Browse by: "PRE-2003"
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Traditionally, pay analysis in the public sector has been based on cross section data, such as average or median wages. This study differs in that micro longitudinal data are used to explain and compare pay determination in the French and Italian civil services. Based on examples, the report presents different readings obtained from aggregate data and individual longitudinal data. It focuses on the weight of various components of human capital -- gender, age, year of birth, seniority, educational level -- on trends in civil servants' pay throughout working life. This type of analysis sheds new light in the area of human resource management in the civil service and, in particular, may be seen as a key tool for analysing gender pay discrimination.
Public service is a public trust. Citizens expect public servants to serve the public interest with fairness and to manage public resources properly on a daily basis. Fair and reliable public services inspire public trust and create a favourable environment for businesses, thus contributing to well-functioning markets and economic growth. Public ethics are a prerequisite to public trust and a keystone of good governance.
At a time when there is a growing consensus among governments on what should constitute the essential elements of an effective and comprehensive ethics strategy, this book constitutes a unique source of comparative information on ethics management measures in OECD countries. It is designed to facilitate mutual learning and to support the development of modern ethics strategies in both OECD and non-member countries, by providing, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of ethics measures in all 29 OECD countries, including overall trends and promising practices.
Controlling public spending is a priority for OECD countries. Salary policy in the public sector is therefore of particular concern. This new annual report analyses recent trends in public sector pay in OECD countries. It examines the links between public expenditure and public sector compensation costs, and presents recent developments in pay determination systems in the public sector. It provides information on the level and the components of individual remuneration for a typical employee in ten selected occupations, and identifies various mechanisms implemented in countries to make individual pay more flexible. Every year, a chapter focusing on a specific experience in the public sector pay area will be added. This report should be of particular interest to public officials responsible for defining, implementing and monitoring pay policy in the public sector and to experts in pay determination systems, employment systems and industrial relations in the public and private sectors.
As trade barriers at the border have fallen through successive trade negotiations, domestic regulation has emerged as a source of residual but potentially significant trade barriers. Recognising the importance of participating in intensified global competition, countries increasingly see regulatory reform as an inescapable policy to ensure that the expected benefits of globalisation are realised and that differences in national regulatory systems do not become barriers to international trade and investment. In this light, OECD has undertaken a broad-ranging project on regulatory reform, for which market openness is seen as a key objective.
The papers collected in this volume were presented at a workshop at OECD that aimed to share national experiences of regulatory reform and trade and to foster consensus-building on best practices. Such practices include enhanced transparency, non-discriminatory due process, independence of regulators and active implementation of competition policy. Other issues raised at the workshop included the challenges for developing countries in pursuing regulatory reform and enhancing market openness, and insights for multilateral trading rule-making emerging from country experiences.
The discussions reveal the pervasiveness of the issues raised at the workshop. In examining the recent development of regulatory issues in trade policy making, this volume brings new light to experiences in some parts of Asia and the Western hemisphere as well as to the growing links among trade, regulation and governance.
The links between trade policy and competition policy have become more important in recent years. With tariff reductions, trade negotiators are looking increasingly at non-border policies that distort trade and at non-governmental barriers to trade. And, as official barriers to trade and investment fall, firms may have a greater incentive to engage in anti-competitive conduct to protect markets. Hence the need for coherent trade and competition policies. Trade and competition policies each seek to improve the allocation of resources; they complement and reinforce each other. These papers from the OECD Joint Group on Trade and competition examine aspects of those complementarities and relationships and in so doing draw on the OECD’s capacity to analyse questions in a multidisciplinary way. This book -- which includes a whole chapter on the telecommunications sector -- throws new light on all these issues in the lead up to the WTO's new round of negotiations. But whatever the outcome of Seattle, the questions raised in this volume will remain relevant.
The OECD Joint Group on Trade and Competition was established in 1996 to help deepen understanding of the complex issues arising at the interface of these two policy domains against a globalising backdrop and explore how best to ensure that both sets of policies are mutually supportive in promoting greater economic efficiency. This publication, the third to arise from Joint Group activities, brings together a series of working papers that Member countries’ trade and competition authorities have considered during the past two years. The objective of the publication is to share with a broader audience the tangible progress made recently by the two communities in the analysis of important issues at the interface between trade and competition policies.
