Browse by: "2009"

An epidemic of obesity has been developing in virtually all OECD countries over the last 30 years. Existing evidence provides strong suggestions that such epidemic has affected certain social groups more than others. In particular, education appears to be associated with a lower likelihood of obesity, especially among women. A range of analyses of health survey data from Australia, Canada, England and Korea were undertaken with the aim of exploring the relationship between education and obesity. The findings of these analyses show a broadly linear relationship between the number of years spent in full-time education and the probability of obesity, with most educated individuals displaying lower rates of the condition (the only exception being men in Korea). This suggests that marginal returns to education, in terms of reduction in obesity rates, are approximately constant throughout the education spectrum. The findings obtained confirm that the education gradient in obesity is stronger in women than in men. Differences between genders are minor in Australia and Canada, more pronounced in England and major in Korea. The causal nature of the link between education and obesity has not yet been proven with certainty; however, using data from France we were able to ascertain that the direction of causality appears to run mostly from education to obesity, as the strength of the association is only minimally affected when accounting for reduced educational opportunities for those who are obese in young age. Most of the effect of education on obesity is direct. Small components of the overall effect of education on obesity are mediated by an improved socio-economic status linked to higher levels of education, and by a higher level of education of other family members, associated with an individual’s own level of education. The positive effect of education on obesity is likely to be determined by at least three factors: (a) greater access to health-related information and improved ability to handle such information; (b) clearer perception of the risks associated with lifestyle choices; and, (c) improved self-control and consistency of preferences over time. However, it is not just the absolute level of education achieved by an individual that matters, but also how such level of education compares with that of the individual’s peers. The higher the individual’s education relative to his or her peers’, the lower is the probability of the individual being obese.

The aim of this report is to assist policy makers in providing an overview of how broadband physical coverage and availability can be measured. It first summarises what data are available from official and non-official sources. The approach taken by the report is to consider coverage and availability related to different types of technologies. These include Digital Subscriber Line (DSL or xDSL), cable networks (i.e. cable modem), Fibre to the Premises (i.e. FTTH/B for homes and businesses), 3G (including WCDMA and CDMA-2000), satellite and WiMAX technologies. This is because every technology capable of providing high speed Internet access involves specific issues when measuring coverage and availability. Accordingly, categorisation by technology is the most consistent way to approach this task. For every broadband technology, the available indicators will be presented, and this report discusses to what extent they are comparable. This report does not address metrics on the actual take-up of broadband services or penetration rates which are based on different measures and for which cross-country data are much more consistent. The report is aimed at providing information on the advantages and pitfalls of existing indicators used to measure broadband coverage. There is not necessarily a single indicator which should be used when assessing broadband coverage since this depends on what measures policy makers require: for example measuring the digital divide which may exist in a country, measuring the availability of broadband access for business, measuring broadband availability for residential customers, etc. There is no attempt in the paper to draw a conclusion as to the ideal indicator which should be used. However, it is important that OECD countries try to ensure a better consistency in the use of indicators to measure availability of broadband. The paper, in certain tables, lists all OECD countries even though they may be using different indicators to measure broadband coverage. The purpose in doing so is to show which indicators countries use and not to try and equate indicators that are by nature different.

This report makes a case for investment in a competitive, open-access national fibre-to-the-home network rollout based on potential spillovers in four key sectors of the economy: electricity, health, transportation and education. This research offers a new approach to evaluating the costs of building the most forward-looking network possible by evaluating what short-term cost savings (benefits) would have to be achieved in other key economic sectors to justify the investment. On average, a cost savings of between 0.5% and 1.5% in each of the four sectors over ten years resulting directly from the new broadband network platform could justify the cost of building a national point-to-point, fibre-to-the-home network.

