construction and funding of infrastructure? Which technologies will dominate the transport market? Where will new markets emerge? Will transport still have a social role to play? What safeguards will there be for the environment? Will there still be a role even for the authorities?
The list of the questions that transport will pose in the next century is certainly both long and diverse, reflecting as it does the problems now confronting the sector. The aim of the 14th Symposium was to take an initial look at what the future might hold by means of 13 introductory reports -- drafted by rapporteurs from 11 different countries -- and a debate between leading experts in the transport field.
This publication goes over the introductory reports and faithfully reflects the substance of the Symposium discussions. By considering the shape of things to come, this review defines the challenges awaiting all those concerned with transport and the solutions open to them.
This publication includes three recent reports of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs that resulted in changes to the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and Capital (those changes were included in the update adopted by the Council of the OECD on 28 January 2003): "Restricting the Entitlement to Treaty Benefits", "Treaty Characterisation Issues Arising From E-Commerce: Report Adopted by the Committee on Fiscal Affairs", and "Issues Arising Under Article 5 (Permanent Establishment) of the Model Tax Convention".
The next few decades hold the prospect of remarkable progress in a wide range of pervasive technologies that are likely to have a profound effect on how we live, work, and spend our leisure time. These technologies are set to revolutionise the worlds of medicine, agriculture, travel, retailing...so much that is familiar in our daily lives. Used wisely, they could be of huge benefit to mankind. Used wrongly, they could mean lost opportunities and unnecessary risks.
The challenge for society is immense. What would be the cost of failure to embrace dynamic change? What kind of ethical dilemmas will arise from further breakthroughs in genetic engineering? Will the spread of new technologies create new social divisions? What sort of societies will prove most adept at harnessing the vast technological potential? How can countries best co-operate to maximise the benefits of spillovers?
This book reviews the extraordinary promise of technological advances over the next twenty years or so, and assesses some of the key issues -- economic, social, environmental, ethical -- that decision-makers in government, business and society will face in the decades ahead.
These proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Theory and Practice in Transport Economics sketch a broad overview of transport economics research since the inception of the ECMT in 1953 and map out the directions for future work. The 22 papers presented cover such topics as transport infrastructure's contribution to economic growth, modal split, competition in the transport sector, the need for a supra-national regulatory authority, charging systems, and environmental sustainability.
In a first-ever joint report by the UN, the OECD, the World Bank and the IMF, the world’s four principal development institutions assess progress towards poverty reduction goals and agree on a common vision for the way forward. The goals for international development address that most compelling of human desires-a world free of poverty and free of the misery that poverty breeds. This report focuses on seven goals, which, if achieved in the next 15 years, will improve the lives of millions of people. In words and pictures, with numbers and charts, it describes progress towards the goals, what has been achieved and the effort required to reach them.
A new vision of the purpose of social policy is needed. Scaremongers present decision-makers as facing an overwhelming number of complex problems with more and more limited budgets. Society is indeed undergoing profound upheaval. Ageing populations are increasing pressure on the workforce. Changes in the labour market have hit low-skilled workers hard; the term "social exclusion" has entered the political lexicon, and policies can no longer be based on "traditional" family life. But social policy should not be presented as "papering over the cracks" in society caused by economic and demographic change. As knowledge plays an increasing role in generating wealth, empowering individuals to develop their potential is a central and essential part of economic policy. Indeed, economic and social policies are more intertwined than ever.
This book paints a complete and accessible picture of the current situation and pinpoints how policies can be reformed. Social policy should aim to promote employment and healthy living, rather than just coping with joblessness and ill-health. Investing in children and families helps ensure that all can contribute fully to society. Innovations and experiments in new social policies to better equip individuals and families with the support they need in responding to change abound in OECD countries. Ministers from OECD countries have committed themselves to the ambitious task of creating just such a caring world.
This DAC Reference Document draws on donor responses to international terrorism. It is intended to guide the international community and governments in their efforts to address linkages between terrorism and development, and suggests how donor programmes might be designed or adjusted.
What approach to treating certain ageing-related diseases works best and at what cost? That is, what combination of health care system characteristics, prevention, detection, technology and treatment, is the most cost-effective? The OECD Ageing-Related Diseases study investigated how health systems treat three diseases: ischemic heart disease, stroke and breast cancer. This book includes papers discussing the results of the OECD study with essays by leading experts, and uses a disease-based approach to comparing health-systems.
