Browse by: "2009"
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Allemagne
Jugement de la Cour Administrative Fédérale relatif aux supposées « Biblis-obligations » (2008)
Canada
La Cour du Banc de la Reine du Nouveau-Brunswick refuse la divulgation en vertu de la loi sur le droit à l’information de la province d’une étude de faisabilité sur l’énergie nucléaire (2008)
États-Unis
Jugement de la Cour fédérale relatif à l’interprétation du « Standard Contract » du Département de l’Énergie américain (2008)
Décision sommaire de la Cour d’Appel des États-Unis sur les demandes de révision des règlements de la Commission de la réglementation nucléaire (2008)
Unemployment in South Africa is extremely high and unevenly distributed, being concentrated among young less-skilled blacks. The legacies of apartheid can explain part of the increase in labour supply and inability of the economy to absorb it which produced the extreme levels of unemployment, but more could have been done to unwind those legacies and other policies and institutions have contributed to the dysfunction of the labour market. Notably, improvements in product market regulation to strengthen competition could help expand formal sector employment. Changes in municipal laws and regulations to ease migration and facilitate informal employment are also likely to be particularly important. Improving the implementation of employment protection legislation could also help reduce unemployment. Efforts to tackle crime could help reduce the brain drain and attract skilled immigrants, which would likely boost demand for less-skilled workers via complementarities. Over the longer term, improvements in basic education will be key to reducing the excess supply of less-skilled workers.
Different approaches to making the economic case for improved management of natural capital in national planning are reviewed in this report. In many low-income countries natural resources sectors (agriculture, mining, forestry, fishery, nature-based tourism) are identified as the engines of economic growth. However, a majority of the ecosystems on which human well-being depends are being degraded. The difficulties in providing economic and policy-relevant information about sustainable economic management of natural capital are often seen as an important reason for inadequate integration of the environment in macroeconomic and sector polices. The report concludes that the analysed country studies (Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Peru, Tajikistan and Uganda) mainly relied on existing domestic or international analytical work, used relatively basic calculations/data (such as the market value of fisheries, the value of timber sold etc.) and often formed part of a broader analytical effort.
Traditionally, the Norwegian compulsory education system has focused strongly on the linked goals of equal opportunities to learn, comprehensive and inclusive education. While some of these objectives have been met successfully, a number of educational outcomes, notably measures of pupil performance at the end of compulsory schooling, are unsatisfactory. Given the significant resources devoted to education, Norway’s modest performance on certain measures suggests that resources are used inefficiently. There are many possible routes to improve efficiency. This paper focuses on teaching quality, school autonomy, accountability and the level and composition of spending. Consistent policy actions should be taken in these areas, taking into account the multi–level structure of governance of the Norwegian education system.
This paper presents an evaluation of the tax-transfer treatment of married couples in 15 EU countries using the EUROMOD microsimulation model. First, we show that many tax-transfer schemes in Europe feature negative jointness defined as a situation where the tax rate on one person depends negatively on the earnings of the spouse. This stands in contrast to the previous literature on this question, which has focused on a specific form of positive jointness. The presence of negative jointness is driven by family-based and means-tested transfer programs combined with tax systems that usually feature very little jointness. Second, we consider the labour supply distortion on secondary earners relative to primary earners implied by the current tax-transfer systems, and study the welfare effects of small reforms that change the relative taxation of spouses. By adopting a small-reform methodology, it is possible to set out a simple analysis based on more realistic labour supply models than those considered in the existing literature. We present microsimulations showing that simple revenue-neutral reforms that lower the tax burden on secondary earners are associated with substantial welfare gains in most countries. Finally, we consider the tax-transfer implications of marriage and estimate the so-called marriage penalty. For most countries, we find large marriage penalties at the bottom of the distribution driven primarily by features of the transfer system.
Human capital – the productive capacity that is embedded in people – is one of the most important contributors to the growth in nations’ output and standard of living. Globalisation and technological change have increased the importance of human capital in recent years, to the point that there are now only two options to sustain high profits and high wages in developed nations: escalating the skill levels of individuals or developing superior capacity for managing those skills and “human capital” more broadly. Employers have responded to these new phenomena by increasing wages for employees with more skills and by increasing their use of downsizing and other methods (such as “offshoring”) intended to reduce labour costs. There is little evidence, however, that such efforts by employers have improved profits, productivity, or stock price performance. Employer-provided training for employees represents one method of improving the skill level of a nation’s workforce. Although long-standing economic theory suggests that existing incentives for employers and employees should naturally yield the delivery of an optimal level of training, there is new awareness of a variety of market failures that may be causing a sub-optimal level of training, despite evidence that points to a positive relationship between employer-provided training and firm outcomes (productivity, profitability, employee retention, customer retention, stock performance).