Les banques japonaises ont été en grande partie épargnées par les effets directs de la crise financière mondiale, grâce à leur exposition limitée aux actifs toxiques étrangers, au cadre réglementaire en place au Japon et au rôle modeste de la titrisation. Néanmoins, la forte contraction de la production et la chute des cours des actions ont indéniablement eu des répercussions préjudiciables sur le secteur bancaire. Les autorités ont réagi en prenant des mesures pour stabiliser le marché financier, injecter des capitaux dans les établissements de dépôts et préserver le crédit aux petites entreprises. Ces mesures d'urgence devraient être démantelées progressivement afin de limiter les effets de distorsion qui en découlent, une fois que la reprise sera ancrée. Il est essentiel de moderniser le cadre réglementaire en améliorant la transparence des produits titrisés, le fonctionnement des agences de notation financières et les règles relatives aux fonds propres. Il importe également de remédier à des problèmes chroniques, dont la faible rentabilité des établissements financiers, en particulier des banques régionales, et de renforcer l'efficience du secteur financier. Cela passe par diverses mesures, notamment par la privatisation des établissements financiers publics, l'amélioration de l'efficacité des services bancaires, et le renforcement de la diversité et de la qualité des produits financiers.

Le Japon, pays où l’efficacité énergétique est relativement élevée, lutte activement contre le changement climatique. En vertu du Protocole de Kyoto, il s’est engagé à réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre de 6 % par rapport à 1990 sur la période 2008-12. En 2007, toutefois, ses émissions avaient augmenté de 9 %. Le Japon s’appuie essentiellement sur des mesures volontaires, qui sont contrôlées par le gouvernement, sans engagements contraignants ni signal-prix sur le carbone. Il doit absolument améliorer son cadre d’action pour pouvoir réaliser son objectif ambitieux à long terme d’une réduction des émissions de 60 à 80 % d’ici à 2050 de manière efficace par rapport au coût. Le Japon devrait passer de mesures volontaires à des instruments de marché, notamment un système d’échange de droits d’émissions obligatoire et complet, complété si nécessaire par des taxes carbone dans les secteurs non couverts, de façon à minimiser les coûts de dépollution et à encourager l’innovation dans la réduction des émissions. Le système d’échange devrait être relié à ceux d’autres pays, alors que le recours par le Japon à un Mécanisme pour un développement propre fonctionnant correctement devrait se développer. L’aide publique continue à la R-D en matière de technologies de réduction des émissions, particulièrement dans la recherche fondamentale, est importante.

Le système de santé japonais assure l’accès universel aux soins, contribuant à l’excellent état de santé de la population du pays. Le niveau des dépenses publiques a été maintenu au-dessous de la moyenne de l’OCDE en demandant aux assurés une participation élevée aux coûts et en réduisant les tarifs médicaux. Toutefois, comme les dépenses subissent toujours des pressions à la hausse, en partie du fait du vieillissement rapide de la population, il faut procéder à des réformes pour limiter leur accroissement par le biais d’une meilleure efficacité, tout en améliorant la qualité. Il est indispensable de transférer les soins de longue durée en dehors des hôpitaux, de réformer le système de rémunération en abandonnant le paiement à l’acte, de développer l’utilisation des médicaments génériques, d’encourager un vieillissement en bonne santé et de promouvoir la restructuration du secteur hospitalier. La qualité doit être améliorée en développant l’offre de nouveaux médicaments et dispositifs médicaux efficaces. Pour financer les dépenses supplémentaires, il importe de limiter la part assumée par les salariés de manière à éviter des retombées négatives sur le marché du travail. Le Japon devra peut-être permettre encore plus la facturation groupée pour améliorer l’accès à certains traitements médicaux de pointe.

Les prix du pétrole brut ont crû régulièrement depuis la fin des années 90, jusqu’à atteindre un plus haut historique à la mi-2008 et ont ensuite été suivi par une baisse significative puis un nouveau rebond. Ce document met en exergue les forces principales derrière cette évolution des prix du pétrole en utilisant comme référence un modèle simple d’élasticités de l’offre et de la demande. Ensuite sont mis en évidence les implications pour l’inflation et l’activité économique. Enfin des conclusions sont tirées pour la politique macroéconomique. L’analyse suggère que l’augmentation des prix du pétrole depuis 2003 provient à la fois d’une croissance dynamique de la demande de pétrole en provenance des marchés émergents, et depuis la seconde moitié de la décennie d’une réaction plus faible que prévue de l’offre de pétrole face à des prix en hausse. Il est peu probable que les prix retombent à des niveaux prévalant les premières années de cette décennie que ce soit dans le court ou le moyen terme.