La Muette, home of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has a long and rich history. This book tells its story from its inception as a royal hunting lodge to its present-day use as the headquarters of the OECD. The reader may find it amusing, and sometimes instructive, to meet some of the colourful characters who once roamed its galleries. The place itself has played a significant role in French history; the Château and its extensive park were once the theatre of many a strong sentiment and the locale is impregnated with memories, comic, tragic, venal, lofty, solemn and ludic. These traces of the past are the real substance of La Muette’s charm; they are also the voices that echo through this text and linger in the halls of the Château.
Approaches to radiological protection have been evolving, particularly over the past several years. This has been driven by the emergence of modern concepts of and approaches to risk governance, and by calls from within the radiological protection community for the simplification and clarification of the existing system of protection, as based on the Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).
The NEA Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) has been very active in developing its own suggestions as to how the system of radiological protection should evolve to better meet the needs of policy makers, regulators and practitioners. One of those suggestions is that a generic concept of “regulatory authorisation” of certain levels and types of exposure to radiation should replace the current and somewhat complicated concepts of exclusion, exemption and clearance. It has also been suggested that by characterising emerging sources and exposures in a screening process leading into the authorisation process, regulatory authorities could develop a better feeling for the type and scale of stakeholder involvement that would be necessary to reach a widely accepted approach to radiological protection.
In order to verify that these suggestions would make the system of radiological protection more understandable, easy to apply, and acceptable, independent consultants have “road tested” the CRPPH concepts of authorisation and characterisation. Their findings, which show that applying these concepts would represent significant improvement, are reproduced herein. Specific approaches for the application of the new CRPPH ideas are also illustrated in this report.
What is driving recent growth in OECD countries? Why is it that their levels of GDP per capita are no longer converging? Why is it that some countries, operating at the technological frontier, where advances are difficult, appear to be widening the gap? Whether or not it is appropriate to speak of a "new economy", innovation and technology play crucial roles.
This study shows that success requires not some silver bullet, but a range of complementary factors that support the innovation-intensive growth exemplified by new information and communication technologies such as the Internet and Internet applications like electronic commerce. Supportive policies include those favourable to innovative start-ups and to financial systems able to support them, those that facilitate the reorganisation required to reap the full benefits of ICT, regulatory and institutional frameworks that facilitate links between science and industry, and efforts to train and obtain the necessary human capital, as well as public support for basic scientific research. While this study is far from exhaustive, it represents an important step in understanding the conditions under which economies flourish.
In light of the elimination of quantitative import restrictions under the WTO at the end of 2004, A New World Map in Textiles and Clothing identifies the most recent market developments throughout the entire supply chain, from natural fibres to retail distribution. It outlines the policy and regulatory challenges in the fields of trade, labour adjustment, technology and innovation, and suggests a policy framework to help deal effectively with such changes as well as to capitalise on the trade opportunities that are being created through improved market access.
“A highly useful contribution to the debate on policy challenges in textiles and clothing, the book stands out from the others in recognising the influence that trade policy measures continue to exert on investment and production decisions, and in providing a synthesis of key market developments and policy issues.”
Munir Ahmad, Executive Director, International Textiles and Clothing Bureau
“Policy makers in all textile and clothing trading countries would be wise to heed the sound advice proffered in this comprehensive and thorough, fact-based assessment."
Laura Baughman, President, Trade Partnership Worldwide, LLC.
“A must read for anybody interested in the future of textiles and clothing around the world. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the expected adjustment process in usefully underscoring the role of technology and innovation and the growing importance of the business facilitation agenda.”
Carlos A. Primo Braga, Senior Adviser, International Trade Department, The World Bank
Tomsk is one of the oldest established centres of industry and learning in the Russian Federation. The city of Tomsk and its surrounding region now face challenging economic and resource utilisation problems. These must be overcome if the pace of development is to be quickened and deepened. At the invitation of the regional authorities, the OECD’s Centre for Co-operation with the Economies in Transition, organised a conference in Tomsk on a regional approach to industrial restructuring in June 1997. It received special support from the Institute for Advanced Studies of Vienna. This report presents the economic assessment, conference conclusions and recommendations. It will be of particular use to potential investors, businesses and other specialists interested in the opportunities arising from reforms underway in the economy of one of Russia’s oldest regions. The publication notably provides an overview of the Tomsk regional economy and its main sectors, with an examination of key regional and federal policy issues, and investment provisions.
