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The Russian Federation has undergone a major reform of the pension system which has resulted in a shift from a single, publicly managed system to one supplemented by a mandatory, privately managed occupational funded component and voluntary pension arrangements. The reform aimed to tackle a set of problems of demographic, social and economic order inherent to retirement income provision and was viewed as a way to improve old-age security of retirees in Russia by ensuring long-term financial and fiscal stability of the pension system and adequacy of pension benefits. This book examines these reforms and new challenges related to the reforms. Most prominent among the challenges is the need to further strengthen the pension system regulatory capacity and enforcement powers of the authorities in charge of the oversight of private pension institutions.

What qualifies an economy as “emerging”? The answers provided in this book lead to a fresh conception of the diversity of the African continent. Thus, growth dynamics cannot simply be measured in economic terms. Indicators must also include governance, efficiency and democracy of institutions, and an appropriate climate for business. All these issues are linked to policies, and the outstanding conclusion of this book, in the face of embedded “Afro-pessimism”, is that policies do matter for growth; that there is no “African mystery”, simply poor policies and bad governance. Reform and Growth in Africa is a contribution to the search for a reversal of the economic plight of African countries, based upon national experience and policy reform. This book reflects the contributions to the first edition of the International Forum on African Perspectives, which was held in Paris in February 2000. The forum was created by the African Development Bank and the OECD Development Centre as an annual meeting place of ideas and strategies from African 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 Africa. 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.

The International Symposium on the Reform of Civil Nuclear Liability, organised by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency in co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Commission, was held in Budapest, Hungary from 31 May to 3 June 1999. The event attracted over 200 participants from 50 countries, with a view to examining nuclear liability and compensation issues in the context of the recent revision of the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, the adoption of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage and the current negotiations being carried out under the aegis of the OECD/NEA on the amendment of the Paris and Brussels Conventions. These proceedings reproduce all papers which were presented at the Symposium, and provide detailed records of the discussion periods.

This report presents recommendations on the reform of economic instruments for water resources management in Kyrgyzstan, specifically on tariffs for urban water supply and sanitation (WSS) and irrigation water, pollution charges, surface water abstraction charges for enterprises (consumptive and non-consumptive uses), specific land tax rates for the Issyk-Kul biosphere reserve, as well as taxes and customs duty on products contributing to water pollution. For each instrument, alternative reform options are identified and assessed, and preferred options put forward, with an action plan.

This book describes and examines reforms of fiscal federalism and local government in 10 OECD countries implemented over the past decade. The country chapters identify common patterns and factors that are conducive to reforms of the intergovernmental fiscal framework, using a common methodological approach. The summary chapter highlights the cross-cutting issues emerging from the country chapters and shows the key factors in the institutional, political, economic and fiscal areas that are supporting reform success. The report’s approach results in valuable insights for policy makers designing, adopting and implementing fiscal federalism and local government reforms.

This review analyses public procurement policies and practices of ISSSTESON, the institution providing health and pension services to the workers of the State Government of Sonora, Mexico. It benchmarks ISSSTESON practices against the 2015 Recommendation of the Council on Public Procurement to help the institute upgrade its procurement operations and increase efficiency, in a difficult financial environment. It also examines the revenue structure of the Institute and suggests reforms for the pension scheme, which is too generous compared to national and international experience.

This report was commissioned by Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and carried out jointly by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Korea Energy Economics Institute. The objective of the study was to analyse market design improvements to enable achieving net zero in Korea's power sector, in accordance with the country's long-term decarbonisation objectives. For this the IEA devised a Korea Regional Power System Model to evaluate the emissions implications of the plans laid out in Korea’s 9th Basic Plan for Long-Term Electricity Supply and Demand and the Carbon Neutral Strategy published in 2021. The analysis includes a scenario elaborated by the IEA, based on the World Energy Outlook's Announced Pledges Scenario, to analyse potential for further market improvements. This analysis covers market improvements in areas such as carbon pricing, market price enhancements that better reward lowemissions technologies and security of supply, and market access reforms to ensure the participation of a wider range of new technologies and distributed energy resources.