Les prix d’un grand nombre de biens et de services en Belgique sont plus élevés que dans d’autres pays, signe de la faiblesse générale des pressions exercées par la concurrence. Le gouvernement a récemment introduit plusieurs réformes destinées à renforcer le cadre de la politique de concurrence. Néanmoins, pour tirer tout le profit de marchés concurrentiels, les réformes mises en oeuvre devraient être complétées par un certain nombre de mesures additionnelles. Les pouvoirs de l’Autorité de concurrence peuvent être encore renforcés. Son degré effectif d’indépendance (sensiblement rehaussé par la récente réforme) et son obligation de rendre compte devraient faire l’objet d’un suivi de manière à évaluer si de nouvelles mesures s’imposent à cet égard. Dans le commerce de détail, les réglementations restreignant la concurrence protègent toujours les entreprises en place contre l’arrivée de nouveaux concurrents et freinent la diffusion de nouveaux modèles économiques et de nouvelles technologies. Les efforts de réforme dans les industries de réseau demeurent parcellaires. Dans les secteurs de l’énergie et des télécommunications, les problèmes tiennent surtout aux positions dominantes des opérateurs historiques et à l’incapacité des autorités de régulation des industries de réseau à instaurer des conditions égales pour tous de manière à permettre l’arrivée de nouveaux concurrents et le développement de la concurrence. Dans d’autres secteurs, comme les services postaux et le transport ferroviaire, d’importantes mesures de libération sont toujours en attente. Globalement, les régulateurs sectoriels ont besoin de plus d’indépendance et de plus de pouvoirs pour contrer le comportement anticoncurrentiel des opérateurs historiques, et il est nécessaire d’améliorer la communication entre les autorités de régulation. Ces mesures devraient contribuer à assurer la base nécessaire pour porter la croissance de la productivité au meilleur niveau.

Cities represent a challenge and an opportunity for climate change policy. As the hubs of economic activity, cities generate the bulk of GHG emissions and are thus important to mitigation strategies. Urban planning will shape future trends and the concentration of population, socio-economic activity, poverty and infrastructure in urban areas translates into particular vulnerability to increased climate hazards. City governments and urban stakeholders will therefore be essential in the design and delivery of cost-effective adaptation policies. Further, by empowering local governments, national policies could leverage existing local experiments, accelerate policy responses, foster resource mobilization and engage local stakeholders. This paper presents a framework for multilevel governance, showing that advancing governance of climate change across all levels of government and relevant stakeholders is crucial to avoid policy gaps between local action plans and national policy frameworks (vertical integration) and to encourage cross-scale learning between relevant departments or institutions in local and regional governments (horizontal dimension). Vertical and horizontal integration allows two-way benefits: locally-led or bottom-up where local initiatives influence national action and nationally-led or top-down where enabling frameworks empower local players. The most promising frameworks combine the two into hybrid models of policy dialogue where the lessons learnt are used to modify and fine-tune enabling frameworks and disseminated horizontally, achieving more efficient local implementation of climate strategies.