This paper provides a survey of recent developments in the reporting of intangible assets. It finds that rather than the wholesale restructuring of the accounting model that was proposed years ago, the trend has been to address gaps in reporting with new forms of reporting. New forms of reporting appear better suited to capture the type of information that users of intangibles data seek. Financial reporting standards continue to change both at the national and the international level with the result that they are better able to capture some types of intangibles data. Even so, some areas such as human capital remain difficult to reflect in traditional financial statements. Users interested in human capital information are much better served by reports that are tailored to their needs, and by reporting techniques that take into account the specificities of human capital. On the policy front, companies are receiving considerable encouragement to provide more information on the intangible drivers of corporate performance than ever before. In Europe, part of the impetus has been the Accounts Modernisation Directive, which requires an “enhanced director’s report” that can include a discussion of human capital to the extent that directors feel that it is important for a full understanding of the business and its performance.
Cet article étudie les défis de politiques économiques posés par la poursuite éventuelle au cours des deux prochaines décennies de l’intégration commerciale et financière internationales. Cette étude est fondée sur l’utilisation d’un modèle macroéconomique mondial récemment développé par l’OCDE.
L’analyse conduit à plusieurs implications politiques importantes. Tout d’abord, avec une part croissante des économies non membres de l’OCDE dans la production mondiale, le commerce et les marchés financiers, les changements économiques mondiaux deviendront beaucoup plus dépendants de ceux de ces économies. Ensuite, la soutenabilité des déséquilibres mondiaux des comptes courants existants dépendra en partie de la construction et de la composition futures des avoirs et engagements internationaux. Alors que les déséquilibres devraient être soutenables un certain temps si l’intégration économique continue à ce rythme, un ralentissement du processus de mondialisation augmenterait la possibilité d’un ajustement brutal des marchés financiers.
Enfin, l’accroissement des liens commerciaux et internationaux implique que les chocs macroéconomiques affectant un pays ou une région donnée auront dans le futur un impact plus fort sur les autres économies que maintenant. Les décideurs politiques des pays de l’OCDE devraient donc agir plus rapidement et plus fortement aux chocs économiques affectant les économies non membres de l’OCDE afin d’en limiter l’impact sur les économies membres.
Nous examinons dans cet article certains des changements qui pourraient se produire sur les marchés nationaux du travail de nombreux pays de l’OCDE en raison de l’internationalisation de la production des entreprises multinationales, en mettant plus particulièrement l’accent sur l’impact des flux d’investissement direct étranger (IDE) en provenance des pays de l’OCDE sur l’emploi dans le pays d’origine des entreprises investisseuses.
Les études existantes laissent à penser que l’effet global des échanges et de l’internationalisation de la production sur la situation d’ensemble du marché du travail a été relativement modeste, même si certaines catégories de qualifications et de professions ont été plus fortement touchées. Les résultats empiriques présentés dans cet article tendent à indiquer que l’impact global sur l’emploi des flux sortants d’IDE varie suivant les branches d’activité et les pays. En ce qui concerne les secteurs manufacturiers entretenant des liens commerciaux étroits avec les économies non membres de l’OCDE, certains éléments montrent que l’emploi intérieur est devenu plus sensible aux variations des coûts de main-d’œuvre dans le pays considéré.
À l’échelon national, nous parvenons à la conclusion que la croissance de l’investissement à l’étranger exerce un effet positif significatif sur la croissance de l’emploi intérieur aux États-Unis. À l’inverse, on constate l’existence d’une relation négative au Japon, en particulier pour les flux d’IDE à destination de la Chine.
Par Margit Molnar, Nigel Pain et Daria Taglioni.
This working paper provides input to the OECD Review of Innovation Policy for China (OECD, 2008), which was released in September 2008. Science and technology (S&T) have been pinpointed by the Chinese State Council as a key driving force for sustainable economic growth and the transformation of China into an innovation-oriented nation on the basis of the development of a national innovation system with strong indigenous innovation capacity. One of the targets set in the National Guidelines for the Medium- and Long-term Plan for Science and Technology Development (2006-20) is to raise the ratio of R&D to GDP to 2% by 2010 and to 2.5% or more by 2020. This is an extremely ambitious target, as it implies the need for R&D expenditure to increase by at least 10-15% annually.
