Browse by: "2005"
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One of the main challenges facing radiological protection experts is how to integrate radiological protection within modern concepts of and approaches to risk governance. It is within this context that the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) decided to develop new general recommendations to replace its Publication 60 recommendations of 1990. In the process of developing these new recommendations, the views of the ICRP have evolved significantly, largely due to stakeholder involvement that has been actively solicited by the ICRP. In this regard, it was upheld during the First Asian Regional Conference organised by the NEA in October 2002 that the implementation of the new system must allow for regional, societal and cultural differences.
In order to ensure appropriate consideration of these differences, the NEA organised the Second Asian Regional Conference on the Evolution of the System of Radiological Protection. Held in Tokyo on 28-29 July 2004, the conference included presentations by the ICRP Chair as well as by radiological experts from Australia, China, Japan and Korea. Within their specific cultural and socio-political milieu, Asia-Pacific and western ways of thought on how to improve the current system of radiological protection were presented and discussed. These ways of thinking, along with a summary of the conference results, are described in these proceedings.
This Review measures the level and composition of support to Brazilian agriculture, and evaluates the effectiveness of current measures in attaining their objectives. The study finds that Brazil provides much lower support to its agricultural sector than most OECD countries. However, a large and increasing share of that support is provided in the form of credit subsidies; support which could be more productively oriented to areas such as research and extension, training, and the development of rural infrastructure. A greater focus on such long-term investments could help Brazil to address the two major challenges confronting its agricultural sector: the need to sustain improvements in international competitiveness, and at the same time draw poor smallholders into the development process. At the international level, the report finds that, having substantially reformed its own agricultural policies, the main source of future benefits to Brazil will be reforms in other countries, where access to OECD country markets is the most important issue. Yet while trade liberalisation offers important benefits for the majority of households, those gains need to be placed in the context of the broader opportunities and adjustment pressures confronting both commercial farmers and smallholders.
The Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) has become a unique, worldwide programme on the protection of workers at nuclear power plants. It includes a vast network for exchanging experience in the area of occupational exposure management as well as the world's largest database on occupational exposure from nuclear power plants.
Each year, an ISOE international symposium offers a forum for radiation protection professionals from the nuclear industry, operating organisations and regulatory authorities to exchange information on practical experience with occupational radiation exposure issues in nuclear power plants. These proceedings summarise the presentations made at the 4 ISOE European Symposium on Occupational Exposure Management at Nuclear Power Plants, held in March 2004 in Lyon, France.
Accelerator-driven systems (ADS) are being considered for their potential use in the transmutation of radioactive waste. The performance of such hybrid nuclear systems depends to a large extent on the specification and reliability of high power accelerators, as well as the integration of the accelerator with spallation targets and sub-critical systems. At present, much R&D work is still required in order to demonstrate the desired capability of the system as a whole.
Accelerator scientists and reactor physicists from around the world gathered at an NEA workshop to discuss issues of common interest and to present the most recent achievements in their research. Discussions focused on accelerator reliability; target, window and coolant technology; sub-critical system design and ADS simulations; safety and control of ADS; and ADS experiments and test facilities. These proceedings contain the technical papers presented at the workshop as well as summaries of the working group discussions held. They will be of particular interest to scientists working on ADS development as well as on radioactive waste management issues in general.
This economic survey examines the key challenges facing the US economy including fiscal sustainability and budgetary discipline, fiscal relations across levels of government, adjustment of the current account, and labour market issues such as trade adjustment assistance and reducing work disincentives in programmes for the disabled. It also advocates strengthening the electricity grid and adopting economic instruments to curtail energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, which are high by international standards.
This report examines existing regulatory approaches and then explores how performance standards might be used to improve regulatory outcomes. Under a performance-based approach to regulation, standards would specify the performance required from vehicle operations rather than mandating how this level of performance is to be achieved. More flexible performance-based regulations provide for increased innovation and more rapid adoption of new technologies. The report explores the regulatory reform processes in some countries that have led to more direct, outcome-oriented approaches to regulating road transport vehicles.
This publication contains the proceedings of the World Forum on Key Indicators held in Palermo in November 2004. In it, statisticians from governmental statistical offices, international organisations, and academia explain why indicator systems are useful and how statistics can be used, how to implement systems related to different kinds of statistics, and what systems are already in place. This conference was the first co-ordinated world wide effort to study the development and implications of large-scale systems of public information for developed countries.
This book reviews Finland's success in achieving balanced development over the past decade and assesses the challenges that it faces in maintaining this success. Given intense competition in both ICT and more traditional product markets, as well as rapid ageing of the population, it looks at how Finland might maintain and enhance the competitiveness of the regions that are the nation's economic drivers and how the country can promote innovation and entrepreneurship in intermediate cities particularly vulnerable to low cost competition. It also examines how Finland might facilitate growth in those regions that have potential for development, but so far have been less successful in exploiting their comparative advantages.
