Browse by: "2010"

This paper discusses three connected aspects of regulation: (1) what makes a regulatory authority effective; (2) what is the legitimate role of a regulatory authority in the making and implementation of policy, and how that role may be regarded by others, and (3) the issue of independence of regulation from undue political intervention. It argues that regulators are usually established to carry out complex technical tasks which government is unable or unwilling to do, partly because government wishes to distance itself from responsibility for some decisions, but, having invested regulatory authorities with sometimes considerable powers which are more detailed and intrusive than any possessed by government over state-owned entities or industries, political or bureaucratic impatience or intolerance of that power sometimes takes over, and undue governmental pressure or interventions follow. These interventions come about either because of regulatory failures, or because politicians wish themselves to exercise regulatory powers which they regret having transferred to regulatory authorities. Regulatory independence from political intervention and regulatory freedom from political considerations is internationally recognised as an important facet of effective economic regulation, but despite that, it can come under such severe pressure that the system will fracture, causing severe loss of confidence in the regulatory system and in the reputation of the host government for fairness and respect for the integrity of the systems of checks and balances which has been established for the protection of investment. It argues that regulatory independence is as much about regulatory behaviour and legal status.

The City of New Orleans is implementing an unprecedented plan for the systemic renovation and rebuilding of its schools and infrastructure. One of the cornerstones of the project was public involvement: more than 10 000 citizens were engaged in developing the plan. Its new schools will be but one element of global, far-reaching community programmes...

Il existe des " meilleures pratiques " généralement reconnues au sein de la profession architecturale. Cet article plaide plutôt en faveur de créer des environnements pédagogiques en adoptant une approche basée sur l'architecture adaptée aux besoins des utilisateurs (responsive design). Celui-ci tient compte en particulier du rôle du contexte social et consiste à structurer l'environnement physique de façon à promouvoir l'apprentissage...

The term low-emission development strategies (LEDS) first emerged under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2008 and its possible role in a future climate framework continues to be debated. Though no formally agreed definition exists, LEDS are generally used to describe forward-looking national economic development plans or strategies that encompass low-emission and/or climate-resilient economic growth. LEDS can serve multiple purposes but are primarily intended to help advance national climate change and development policy in a more co-ordinated, coherent and strategic manner. A LEDS can provide value-added to the myriad of existing climate change and development related strategies and reports that already exist by providing integrated economic development and climate change planning.

This paper outlines how the concept of LEDS has evolved in the climate policy discourse and explores how it could usefully add to the large number of existing strategies, action plans, and reporting documents that are already available. The paper outlines gaps that LEDS could fill, the elements it could contain, and how LEDS can be prepared to ensure that they are effective and efficient in delivering their intended goals. To derive early lessons and insights on experiences, challenges, and approaches adopted in the preparation of national climate change strategies and LEDS, this paper examines seven countries in detail: Guyana, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand and the UK.

Each country will face its own specific challenges in preparing a LEDS. Common challenges are likely to include: advancing agreement across government on priority policies; obtaining and analysing reliable data on mitigation costs and climate change impacts; identifying and addressing barriers to implementation; and limited financial and human resources. Despite these challenges, the process of preparing a LEDS can facilitate working towards agreement across government on economic development and climate change priorities, and can help attract political support and funding, both domestically and from the international community.

This paper outlines options for new reporting guidelines for national communications from Annex I and non-Annex I countries, both for “full” national communications and biennial “updates”. These reports can facilitate the sharing of information between Parties and may be used to assess the implementation of actions and progress towards the Convention’s objectives. There are significant gaps in the current climate reporting framework. These gaps are particularly marked for non-Annex I countries in terms of GHG emissions and trends, mitigation and adaptation actions. There are also gaps in terms of the effect of mitigation actions and support provided and received for climate-related activities, including for technology transfer and capacity building.

