Browse by: "2007"

This Round Table examines the basic case for liberalisation of the taxi industry, and reviews experiences with taxi (de-)regulation in OECD and ECMT member countries. There are a number of aspects to regulation of the taxi industry including entry, price and service quality regulation. The discussions of these aspects concluded that little empirical evidence supported the argument that entry restrictions improved capacity utilisation. On the contrary, the case could be made that increased entry and associated economies of density, as well as shorter passenger waiting times, warranted subsidies for entry.

Cutting red tape and improving business conditions have become a priority in OECD countries. This study of the Netherlands, one of the front runners in the field, is the first OECD review of a national programme for administrative simplification. The report describes the key features of the Dutch programme including the measurement of burdens, the use of incentives and targets, and whole-of-government co-ordination. The OECD assessment of the success of the Dutch programme is based on comparisons with other countries, and on evidence of the economic impact of reforms. The report explores options for future work on administrative simplification relevant to OECD countries, highlighting the need to communicate better with stakeholders, cover compliance costs for business more broadly, and look at burdens on citizens and administrations.

This fact-filled reference book brings the reader the latest available economic information for most of the economies of Africa.  Drawing on the expertise of both the African Development Bank and the OECD, it opens with an overview that examines the international environment, macroeconomic performance, progress towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals, and governance and political issues. This edition includes a special section on water and sanitation. The second part provides individual country reports for 30 countries.  Each country report provides an assessment of recent economic performance, projections for 2006 and 2007, an examination of structural issues, and a discussion of the political and social context.  The statistical annex presents 24 tables comparing economic and social variables across all the countries of Africa.

Government workforces are ageing even more rapidly than the rest of society. This raises specific challenges and opportunities. An ageing public service increases fiscal burdens while decreasing immediate capacities to deliver services. In the long run, however, it also offers a strategic opportunity to downsize the public sector workforce if necessary and to change employment conditions and the management of government employees where this is deemed reasonable. This book reviews the experience of 9 OECD member countries in this field. It presents some conclusions on strategies that countries could implement in order to adjust their human resource policies to the wider ageing challenge. 

The agricultural sector and related support policies of many OECD trading partners are changing rapidly. This report monitors agricultural policy developments in Brazil, Bulgaria, China, India, Romania, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine following the same approach applied to OECD countries, providing a common benchmark for evaluating reforms and for facilitating international dialogue.  A comprehensive statistical annex containing a wide range of contextual information for these countries is also included.  This book includes StatLinks, URLs under tables and graphs linking to Excel® spreadsheet files containing the underlying data.

This book is a unique source of up-to-date estimates of support to agriculture. Separate chapters describe and evaluate agricultural policies in each OECD country, including such important developments as the introduction of the single-payment scheme in the EU. This edition also includes a special chapter describing the revised method of estimating support to agriculture used for the first time in this report.

This report investigates the potential for harmonisation of test methods for antimicrobial biocides used in treated articles/materials. It analyses and assesses current protocols to develop harmonised test methods and performance standards for the efficacy testing of biocides used in treated articles.

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are recommendations to international business for conduct in such areas as labour, environment, consumer protection and the fight against corruption. The recommendations are made by the adhering governments and, although not binding, governments are committed to promoting their observance.  This Annual Report provides an account of the actions the 39 adhering governments have taken over the 12 months to June 2007 to enhance the contribution of the Guidelines to the improved functioning of the global economy. This edition of the annual report focuses on corporate responsibility in the financial sector.

Over the last decade, societies have come to realize the extent to which corruption and bribery have undermined their welfare and stability. Governments, the private sector, and civil society alike have consequently declared the fight against corruption to be of the highest priority.

This monitoring report presents the assessment of the measures taken by the Kazakhstan to implement the recommendations for reforming its anti-corruption legislation and institutions received in October 2005 under the OECD Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan.

This monitoring report presents the assessment of the measures taken by Kyrgyzstan to implement the recommendations for reforming its anti-corruption legislation and institutions received in December 2004 under the OECD Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan

As Asian markets are now increasingly integrated in the world economy their domestic insolvency systems need to meet the expectations of international investors and lenders. Many Asian jurisdictions are responding by reforming  insolvency laws, introducing new procedures and strengthening institutions, but others are much less active. This conference proceedings includes papers showing how far various Asian countries have come in building effective and predictable insolvency systems and shows to what extent their systems provide confidence to investors and lenders.

Launched in 1998, the latest edition of this series (formerly entitled Benefit Systems and Work Incentives) provides detailed descriptions of all cash benefits available to those in and out of work as well as the taxes they are liable to pay across OECD countries. A special chapter also compares childcare costs across countries and the financial work incentives faced by parents of young children. Using the OECD tax-benefit models, total household incomes and their components are calculated for a range of family types and employment situations. The results are used to examine financial incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, as well as the extent to which social benefits prevent income poverty for those without a job. This volume presents results for 2005 and earlier years.

This joint OECD-World Bank stocktaking exercise of social accountability (SA) initiatives in OECD member countries contributes to the global exchange of policy relevant knowledge. The stocktaking exercise produced 40 templates detailing social accountability initiatives in 27 OECD countries and the European Commission. Cases were selected on the basis of their focus and level, and potential transferability of their policy lessons.

Public works contracts mean big business. From road-building to high-tech communication infrastructure, public procurement averages 15% of GDP in OECD countries--substantially more in non-OECD economies--and it is a major factor in the world trade of goods and services. Given the growing complexity of bribe schemes in today’s globalised markets, the problem is how to identify corruption in public procurement so governments can work toward effective prevention and apply sanctions if necessary. This report provides insights on all three fronts. Based on contributions from law enforcement and procurement specialists, the report describes how bribery is committed through the various stages of government purchasing; how bribery in public procurement is related to other crimes, such as fraud and money laundering; and how to prevent and sanction such crimes. The typical motivations and conduct of the various actors engaging in corruption are also highlighted, as well as ten case studies.

The analysis of the inner workings of the firm has been largely absent from economic assessments of environmental policy. In an effort to partly fill this vacuum, this book summarises the results of an OECD project which collected and analysed data from over 4,000 facilities in seven OECD countries. Issues addressed include the role of 'flexible' policy instruments in encouraging clean production strategies and environmental research and development; the effectiveness of different environmental policy incentives on the introduction of environmental management systems and tools; and the relationship between environmental and commercial performance.

The days when it was thought that the development process could and should be managed by governments alone are long past. The challenge today is how to involve other parts of society such as the private sector and NGOs. This book details the activities of the private sector in developing and emerging economies and demonstrates how these activities are inter-related with government policies. Understanding these activities and public-private interactions is indispensable for the private sector to play its full role in a nation's development process. To this end, several case studies provide concrete examples from Africa, Asia and elsewhere.