This report includes two main parts: the update presented by the government of Azerbaijan about national actions to implement the recommendations, which were carried out since the previous update in December 2004; the summary of the expert opinion by Goran Klemencic, Slovenia, and Valts Kalnins, Latvia, and of the discussion, which took place at the Istanbul Action Plan meeting on 20-21 October 2005, Paris, France.
Mobilising private investment is recognised as a priority area for development so that poor countries are not left further behind. But reaping the maximum benefits of investment is not automatic. Policies matter too. A key challenge, therefore, is how to frame investment policies in a way that supports and reinforces economic development. In this respect, OECD Investment Committee co-operation activities with non-member economies aim to promote private investment, both foreign and domestic, and to create the policy environments needed to unleash the full benefits from investment, in terms of economic growth, poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Investment for Development provides a record of the OECD Investment Committee's co-operation programmes with non-member economies and their results. These extensive co-operation activities are organised around three dimensions: global events, regional initiatives and dialogue with individual countries. This report documents how these initiatives help to strengthen implementation capacities and best practices among non-members, drawing on the broad applicability of the principles and expertise the OECD has developed in the area of international investment, including the positive contribution of responsible international business.
Host countries are not alone in advancing this agenda. Home countries have a key role to play too. One example is the role of official development assistance in mobilising private investment. Investment for Development includes a report that identifies policy lessons and the analytical evidence that underpins them.
This volume tests the relevance and usefulness of guarantees to public and private actors in developing countries, especially for funding development projects. Not to be confused with export credit guarantees usually accorded to nationals with the aim of stimulating exports and overseas investment, development guarantees are destined for actors in emerging or developing economies where risk is a deterrent to lending or investment.
The presence of guarantees from multilateral or bilateral agencies can encourage financial flows either to increase or to go where they otherwise might not. In this way, they can have a positive effect on sovereign ratings as well as their immediate direct effect on the local development environment. As a bonus, this study finds, development guarantees can help stimulate and stabilise local capital markets, thus providing future benefits for both public and private investors.
“A timely book, throwing urgently-needed light on this little-understood topic, which could be a vital key to economic progress in developing countries. With my deep congratulations to the author.”
--Michel Camdessus, Honorary Governor of the Banque de France,
formerly Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund)
Cet ouvrage évalue la pertinence et l’utilité des garanties accordées aux acteurs publics et privés de pays en développement, en particulier pour le financement de projets de développement. A la différence des garanties de crédit à l’exportation, qui sont généralement octroyées à des ressortissants nationaux afin de stimuler les exportations et les investissements à l’étranger, les garanties à l’appui du développement sont destinées à des acteurs de pays émergents ou en développement où le niveau de risque est tel qu’il décourage prêteurs et investisseurs.
L’existence d’une garantie émanant d’un organisme multilatéral ou bilatéral peut favoriser un accroissement des flux financiers ou inciter les capitaux à aller se placer là où ils n’auraient peut-être pas été autrement. Par ce biais, les garanties peuvent contribuer à améliorer la cote d’un pays, sans compter leur effet direct immédiat sur les conditions locales de développement. En prime, comme le montre cette étude, les garanties en faveur du développement peuvent contribuer à stimuler et stabiliser les marchés locaux des capitaux, avec les avantages ultérieurs qui en résultent pour les investisseurs, publics et privés.
« Ce livre apporte à point nommé un éclairage aussi urgent que nécessaire sur une des clés essentielles, bien qu'assez mal appréhendée, du progrès économique dans les pays en développement. J'en félicite profondément l'auteur. »
Michel Camdessus (gouverneur honoraire de la Banque de France, ancien directeur général du Fonds monétaire international)
L’édition 2005 de l’Étude économique de l’OCDE sur le Danemark, où la distribution du revenu est la plus équitable de la zone OCDE et les revenus parmi les plus élevés, est axée sur le maintien de la croissance et sur la préservation du système de protection sociale en dépit du vieillissement rapide de la population. En particulier, elle analyse les réformes gouvernementales visant à favoriser la viabilité budgétaire et les réformes du travail destinées à stimuler l’offre de main d’oeuvre. Elle examine aussi comment le développement de la concurrence pourrait renforcer la croissance et l’amélioration du système éducatif accroître la productivité.
Cet ouvrage fait le bilan de deux décennies de modernisation du secteur public dans les pays de l’OCDE. Depuis une vingtaine d’années, on observe un afflux d’idées et d’initiatives nouvelles. Ont-elles donné des résultats concrets ? Ce rapport analyse les échecs et les réussites et met en évidence les défis à relever. Il examine certains leviers essentiels de la réforme de la gestion publique,