Browse by: "2017"

Financial reporting is one of the foundations of good fiscal management. High-quality financial reports are essential to ensure that a government’s fiscal decisions are based on the most up-to-date and accurate understanding of its financial position. Financial reports are also the mechanism through which legislatures, auditors, and the public at large hold governments accountable for their financial performance. Over the past two decades, a growing number of governments have begun moving away from pure cash accounting toward accrual accounting to improve transparency and accountability and better inform fiscal decision making. This study reviews and compares accounting and budgeting practices at the national government level in OECD countries. It also discusses both the challenges and benefits of accruals reforms. Finally, it looks at some steps countries are taking to make better use of accrual information in the future. This is a joint publication with the International Federation of Accountants and the OECD.

This review introduces the background to and issues at stake in promoting equal partnerships in families in Germany.  It encourages German policy makers to build on the important reforms since the mid-2000s to enable both fathers and mothers to have careers and children, and urges families to “dare to share”. To those ends it places Germany’s experience in an international comparison, and draws from the experience in, for example, France and the Nordic countries which have longstanding policies to support work-life balance and strengthen gender equality. The review starts with an overview chapter also explaining why and how equal sharing pays for families, children, the economy and society as a whole. The book presents current outcomes, policy trends, as well as detailed analysis of the drivers of paid and unpaid work and how more equal partnerships in families may help sustain fertility rates.  The book examines policies to promote partnership, looking both at persistent shortcomings and progress achieved through reform since the mid-2000s. The book includes a set of policy recommendations designed to enable parents to share work and family responsibilities more equally.

The OECD’s New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) initiative invited experts from inside and outside the Organisation to discuss complexity theory as a means to better understand the interconnected nature of the trends and influences shaping our socio-economic environment. Their contributions, brought together here, examine the assumptions, strengths and shortcomings of traditional models, and propose a way to build new ones that would take into account factors such as psychology, history and culture neglected by these models. The authors concentrate on the discipline of economics as such; the financial system; and applications of complexity theory to policy making and governance. They argue that a new narrative is needed to integrate the hopes, values, attitudes and behaviours of people into economics along with the facts and data economists are more used to dealing with.

Since joining the OECD in 1996, Korea has made impressive progress in raising living standards. Over 1996-2016, the country closed the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita gap with the OECD average by 26 percentage points. Vibrant exports underpinned strong economic growth, with Korea becoming the eighth largest exporter in the world. The country’s focus on innovation (its R&D spending is the second highest in the OECD) combined with its highly skilled population (it is among the top performers in the OECD’s Programme of International Student Assessment) supported this success. However, the convergence of Korea’s living standards to those in the most advanced countries has stalled in recent years. Output growth has slowed from 4.4% annually over 2001-10 to 2.8% since 2011. The country faces strong competition from emerging economies, notably the People’s Republic of China in low- and medium-end markets, and with advanced economies in high-end markets. This makes it more difficult for Korea to further expand its global market share.

The Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India is a bi-annual publication on regional economic growth, development and regional integration in Emerging Asia. It focuses on the economic conditions of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. It also addresses relevant economic issues in China and India to fully reflect economic developments in the region. The 2017 edition of the Outlook comprises four main parts, each highlighting a particular dimension of recent economic developments in the region. The first part presents the regional economic monitor, depicting the near-term and medium-term economic outlooks, as well as macroeconomic and regional integration challenges in the region. The second part discusses the recent progress made in key aspects of regional integration. The third part presents this edition's special focus: addressing energy challenges and renewable energy development in particular. The fourth part includes structural policy country notes offering specific recommendations.

Going for Growth is the OECD’s regular report on structural reforms in policy areas that have been identified as priorities to boost incomes in OECD and selected non-OECD countries (Argentina, Brazil, the People's Republic of China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Lithuania, the Russian Federation and South Africa). Policy priorities are updated every two years and presented in a full report, which includes individual country notes with detailed policy recommendations to address the priorities, as well as a follow-up on actions taken. The selection of priorities and the monitoring of reform actions are supported by internationally comparable indicators that enable countries to assess their economic performance and structural policies in a wide range of areas.