This report presents progress made by OECD countries and other economies on their adherence to the 2015 Recommendation of the Council on Public Procurement. The Recommendation provides strategic guidance in addressing challenges encountered in public procurement and identifies good procurement practices in order to ensure a strategic and holistic use of public procurement. This report discusses the Recommendation's continued relevance, how widely it has been disseminated, and whether it requires updating or revision.

This report examines the difference in which public transport planning is undertaken and services are delivered. The report focuses primarily on urban public transport markets, with some consideration given to intercity markets. Case studies and examples address bus, tram, metro and urban or regional rail. It discusses how well different models of transport organisation deliver value for money, encourage and harness innovation, and help systems prepare for the challenges and opportunities on the horizon. Recommendations highlight the key main factors for successful reform of public transport systems.

Infrastructure sectors -- particularly railroads, telecommunications, electricity and natural gas -- are vital in providing necessities of life to the Russian Federation’s citizens and key inputs into the rest of the economy. A top priority of the current government in Russia is to reform the infrastructure sectors, specifically in such sectors as rail transport and electric power, to create an efficient and effective regulatory regime that supports the creation of competition where possible and provides more effective protection to consumers in those spheres where competition is not possible. This book compiles the proceedings of four meetings held at the request of the Minister for Antimonopoly Policy of the Russian Federation, on the reform of railroads, telecommunications, electricity and natural gas, during December 2000-September 2001. This review is part of the OECD's ongoing co-operation with non-Member economies around the world.

This report assesses the state of Armenia’s sanitation services, which are in poor shape, and proposes ways forward for reforming the sector by: ensuring equitable access by all and identifying solutions that work for the poorest and most remote communities; generating economies of scale and scope, and reducing both investment and operational costs for the efficient delivery of sanitation services; and moving towards sustainable cost recovery for the sanitation sector, by identifying how much funding can be mobilised from within the sector and how much external transfers are required. The state of Armenia’s sanitation services are inadequate, with 51% of the population in rural areas using unimproved facilities, causing direct damage to the environment and exposing inhabitants to health risks, and better access but degraded sewerage-system infrastructure in urban areas, posing health hazards due to potential cross-contamination between sewage and drinking water. According to preliminary estimates, EUR 2.6 billion of investments will be required to meet Armenia’s sanitation needs, with approximately EUR 1 billion needing to be spent in the next 7 to 10 years. Given the country’s current economic situation, this investment will have to be spread over time and targeted to avoid further deterioration of infrastructure and increase of the financing gap.

This report examines the economic principles for efficient systems of taxation and provides a framework for international comparisons of transport taxes and charges. It investigates the price and tax changes likely to result from the reform of transport charges to maximise efficiency, and their impact on motorists, hauliers and users of other transport services. The report also assesses the impact of national differences in taxation on the competitiveness of hauliers internationally.

This book reviews recent trends, reforms and lessons learned in the 29 OECD countries as they relate to ageing. Recent reforms have been driven mainly by fiscal factors - to adjust systems such as pensions and long-term care to the ageing of the baby boom generation. This remains a main concern in many countries. A new reform agenda is emerging, however, that marries fiscal objectives with broader social and economic policy goals. It focuses on active ageing, providing opportunities and incentives for people to contribute more actively in the labour market and society as they grow older. This involves slowing, or reversing, trends towards ever-longer periods of time spent in retirement. This agenda is associated with likely trends towards a more diversified system of retirement income in most OECD countries - with more reliance on private pensions and a likely increase of earnings as a source of income among older people. Familiar policy debates -- such as the balance between public and private pensions -- may need to be recast to take account of the likely future growth in the role of earnings in the retirement income system. Interesting new questions arise. In the longer-term future, what should be the role of government policy in influencing the balance between work and leisure in older years? What priority should be attached to policies that support very long periods of passivity in the last third of life?

Recent global changes have placed regional integration at the centre of Africa’s political and economic agenda. This Atlas is both a driver and the result of strategic thinking on regional integration in West Africa. Containing maps, statistics and analyses, it describes the West African region, its population, settlement, territories, its economy and its vulnerabilities. It analyses the developments and the ways in which West Africa is conforming to a constantly changing global environment. The Atlas also identifies the medium- and long-term trends and provides elements for strategic thinking on the future.