Browse by: "2008"

Over the past 20 years, the management of the public service has changed tremendously in most OECD countries. First, governments have tried to reduce the size of their public employment to decrease the costs of producing government services, either directly or indirectly by contracting out the production of services to the private sector under the assumption that it would be more efficient. Second, in many cases, governments have tried to apply general good management principles to the management of public employees. As a consequence, many areas of public employment have lost their uniqueness and have become quite similar to the general employment system in the different countries. This book takes stock of the main changes in the management of public services across OECD countries. It also examines how countries manage to find a balance between, on the one hand, attention to fundamental values such as fairness, equity, justice and social cohesion to maintain political confidence in the government system as a whole and, on the other hand, a focus on efficiency, productivity and effectiveness.

Corruption is a serious concern in many parts of the world. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, transition processes provided particularly rich ground for corruption. This volume analyses a broad range of anti-corruption measures recently implemented in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and identifies where interim progress has been achieved, and where further or reinforced action is needed. The book covers such areas as: anti-corruption strategies, and action plans and mechanisms to monitor their implementation; as well as anti-corruption criminal legislation and its application in practice, including the key role of specialised, independent and well-resourced anti-corruption law-enforcement bodies. The volume also examines a diverse range of measures to prevent corruption among public officials, in political parties, and in the private sector. It  is rich with country data and practical examples, and will provide a useful source of information for anti-corruption decision makers and practitioners in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and beyond. 

The OECD has collectively underlined the importance of a high quality regulatory environment since the mid 1990s when the Council adopted the 1995 Recommendation on Improving the Quality of Government Regulation and its checklist as the first international standard on regulatory quality, and the 1997 Report on Regulatory Reform and its Principles of good regulation.
Since 1997, the OECD has carried out a series of country reviews based on the Principles, which have documented progress in the reviewed countries. Twenty OECD countries have been reviewed. The reviews have been multidisciplinary, covering the broader economic context, competition policy, market openness, sectoral reforms and not least, the development of regulatory policies, institutions and tools to build up capacities for a high quality rule-making environment supportive of economic growth and specific policy goals. This work has been complemented by the specific research of the OECD secretariat and others on issues such as the link between product market reforms and economic performance. Ample material is now available to take stock of the progress made in OECD countries and to reflect on the continued relevance of the 1997 Principles.
This report integrates more detailed papers prepared for the committees and working parties responsible for regulatory management, competition policy and trade, as well as relevant papers prepared for the Economic Policy Committee.

The debate about how to achieve value for money in the delivery of government services is ongoing. Increasingly, public services are being produced, procured and delivered to citizens by public-private partnerships. This book highlights ten good practices, summarising what countries should consider before entering into public-private partnerships (PPPs). These include affordability, value for money, budget scoring and accounting treatment, dealing with liabilities (contingent or explicit), and regulatory and institutional governance issues. The book also discusses the important questions of risk – both financial and political – and of how to measure the performance of a public-private partnership to ensure its continued value to society. Drawing upon country examples within and outside the OECD area, this book will help governments and the public to come to grips with this complex mechanism and its impact on public finances as well as on the definition of the boundaries between the state and the market.

Belgian citizens want the look and feel of a single public sector entity and the provision of integrated e-government services customised to their needs rather than to have to understand the complex division of governmental responsibilities. Belgium already has internationally recognised examples to show: most importantly the transformation of the social sector administration through e-governance tools, and more recently the link of e-government services to administrative-burden reduction. Future transformation will be enabled by the common electronic identity card (eID) that has been adopted by all governments. This report shows that the development and provision of the next generation of user-focused services will require the maximisation of synergies between the federal, regional and community governments and local authorities in Belgium.

In order to curb rising unemployment and to upgrade low value-added activities, the competitive edge lost in low-cost labour must be earned back through education and innovation. Regional policy stands as a key tool to achieve this shift in a relatively small yet diverse country with moderate economic growth and limited public spending capacity. This report analyses how a paradigm shift in regional policy, building on the knowledge of both public and private stakeholders in specific regions (ranging from dynamic urban areas on the coast to lagging inland areas), could help Portugal fully exploit its potential for sustainable development.

Although Poland has managed to maintain high growth levels since the mid-1990s, with the second-best performance in the OECD in 2006-07, territorial disparities are persistent and rising, especially between large urban areas and rural ones. Like many OECD countries, Poland must seek to achieve an appropriate balance between support for poles of growth and the development of lagging regions, particularly its eastern peripheral regions, which are among the poorest in the European Union. This report explores the various challenges and opportunities for Polish regional development policy, and provides recommendations to best design and implement the policy mix, looking in particular at governance challenges.

Few other countries feature the combination of very low population densities and difficult topography that hinders communication, in addition to a variety of contrasting climates. But the “Nordic welfare model” strives, with a good degree of success, to offer equal living conditions to all citizens by providing proper access to quality public services across the country. This comes, however, at great cost. This publication asks whether such a model can be sustainable in the long run, when population ageing and the reduction of petroleum reserves will reduce the leeway that the rapidly growing economy offers.  It examines whether competitiveness and innovation could be further developed, given the high share of resource-based and traditional activities and whether urban policy could be better integrated into regional policy so as to better harness the energy of regional growth engines in different areas of the country, including the northern most parts. Lastly, it looks at whether impending regional reform could facilitate the necessary adaptations by transferring more power to regional councils.