Health care is one of the largest sectors in OECD countries, and accounts now for over 8% of GDP on average. This manual of the System of Health Accounts (Version 1.0) provides a set of comprehensive, consistent and flexible accounts to meet the needs of government and private-sector analysts and policy-makers. These accounts constitute a common framework for enhancing the comparability of data over time and across countries, and suggest basic links with non-monetary indicators. The manual establishes a conceptual basis of statistical reporting rules compatible with other economic and social statistics and proposes a newly developed International Classification for Health Accounts (ICHA) which covers three dimensions: health care by functions of care; providers of health care services; and sources of funding. Once this new accounting standard has been implemented in a large number of OECD countries, it will allow for more consistent and reliable comparisons of health care expenditure across countries.
Prepared by the OECD’s Competition Committee, this report focuses on the telecommunications industry and seeks to deepen the understanding of access regulation. Access issues are not easy issues for regulators and competition policy-makers - they can be both difficult technically and the source of noisy disputes in practice. By bringing together theory and practice, this report seeks to help regulators and policy-makers learn from OECD experience to achieve efficient and competitive outcomes.
Achieving Financial Stability in Asia sets out to identify the elements which could restore confidence to the countries of the region and stabilise financial flows on a global basis. Thus, measures must be taken which include improving public and corporate governance, strengthening democracy and improving the efficiency of regulatory institutions. At the same time, emerging economies ought to be given a greater measure of participation in international regulatory bodies, so that any solutions proposed to dampen the volatility of financial flows might take their interests and opinions into account. This book reflects the contributions to the fifth edition of the International Forum on Asian Perspectives, which was held in Paris in June 1999. The Forum was created by the Asian Development Bank and the OECD Development Centre as an annual meeting place of ideas and strategies from Asian countries and from the OECD region. The aim of the Forum is to create an area where the knowledge bases of the partners can be combined to exploit their specific advantages in the search for solutions to the economic problems of Asia. The Forum also includes an open meeting where these ideas can be tested in front of a wide audience of people from the worlds of politics, administration, academia, the media and business.
This study provides a review of the food and agricultural sector in Ukraine. It assesses the current status of the food and agricultural sector with special reference to the agricultural policy regime and the form and level of government support to the sector. The paper reviews the sector’s readiness to compete on open global markets for food and agricultural products. Given the importance and sensitivity of the food and agriculture sector in the country, the report highlights a number of critical issues for the Ukrainian government to address. The report goes beyond the narrower focus of the agricultural policies and reviews the status of current rural physical and social infrastructure and issues of rural poverty.
The Executive Summary highlights policy recommendations for Ukrainian policymakers, while the individual chapters provide technical analysis on key policy issues.
Climate policy raises a number of challenges for the energy sector, the most significant being the transition from a high to a low-CO2 energy path in a few decades. Act Locally, Trade Globally seeks to provide a complete picture of the future role of emissions trading in climate policy and the energy sector. It offers an overview of existing trading systems, their mechanisms, and looks into the future of the instrument for limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change is an increasing concern across the world. In 1997, a number of countries, including most OECD countries, agreed the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for future emissions of greenhouse gases that drive climate change. But the Kyoto Protocol left many decisions to be made, and while these are being discussed the clock ticks and the date for meeting the targets draws closer. Uncertainties are even larger as to policy requirements over the longer term. The Kyoto targets in themselves will do little to avert climate change but are best seen as a first step towards ambitious worldwide action. This puts the focus on how to achieve worldwide consensus for taking action and the economic impacts such action may have. Whatever action is taken, and on the basis of available scientific evidence, some climate change may take place in any case, raising questions about its impacts and how best to adjust.
What are the main outstanding issues concerning the Kyoto Protocol? What will it cost to implement the Protocol? How can it be done so as to minimise costs? How could economic burdens be shared among countries so as to achieve broad consensus for global action? What will be the impact of such climate change as may happen and how should policy be set so as to smooth adjustment? This publication presents analysis which bears on the above questions as well as others in the climate change debate. It does not purport to have the final answers, but is aimed to inform a major debate.