Cet article présente une revue de la littérature consacrée au lien entre inégalités de revenu et bien-être subjectif. Elle résume les apports des études empiriques fondées sur l’exploitation des données subjectives disponibles dans les grandes enquêtes auprès de la population. Elle considère l’effet des écarts de revenu au sens étroit – comparaisons avec le revenu d’un groupe de référence – et au sens large – effet des inégalités de revenu en général. Les études relatives aux comparaisons de revenu mettent en lumière deux phénomènes différents : les effets de statut (envie), dont l’impact sur le bien-être subjectif est négatif, et les effets de signal, dont l’impact est positif. L’effet de signal est lié au contenu informationnel du revenu d’autrui ; il est d’autant plus important que les membres du groupe de référence partagent un grand nombre de caractéristiques productives, donc des perspectives professionnelles communes. Concernant la répartition générale des revenus dans la société, les travaux empiriques conduisent généralement à l’établissement d’une relation négative entre inégalité des revenus et bien-être subjectif. Les phénomènes en jeu sont multiples. Un premier type d’attitude vis-à-vis des inégalités de revenus relève de l’aversion au risque ou des perspectives de mobilité ascendante. Dans les deux cas, l’échelle des revenus est perçue par les individus d’un point de vue autocentré, en tant que chance d’ascension ou risque de chute. Cependant, un grand nombre de travaux empiriques suggère également l’existence de préférences concernant le revenu d’autrui. Plus précisément, l’attitude vis-à-vis des inégalités dépend de la conjonction entre les croyances et les préférences des agents concernant la formation des inégalités. La demande de redistribution est ainsi plus forte lorsque les agents expriment une préférence pour l’égalité des revenus ou des opportunités, mais estiment que cette égalité n’est pas réalisée dans les faits. Certaines études illustrent alors l’hétérogénéité des préférences et des croyances selon les pays et les groupes sociaux.

Trade can be a powerful engine for economic growth, poverty reduction, and development. However, harnessing the power of trade is often difficult for developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, because of supply-side domestic constraints (lack of trade-related infrastructure and capacity). The Aid for Trade Initiative was launched to address these constraints. This paper sets forth strategies to identify the most binding constraints to trade expansion so countries and donors can channel resources toward reforms and projects that have the largest effect. It shows that the four most common objectives of aid-for-trade projects (increasing trade, diversifying exports, maximizing the linkages with the domestic economy, and increasing adjustment capacity) have the potential to boost growth and reduce poverty in developing countries. However, the potential of trade may not be realized as developing countries often face binding constraints that prevent them from turning trade opportunities into trade, and trade into growth. First, they face difficulties turning trade opportunities into trade flows because of capacity constraints and lack of adequate trade-related infrastructure. Second, some domestic constraints choke the impact of trade expansion on economic growth. The paper focuses on the first set of constraints and presents various diagnostic tools available to identify them. These tools often pinpoint a long list of constraints. As all constraints cannot be addressed simultaneously, there is a need to identify the most binding ones in order to prioritize reforms. The paper suggests combining the different diagnostic tools in an appropriate framework to achieve this prioritization. An adaptation of the growth diagnostics— originally developed by Hausmann et al. (2005) for guiding growth strategies—can be such a framework. By shifting the focus from growth to trade, this framework can be readily adapted by local authorities and development practitioners.

The purpose of this article is to discuss how policies can affect investment in tertiary education in ways that would eliminate some of the perceived shortcomings of existing systems, while preserving or (preferably) enhancing equality of access to higher education.
To this end, the analysis focuses on the institutional set-up of tertiary education that provides incentives for supplying quality educational services; the private returns from higher education which act to attract prospective students; and, individual funding mechanisms to help overcome the liquidity constraints that may restrict participation in higher education. These mechanisms should also be designed so as to prevent uncertainty about future incomes from unduly deterring investment in tertiary studies by risk-averse individuals.

Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Romina Boarini, Hubert Strauss and Christine de la Maisonneuve

There has been a growing interest in the environmental impact of aviation, both in terms of noise and aircraft engine emissions. Discussions have included both mitigation measures and methods of internalisation of these environmental costs also described as the principle of polluter pays. This paper focuses on CO2 emissions from aircraft engines, which have both local and climate change implications, and where the emphasis of most recent discussions has centred. These have taken place at an international, regional and local level.

Definitions of high speed rail (HSR) differ, but a common one is rail systems which are designed for a maximum speed in excess of 250 kph (UIC, 2008). These speeds invariably involve the construction of new track, although trains used on them can also use existing tracks at reduced speeds. A number of countries have upgraded existing track for higher speed, with tilting technology on routes with a lot of curves. However such trains do not normally run at speeds above 200 km p h. Their rationale is to upgrade services at relatively low cost in countries which have sufficient capacity to cope with increased divergence of speeds on routes shared with all forms of traffic. Most of the countries which adopted this strategy initially, such as Britain and Sweden, are now considering building HSR. The only form of totally new technology that has come close to being implemented is maglev.

