Browse by: "2005"
Index
Index par titre
Index par année
Governments of developed nations use a variety of policy instruments to enhance university research and knowledge transfer capabilities. These include advocacy, persuasion and information; consultation and committees of enquiry; creation of major research centres and commercialisation agencies, and investment in research infrastructure; grants, subsidies and other financial incentives; and legislation and regulation. Comparatively little is known, however, about which instruments work best and in what situations, and why some instruments are chosen over others. Little also is known about who the main beneficiaries are of different programs and to what extent program proliferation, often with numerous different agencies involved, leads to duplication and inefficiencies, and works against national R&D priority-setting efforts.
Les gouvernements des pays développés utilisent une gamme étendue d’outils politiques pour favoriser la recherche universitaire et les transferts de savoir. Parmi ces outils on trouve notamment la sensibilisation, la persuasion et l’information ; la consultation et les comités d’enquête, la création de grands pôles de recherche et d’organismes de commercialisation, et l’investissement en infrastructures dédiés à la recherche ; bourses ; subventions et autres aides financières ; législation et régulation. Cependant, l'information, est relativement limitée en ce qui concerne les outils politiques qui produisent les meilleurs résultats, le contexte dans lequel ils produisent ces résultats, et on ignore pourquoi certains outils sont choisis plutôt que d’autres. Par ailleurs, on ne sait pas très bien qui sont les principaux bénéficiaires des différents programmes, ni dans quelle mesure la prolifération de programmes, souvent associés à une multiplicité d’agences entraîne des dédoublements et des inefficacités et va à l’encontre des priorités établies par les gouvernements en matière de R-D de recherche et développement.
The national referendum on the introduction of a distance-related fee for heavy goods vehicles (HVF) was one of the most controversial referenda Switzerland has ever seen. This is not surprising inasmuch as the HVF was considered as a new tax affecting – at least indirectly – almost all citizens. What is astonishing, at least at first sight, is the fact that a clear majority of 57% voted in favour of the new fee. The question is why a population which is neither fond of new taxes nor known for being particularly progressive accepted a new fee.
The present study tries to highlight the reasons for the outcome of the vote. The study is part of an OECD-wide project on how obstacles to the introduction of economic instruments that could promote sustainable development have been overcome. It is a project undertaken under the auspices of the OECD’s “Joint Meetings of Tax and Environment Experts” which mainly comprise delegates from the Ministries of Finance and the Environment in member countries. The project aims to obtain a clearer picture of both the drivers that helped to facilitate the introduction of the fee and those that could have prevented it. In addition, the case study is to evaluate the economic efficiency and the environmental effectiveness of the fee.