To further benefit from trade liberalisation, developed and developing countries must get their policies right, in trade and other spheres, such as the web of domestic regulations that affect commerce within and between countries. In the run-up to the November 1999 WTO Ministerial in Seattle, Washington, and a possible new round of multilateral trade negotiations, a Conference on trade and competition was held on 29-30 June 1999 at the OECD to explore the various options towards better coherence between trade and competition policies. This Conference provided OECD countries and 30 non-member countries, academics and representatives of business, trade unions and advocacy groups a unique opportunity to discuss ways to strengthen trade and competition policies in the interests of more open global markets. They examined the effects of trade measures on competition. They also debated whether private anticompetitive practices, and certain domestic regulations, point to the need for multilateral trade and competition rules. This publication summarises those discussions and includes keynote addresses by Sir Leon Brittan and U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Joel Klein, as well as an issues paper drafted by the OECD Secretariat to serve as a background note for the Conference.
There is an emerging consensus concerning a new strategic mode for spatial policy. In the past, planning resulted in zoned land uses characterised by a rigid separation of housing from leisure and workplaces. This strongly sectoral approach is breaking down under the pressure of environmental problems, technological innovations, and a societal demand for a higher quality of life. Spatial planning will increasingly involve broad framework policies at the national level, and strong partnerships at the local and regional level. This volume is based on two international seminars oranised by the OECD and the National Land Agency, Japan.
Over the last decade, labour market policy in the United States has been undergoing a period of significant restructuring. In the face of welfare reform initiatives, persistent unemployment and declines in real income among some groups (particularly the less skilled), and continued economic expansion, there is pressure on the public employment service (PES) to improve effectiveness. But, it must also come to terms with resource limitations.
How have reforms fared so far -- what seems to be working well or not so well? Which of the new approaches may require revision in the event of an economic downturn? Where might adjustments lead to improved effectiveness? While considering such questions, this publication provides an in-depth look at the PES and recent policy initiatives in the United States. Areas of concern about recent reforms are outlined and options for making policies more effective are presented.
Greece, Ireland and Portugal, on the periphery of Europe, are still influenced by a history of migration from agriculture to urban areas and to other countries, and have all received extensive assistance from the European Union's Structural Funds.
Which of these countries' varied, often innovative, strategies in relation to unemployment benefits, hiring subsidies and job creation measures, have been most effective? Employment services have taken on particular responsibility for training, but does this help the long-term unemployed? With a legacy of older workers who left school early, and continuing high levels of self-employment, how can placement performance be improved? This publication examines how the Public Employment Service can actively promote and manage transitions out of unemployment into market work, both directly and via labour market programmes.
This book shows hows how regulatory reform has produced substantial economic and social benefits for citizens by enhancing competition and reducing regulatory costs. It can boost efficiency, sharply reduce prices, stimulate innovation, and improve the ability of economies to adapt to change and remain competitive in global markets. Properly done, regulatory reform also can help governments promote other important policy goals, such as environmental quality, health, and safety. Finally, country experience shows that disruptions which can accompany reform can be addressed by complementary policies and actions. In this Report, the OECD calls for renewed attention to regulatory reform, and the recommendations in this Report constitute an ambitious plan for action. In May 1997, Ministers of OECD countries welcomed this Report and agreed to work to implement its recommendations in their countries.
In many OECD countries, issues in fiscal federalism feature prominently in the political debate. Policy discussions in this area should preferably be supported by internationally comparable statistical information on fiscal relations between levels of government, both in the areas of taxation and spending. The annual OECD Revenue Statistics publication reports tax revenues by sub-sector of general government. However, it does not indicate the degree of control state and local governments exercise over their tax revenues. Because such data are not available on an internationally comparable level from other sources, the OECD has developed a framework to assess and analyze the degree of control that sub-central governments have over their taxes.