The financial sector has emerged as the main economic engine over the past two decades. The comparative advantages of placing financial activities in Luxembourg have mostly been in terms of an adaptive legislative and regulatory framework and low taxation. As a result, Luxembourg is today one of the main international centres for investment funds. Besides the sector’s direct and indirect employment effects, the most important effect is the large tax revenue generating capacity of the sector, accounting directly for over 20% of aggregate tax revenues. On the other hand, these tax revenues are volatile as the sector is highly sensitive to developments in international financial markets. Indeed, past downturns in international financial markets have tended to lead to a sharp slowdown of growth in the economy as well as in revenues, pointing to potential large risks associated with the current turmoil in international financial markets. Besides these short-term considerations, a lower trend growth rate of the sector is likely over the medium term. The main activities of the sector are in middle and back offices dealing with financial administration which, with new IT technologies, will tend to be increasingly outsourced. At the same time, the sector is having problems in attracting highly specialised talent to enter higher value front office activities. Over the longer term, international competition will continue to exert pressures that may eventually erode Luxembourg’s position. The extent of the decline in the sector’s trend growth depends on the ability to maintain and expand the attractiveness of investing and working in Luxembourg. Achieving this will depend on being able to adjust tax, infrastructure, and housing policies to attract foreign talent while updating and increasing the transparency of financial sector regulation.
Le secteur financier a été le principal moteur de l'économie au cours des deux dernières décennies. Les avantages comparatifs du Luxembourg en matière d'activités financières résident essentiellement dans le caractère évolutif de son cadre législatif et réglementaire ainsi que dans le faible niveau de sa fiscalité. En conséquence, le Luxembourg est aujourd'hui un des principaux centres internationaux pour les fonds d'investissement. Au-delà des effets directs et indirects de ce secteur d'activité sur l'emploi, sa retombée la plus importante est l'ampleur des recettes fiscales qu'il permet aux pouvoirs publics d'engranger, puisqu'il représente directement plus de 20 % de l'ensemble des rentrées d'impôts. Cela dit, ces recettes fiscales sont très fluctuantes, dans la mesure où ce secteur est extrêmement sensible à l'évolution des marchés de capitaux internationaux. De fait, les contractions intervenues par le passé sur ces marchés ont eu tendance à entraîner un net ralentissement de la croissance de l'économie luxembourgeoise ainsi que des revenus du secteur financier, ce qui laisse à penser que les risques associés aux turbulences financières internationales actuelles sont très substantiels. Au-delà de ces considérations à court terme, le taux de croissance tendanciel du secteur va probablement diminuer à moyen terme. Les principales activités du secteur sont les prestations d'administration financière correspondant aux services de suivi de marché et de postmarché, que les nouvelles technologies de l'information permettront de délocaliser de plus en plus. Par ailleurs, le secteur a des difficultés à attirer des spécialistes hautement qualifiés pour prendre pied dans le domaine plus rémunérateur des activités de service de clientèle. À plus long terme, la concurrence internationale continuera à exercer des pressions qui pourraient finir par remettre en cause la position du Luxembourg. L'ampleur du déclin de la croissance tendancielle du secteur financier dépendra de la capacité du Luxembourg à préserver et renforcer l'attrait qu'il exerce sur les investisseurs et les travailleurs. Pour ce faire, les autorités devront parvenir à adapter leurs politiques dans les domaines de la fiscalité, des infrastructures et du logement pour attirer des étrangers très compétents, tout en révisant la réglementation du secteur financier et en renforçant sa transparence.
This paper assembles some evidence on developments in investment by incumbent and alternative telecommunications operators during the period 2000-2005. The quality of data on investment is not in general sufficient to clearly differentiate between investment by new entrants and investment by incumbents. Definitional problems also exist in that the players in communication markets are no longer the traditional alternative operators providing voice services, but a range of service providers including Internet Service Providers and cable television service providers who, through cable modems, provide VoIP services and broadband access. As such it is much harder to make judgements about how policy impacts on investment. Although the period 2000-2005 coincides with the development of broadband in most OECD countries and the implementation of LLU, the paper does not try to show a correlation between investment and unbundling policies.
In Ireland the placement function of the Public Employment Service (PES) is primarily within FÁS, the Training and Employment Authority, which is supervised by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE). But employment counselling services are also provided by the “Local Employment Service” (which has partly-separate funding and management arrangements); Facilitators within the Department of Social and Family Affairs (who implement an “Activation Programme”, which however lacks participation requirements); and the “Services to the Unemployed” activity within the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme (which is managed through a third Department). The number of staff in FÁS Employment Services and the Local Employment Service, relative to the number of wage and salary earners in the economy, appears to be relatively low, about half the average level of staffing of institutions responsible for the placement function in Australia and Northern and Western Europe (countries which also have high benefit coverage rates for unemployment).