In addition to the new set of policy priorities and country notes, the 2017 report also includes a special chapter discussing how the Going for Growth framework has been extended to identify reform packages that boost growth while ensuring that the benefits are widely shared.

The publication is produced by the OECD-Eurostat Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme based on official statistics. The 2017 edition features a new trends chapter, which also introduces recent developments related to the emergence of the "gig economy" and the use of digital tools by micro-enterprises.

Recent years have seen a remarkable backlash against globalisation. The costs of increased openness and connectivity – including the consequences of trade and investment liberalisation – are weighted as never before against the benefits, with many voices advocating a slowdown or even a reversal of the global integration that has characterised the past three decades. While there are many economic, social and political reasons for this backlash, there is sufficient evidence showing that globalisation is leaving many people behind, particularly in the lower half of the income distribution, and especially in advanced countries. This backlash suggests that we need to act quickly to fix globalisation and make sure that its benefits are more equally shared. The consequences of a potential reversal of global integration could be dramatic: increased protectionism resulting in a net loss of wealth and opportunities and dangerous inward-looking policies that would put at risk many of the benefits achieved in the past decades.

Green growth policies need to be founded on a good understanding of the determinants of green growth and need to be supported with appropriate indicators to monitor progress. This book presents a selection of updated and new indicators that illustrate the progress that OECD and G20 countries have made since the 1990s. It updates the 2014 edition.

The 32nd issue of the International Productivity Monitor is a special issue produced in collaboration with the OECD. All articles published in this issue were selected from papers presented at the First Annual Conference of the OECD Global Forum on Productivity held in Lisbon, Portugal, July 7-8, 2016.
The Forum was established by a large group of OECD member countries in 2015 to provide a platform for the mutual exchange of information and international cooperation between public bodies with a responsibility for promoting productivity-enhancing policies. The primary purpose of the Forum is to shed light on the structural and policy drivers of productivity, especially in the context of the generalized slowdown in productivity growth affecting OECD countries. It helps generate synergies in policy-oriented research; share data, results and insights; and facilitate the diffusion of best policy practices leveraging on both cross-country analysis and country-specific experiences. To this end, the Forum organizes conferences and workshops connecting policy-makers, academics and other stakeholders and proposes and coordinates research programs in areas related to productivity, notably by encouraging collaboration with national experts, to extend and support work done at the OECD.

This report provides an assessment of how governments can generate inclusive economic growth in the short term, while making progress towards climate goals to secure sustainable long-term growth. It describes the development pathways required to meet the Paris Agreement objectives and underlines the value of well-aligned policy packages in mobilising investment and social support for the transition while enhancing growth. The report also sets out the structural, financial and political changes needed to enable the transition.

The National Accounts of OECD Countries, Financial Accounts includes financial transactions (both net acquisition of financial assets and net incurrence of liabilities), by institutional sector (non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households and non-profit institutions serving households, total economy and rest of the world) and by financial operation. Country tables are expressed in national currency. Data are based on the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) for all countries except Chile, Japan and Turkey which are presented on the basis of the 1993 SNA.

The National Accounts of OECD Countries, Financial Accounts includes financial transactions (both net acquisition of financial assets and net incurrence of liabilities), by institutional sector (non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households and non-profit institutions serving households, total economy and rest of the world) and by financial operation. Country tables are expressed in national currency. Data are based on the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) for all countries.

The National Accounts of OECD Countries, Financial Balance Sheets includes financial stocks (both financial assets and liabilities), by institutional sector (non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households and non-profit institutions serving households, total economy and rest of the world) and by financial instrument. Data are based on the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) for all countries except Chile, Japan and Turkey which are presented on the basis of the 1993 SNA.

The National Accounts of OECD Countries, Financial Balance Sheets includes financial stocks (both financial assets and liabilities), by institutional sector (non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households and non-profit institutions serving households, total economy and rest of the world) and by financial instrument. Data are based on the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) for all countries.

The 2016 edition of National Accounts of OECD Countries, General Government Accounts is an annual publication, dedicated to government finance which is based on the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008) for all countries except Chile, Japan and Turkey (SNA 1993). It includes tables showing government aggregates and balances for the production, income and financial accounts as well as detailed tax and social contribution receipts and a breakdown of expenditure of general government by function, according to the harmonised international classification, COFOG.