Results shown in this book serve to illustrate the great variety in tax autonomy at the level of sub-central government. This volume contains a description of fiscal relations in most of the nineteen countries concerned and it provides a set of detailed tables for each country, with revenues split by 1) level of sub-central government; 2) OECD classification of taxes; and 3) category of tax autonomy, following the framework developed by the Working Party on Tax Policy Analysis and Tax Statistics.
Public sector reform requires internationally comparable statistics. This report explores several important aspects of currently available statistical sources on public sector employment. It examines who is responsible for collection, data collection methods, and available statistical publications. It also assesses the degree of similarity of national statistical concepts of the government sector, of comparability of national statistics across countries, and of adherence to international standards.
This study offers is a limited "snapshot" of basic pre-tax pay for senior civil servants. It does not cover other factors relating to total lifetime rewards, such as the rewards likely to be available on leaving public service employment; lifetime earnings in a career public service structure, and alternative employment opportunities in the public and private sector for senior public servants. For cross-national comparison, pay levels have been expressed in purchasing power parities in US dollar equivalents.
Public utility industries, once regarded as monolithic monopolies, in fact are made up of many separate activities, many of which can sustain effective competition. But owners of bottleneck facilities are often in a position to restrict or limit the growth of competition. There is a growing realisation that fundamental structural changes are often necessary if the full benefits of competition are to be achieved for users and consumers.
This publication explores the nature and impact of rules which affect the structure of public utility industries. It covers not only the theory behind different forms of separation but also practical experience in a wide variety of countries and sectors (railways, electricity, postal services, telecommunications, gas, air services, and maritime transport). It also contains the new OECD Recommendation on Structural Separation of Regulated Industries, which urges Member countries to consider separating the monopoly and the competitive parts of regulated industries, especially during the process of privatisation or liberalisation.
As border barriers to international trade and investment continue to be reduced thanks to liberalisation efforts, "behind-the-border" barriers -- which are typically regulations aiming at achieving domestic objectives such as health, safety, environmental or consumer protection -- are increasingly recognised as impeding trade and competition. The OECD project on regulatory reform has undertaken to tackle these new trade problems. This Workshop is aimed at expanding the horizon to dynamic economies outside the OECD area, particularly those in Asia and Latin America. What are the regulatory reform challenges for those economies, and how can they remain competitive in a global economy? How effectively can international mechanisms help them? The discussion revealed that regulatory reform has undoubtedly become a truly "global issue". This proceedings volume examines the role regulatory failures played in Asia's economic crisis, looks at regional trade groupings such as Mercosur and sheds light on the current international debate on food regulation as well as on the latest developments concerning the Information Technology Agreeement (ITA).
In the past 20 years, few reforms of the public sector have received more attention, and stimulated more controversy, than the reforms made to regulation making and regulatory management. The rise of regulatory policies -explicit policies aimed at continuously improving the quality of the regulatory environment -- shows how early notions of "deregulation" or "cutting red tape" quickly gave way to a central "good governance" notion. This notion is based on an understanding of how regulatory practices can substantially improve market performance, public sector effectiveness and citizens’ satisfaction, through a mix or deregulation, re-regulation and better quality regulation, backed up by new or improved institutions.
Regulatory Policies in OECD Countries documents the development and emergence of that understanding. It describes the "state of play" in the regulatory policy agenda in OECD countries, and identifies the key challenges facing regulatory practitioners in the future.
This is the first report to look across the OECD membership at how regulatory impact analysis is actually designed and carried out. Concrete "best practices" are identified in areas such as improving the capacity of government to produce high-quality analysis, applying analytical methods including benefit-cost analysis, collecting data, and consulting with the public to ensure that estimates are realistic.
This report examines the impact of policy interdependence on how governments regulate. It has two purposes. The first is to understand better the dynamics of thc emerging multi-governmental regulatory system, and the relationships, institutions, and processes that comprise its working parts. The second is to suggest practical approaches by which national governments can establish solid managerial and administrative foundations for regulatory co-operation, within thc constraints of democratic and open government. The chapters in the report are based on papers prepared for an OECD Symposium on ‘‘Managing Regulatory Relations Between Levels of Government” held in October 1993, and on discussions at the Symposium.