This paper suggests that: (i) national communications be produced more frequently while their focus is streamlined; (ii) reporting guidelines be revised to improve transparency about mitigation commitments/actions/targets that countries have indicated to the international community as well as other obligations taken under the UNFCCC and subsequently; (iii) standard reporting formats be used for more of the information in national communications; (iv) a flexible reporting framework be established for non-Annex I countries, where the information in (and possibly timing of) national reports is “tiered” according to national circumstances; (v) an increased emphasis be placed on reporting of “key” issues; (vi) information routinely provided on adaptation measures and policies be formalised; (vii) reporting on “support” be increased and its structure improved; and (viii) in reports from non-Annex I countries, the provision of information that is already routinely provided be formalised.

Le renforcement du contrat social en Amérique latine passe par l'amélioration de la qualité des services publics comme la santé et l'éducation - un facteur susceptible de conduire les électeurs à accepter l'élargissement de l'assiette fiscale. Les couches moyennes d'Amérique latine sont très favorables à la démocratie, mais elles critiquent son mode de fonctionnement, déçues surtout par l'indigence des services publics. La politique budgétaire est au coeur des relations entre l'État et les citoyens - et ce d'autant plus en Amérique latine où le contrat social est fragile et la démocratie en voie de consolidation.

The Model Framework proposes principles for addressing twenty-nine key issues associated with regulating CCS, based on the work of early-movers such as Australia, Europe and the United States, to assist national and regional CCS regulatory framework development. For each issue, an explanation is provided as well as examples of how the issue has been addressed in existing legislation. For CO2 storage issues, base, or “starting point”, model legislative text is also provided, which countries and regions can draw on in developing CCS regulatory frameworks.

The use of governance indicators, as applied to developing countries, has grown spectacularly in recent years. Following the maxim that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, international investors and official development aid agencies, together with academics and the media, have turned widely to using quantitative governance indicators for both analytical and decision-making purposes – with far-reaching consequences for developing countries…

This paper describes the sources and methods used to construct the trade matrices of the OECD trade system. It also provides an overview of the trade relationships between countries, especially individual OECD countries and the main non-OECD economies, as well as their evolution between 2000 and 2005. It finally serves more broadly as a “ready reckoner” guide to the sensitivity to shocks that are transmitted through trade.

L’intérêt croissant pour la qualité de la gouvernance dans les pays en développement et les économies émergentes que l’on constate depuis une quizaine d’années a entraîné une augmentation spectaculaire de l’utilisation des indicateurs de gouvernance. Fidèles au principe que l’on ne peut gérer que ce que l’on peut quantifier, de nombreux investisseurs internationaux et agences nationales et multilatérales d’aide publique au développement, ainsi que des chercheurs et les médias cherchent à mesurer la qualité de la gouvernance dans ces pays. Ceci à des fins analytiques mais aussi pour guider les flux d’investissements et d’aide publique vers ces pays – avec des conséquences très importantes pour ceux-ci…

The oil price hike in 2007-08 underlined the vulnerability of Indonesia’s energy subsidy policy to oil price volatility. In addition to entailing significant economic and environmental costs, energy subsidies put pressure on the public budget and benefit mostly rich households. Phasing them out would benefit both the economy and the environment. At the same time, past experience in Indonesia and elsewhere suggests that such a reform is likely to face stiff opposition and will therefore need to be carefully designed and communicated. Compensation in the form of targeted cash transfers will help to shield low-income households from attendant rise in energy prices. This Working Paper relates to the 2010 OECD Economic Review of Indonesia (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Indonesia).

Indonesia.s infrastructure is in poor shape, having suffered from protracted under-investment since the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, and constraints growth potential. This paper focuses on the current state of the regulatory framework and discusses different options for improvement in order to attract needed private investment. It recognises the ambitious reforms undertaken by the government thus far, but suggests that further efforts are needed. The authorities should establish a simple regulatory environment based on effective regulatory agencies resulting in lower regulatory uncertainty and realign prices to cost-recovery levels. This Working Paper relates to the 2010 OECD Economic Review of Indonesia (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Indonesia).

Indonesia has made considerable progress over the years in improving the social conditions of its population, especially among disadvantaged groups, not least by raising government spending and strengthening social protection programmes. Nevertheless, in some respects social outcomes remain sub-par in relation to regional peers.