This paper reviews the potential benefits from separating cars and trucks onto different lanes or roads while treating road infrastructure as given. U.S. studies of mixed traffic operations, lane restrictions and differential speed limits do not provide consistent evidence whether separating cars and trucks either facilitates traffic flows or reduces accident rates. Analysis with an economic model reveals that the potential benefits depend on the relative volumes of cars and trucks, capacity indivisibilities and the impedance and safety hazard that each vehicle type imposes. Differentiated tolls can support efficient allocations of cars and trucks between lanes. Lane access restrictions are much more limited in effectiveness. Toll lanes that are dedicated to either cars or trucks are a potentially attractive hybrid policy. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technology can help to improve safety and travel time reliability, and help drivers select between tolled and untolled routes.

The concept of the general purpose (GP) lane has dominated modern highway thinking and practice in OECD countries, especially for limited-access highways such as inter-city motorways and urban expressways, whether tolled or non-tolled. This paper raises the question of whether, in some circumstances, specialized lanes for light vehicles (cars, vans and pickup trucks) and heavy vehicles (generally more than two axles) might be cost-effective.

This report has been prepared as part of the Improving Social Inclusion at the Local Level through the Social Economy (CFE/LEED (2008) 9/REV1) project in the framework of the Forum on Social Innovations. A team of OECD experts visited Poland in June 2009 for a five-day study visit, to examine the role, both real and potential, of the social economy, and the support which could be given to the social economy to allow it to fulfil its potential. Meetings were held with representatives from the voivodeships of Malopolskie, Mazowieckie and Swietokrzyskie. This report is based significantly on the available statistics and on material gathered from the study visit, as well as research conducted both prior to, and after, the study visit.

Transport, especially public transport has been at the centre of professional attention from time to time. Although the effect of transport innovation shortly appears and it works high effectively in public transport (as you think of the innovation of bus transport and its dynamic progression) the attention is not due to these results, but due to problems of public transport and to strains in its social contradictions. (Sometimes the transport innovation starts already in public transport sector system, for example innovation of subway and high speed train.) Economic crisis especially highlights social contradictions, when the market is decreasing and enterprises are struggling to survive or to hold monopoly status. New enterprises could go on the market or the existing ones could stay in competition only if they are able to influence and convince passengers to choose them “by getting on”. The third that benefits is often the individual transport, and behind the automobile industry with extended power and influence. My hypothesis is that public transport sector is economically very different to classical categories of market sector, while personal utility and real value do not determine the whole market (included supplies and demands) but the phenomena of pseudo market does it. The sustainability of public transport does not depend on the individual in the sense of passenger, but on the community and on the options of common weal of it. The Institution of Transport Sciences ((KTI)), which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2008, has been focusing on the market of public transport in the last 8 years, because strain of the market has been realized. The classical orientation of the institute, which was automobile transport and road research, has been widened with railway transport, transport policy and economics research.

The future of interurban public transport will be significantly affected by public sector decisions concerning investment in infrastructure, particularly the construction of new high-speed rail lines in medium-distance corridors where cars, buses, airplanes and conventional trains are the competing modes of transport. The distribution of traffic between the alternative modes of transport depends on the generalized prices, which fundamentally consist of costs, time and government’s pricing decisions. High-speed rail investment, financed by national governments and supranational institutions such as the European Union (EU), has drastically changed the previous equilibrium in the affected corridors. This paper discusses the economic rationale for allocating public money to the construction of high-speed rail infrastructure and how the present institutional design affects the selection of projects by national and regional governments, with deep long-term effects in these corridors and beyond.

This paper addresses the advocacy role that SEA can strategically play towards more sustainable and environmental decision-making and how this can be achieved. It discusses the required conditions for this performance and also the frustrations of SEA when such conditions are absent or insufficient. The paper shares the experience with the case of an SEA on the strategic decision on the location of the new international airport in Lisbon, particularly with respect to how SEA made a difference to infrastructure development decisions and the conditions that were met to make it possible.