This paper reviews the impact of ageing on private pensions, in particular on the payout phase, assesses the part that annuities can play in financing retirement, and examines the role of financial markets in facilitating the allocation of assets accumulated in defined contribution pension plans.
A comprehensive set of recommendations for consideration is provided at the end of the paper.
A comprehensive set of recommendations for consideration is provided at the end of the paper.
The present article focuses on the so-called “asset meltdown hypothesis”, which postulates a direct link between demographic developments and the level of asset
prices. In particular, proponents of this hypothesis argue, when baby boomers start
entering retirement they will become net sellers of financial assets to finance retirement consumption. As subsequent generations are smaller in numbers, other things equal, this would put downward pressure on financial asset prices. Revisiting this hypothesis, there is some support for a link between demographics and financial asset prices, although the link may not be strong. A number of mitigating factors exist, so that “other things” will not be equal. A major question in this context is to what extent demographic developments and their implications for other variables affecting financial asset prices are already reflected in financial asset prices and how fast any additional pressures on financial asset prices will play themselves out.
prices. In particular, proponents of this hypothesis argue, when baby boomers start
entering retirement they will become net sellers of financial assets to finance retirement consumption. As subsequent generations are smaller in numbers, other things equal, this would put downward pressure on financial asset prices. Revisiting this hypothesis, there is some support for a link between demographics and financial asset prices, although the link may not be strong. A number of mitigating factors exist, so that “other things” will not be equal. A major question in this context is to what extent demographic developments and their implications for other variables affecting financial asset prices are already reflected in financial asset prices and how fast any additional pressures on financial asset prices will play themselves out.
Government provision of a financial safety net for banks and other financial
institutions has been a key element of the policy response to the current financial
crisis. In the process, the design of many safety net elements, such as deposit
insurance, has been redrawn in many jurisdictions. In particular, governments
extended existing guarantees and introduced new ones. While these measures did
not address the root causes of the lack of confidence, they were nevertheless
helpful in avoiding a further accelerated loss of confidence, thus buying valuable
time.
institutions has been a key element of the policy response to the current financial
crisis. In the process, the design of many safety net elements, such as deposit
insurance, has been redrawn in many jurisdictions. In particular, governments
extended existing guarantees and introduced new ones. While these measures did
not address the root causes of the lack of confidence, they were nevertheless
helpful in avoiding a further accelerated loss of confidence, thus buying valuable
time.
This article treats some ideas and issues that are part of ongoing reflection at the OECD. They were first raised in a major research article for the Reserve Bank of Australia conference in July 2008, and benefited from policy discussion in and around that conference. One fundamental cause of the crisis was a change in the business model of banking, mixing credit with equity culture. When this model was combined with complex interactions from incentives emanating from macro policies, changes in regulations, taxation, and corporate governance, the current crisis became the inevitable result. The paper points to the need for far-reaching reform for a more sustainable situation in the future.
The present article focuses on issues related to asset decumulation. In discussing these issues, a key proposition is that financial institutions are most willing and able to offer decumulation products with fixed payment promises to the extent they are able to invest in financial assets that allow them to hedge a considerable part of the risks associated with the payment promises they extend.
Indeed, what is sometimes overlooked in discussions bout shifts from asset accumulation to decumulation is that the decumulation phase also involves investment challenges, especially if specific patterns of payouts such as regular payouts of fixed amounts are aimed at. Many writers have argued for some time now that pension fund managers will have difficulty implementing asset-liability matching because there are insufficient quantities of suitable assets. As it turns out, the shortfall in hedging instruments extends to more than just the “toxic” tail of longevity risk, as is commonly being argued. The analysis in this article shows that hedging interest rate risk is also not as straightforward as one may think.
Indeed, what is sometimes overlooked in discussions bout shifts from asset accumulation to decumulation is that the decumulation phase also involves investment challenges, especially if specific patterns of payouts such as regular payouts of fixed amounts are aimed at. Many writers have argued for some time now that pension fund managers will have difficulty implementing asset-liability matching because there are insufficient quantities of suitable assets. As it turns out, the shortfall in hedging instruments extends to more than just the “toxic” tail of longevity risk, as is commonly being argued. The analysis in this article shows that hedging interest rate risk is also not as straightforward as one may think.