The United States faces challenging budgetary prospects, as do most other OECD countries. The federal budget deficit widened considerably during the recession, reaching about 10% of GDP in both 2009 and 2010, reflecting the operation of automatic stabilizers and the policy response to the crisis. Consequently, public debt now stands at its highest level since the early–1950s. The Administration has proposed the objective of stabilising the debt-GDP ratio by 2015, which is realistic in scope and ambition, though it requires fiscal tightening measures which are yet to be identified. In the next decade, the effects of population ageing on entitlement spending will be increasingly felt and the fiscal situation could deteriorate significantly in the absence of structural reforms of pension and, especially, health-care programmes.

Support for regional economic integration in Africa runs high amongst the continent’s international development partners and African elites. However, its expression in European forms of economic integration is not appropriate to regional capacities and in some cases may do more harm than good. This lacuna is exacerbated by technical and theoretical analyses rooted either in economics or international relations literatures. This paper sets out to reconceptualise the foundations of African economic integration through reviewing key debates within each literature and comparing the results across disciplinary boundaries. Overall, I conclude that a much more limited approach is required, one that prioritises trade facilitation and regulatory cooperation in areas related primarily to the conduct of business; underpinned by a security regime emphasising the good governance agenda at the domestic level. Care should be taken to design the ensuing schemes in such a way as to avoid contributing to major implementation and capacity challenges in establishing viable and legitimate states. In doing so, the presence of regional leaders with relatively deep pockets– South Africa in the Southern African case – points to the imperative of building such limited regional economic arrangements around key states.

Is the social contract in Latin America broken? Many authors have suggested this is the case, given the high levels of inequality, the low levels of taxation and the low quality of public services observed in the region. This paper analyses empirically the relationship between fiscal policy, social mobility and democratic consolidation in Latin America and the Caribbean, using the 2007 and 2008 rounds of the regional Latinobarómetro survey. In general, our results do not firmly support the prospect of upward mobility hypothesis, and show that the perception about the quality of public services, among others, matters for the willingness to pay taxes. All in all, we interpret our results as an indication of that – although there is still a long way to go – the potential basis for a stronger social contract in Latin America exists.

The consensus view of scientists is that the build-up of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere is causing global warming. To reduce the probability of severe climate-change impacts and costs occurring, global GHG emissions need to be reduced substantially over coming decades. The United States agreed to a global political agreement to reduce GHG emissions that was acknowledged at Copenhagen (COP15) in December 2009 and negotiations are continuing to work towards binding emissions-reduction commitments by all countries. In view of the scale of emission reductions called for, it is vital that the United States adopt a cost-effective and comprehensive climate change policy. The current Administration is endeavouring to put such a policy package in place. Its core elements are comprehensive pricing of GHG emissions and increased support for the development and deployment of GHG-emissions-reducing technologies. The alternative regulatory approach would be more costly and unlikely to deliver the required scale of reductions in emissions.

This paper compares notional defined-contribution pension schemes (also known as notional accounts) with two alternative designs of earnings-related pension schemes: points systems and definedbenefit plans. It examines, in detail, four economic advantages of notional accounts that deliver retirement incomes in an equitable and economically efficient manner. The issue of equity arises in the treatment of people who draw their pensions at different ages and contribute for a different number of years. The issue of economic efficiency arises because pension systems can and do distort individual decisions to work and save. First, benefits are based on lifetime earnings, rather than a subset of “best” or “final” years’ pay. Secondly, an extra year’s contribution gives rise to an additional benefit. Thirdly, benefits are reduced to reflect the longer expected duration of payment for people who retire early and, similarly, increased for people who retire late. Finally, benefits are reduced as life expectancy increases, again to reflect the longer duration for which benefits would be paid. An analysis of OECD countries’ pension systems – of all different types – shows that most have already achieved most of these objectives, but without adopting notional accounts.

This report examines the performance of public employment services and the effectiveness of activation strategies in Switzerland. It covers the role of the key actors in labour market policy, the placement function of the Public Employment Service (PES), the structure of out-of-work benefits and the related incentives and disincentives for taking up work, and discusses the main features of active labour market programmes (ALMPs)...