Browse by: "2011"

Social protection coverage is quite low in Latin America. This situation, irrespective of the type of pension scheme, represents a challenge for public policy since these low levels of affiliation and irregular contribution histories indicate that pensions will be insufficient in the coming decades. This paper describes the relationship between pension protection and labour informality in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Mexico by income level, using several rounds of national household surveys. Our analysis highlights that labour formality is limited, even among the middle and the high income groups. Correspondingly, coverage rates (measured by contributors or affiliates over workers) range between 10% of the labour force in Bolivia to up to 62% in Chile. 76% of formal workers are covered on average, while coverage among the self-employed in agriculture is below 7%. Based on this prognosis, we discuss some alternative pension reforms.

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is widely recognized to be helpful, even indispensible, for making good decisions on what transport projects to fund. It essentially aims to figure out which projects offer the best value for money, one of the core criteria for making decisions. However, the practical relevance of cost-benefit analysis does not always live up to its appeal in principle. One problem is that there is disagreement about what to include in both the costs and the benefits side of the analysis, so that value for money is not always a fully transparent concept. A second problem is that value for money is only a partial criterion for decision-making, leading to disagreement about the relative importance of the results from CBA compared to other inputs into the decision-making process. Discussions at the Roundtable aimed to shed light on these conceptual problems by analysing the practice of CBA and comparing approaches to it in different countries. In short the aim was to identify a checklist of items that should be included in a socially relevant cost-benefit analysis, i.e. analysis that can be produced in reasonable time and at reasonable cost but is good enough to help resolve trade-offs.

Russia is sometimes referred to as “the Saudi Arabia of energy efficiency”; its vast potential to reduce energy consumption can be considered a significant “energy reserve”. Russia, recognising the benefits of more efficient use of energy, is taking measures to exploit this potential. The president has set the goal to reduce energy intensity by 40% between 2007 and 2020. In the past few years, the IEA has worked closely with Russian authorities to support the development of energy efficiency indicators in Russia, critical to an effective implementation and monitoring of Russia’s ambitious energy intensity and efficiency goals. The key findings of the IEA work with Russia on developing energy efficiency indicators form the core of this report.

For India to play its part in helping to realise deep cuts in global CO2 emissions by the middle of the 21st century, it will need to achieve rapid economic development over the next 40 years with only a very small increase in emissions. Currently there is no precedent for such a low-CO2 development path. The challenge for India will be to achieve strong economic growth while improving energy security, but without locking in high emissions. This information paper further develops the analysis presented in the India chapter of ‘Energy Technology Perspectives 2010’ and provides insights on the implications of achieving deep energy and CO2 emission cuts in the industrial sector both for India and globally. It investigates the least-cost combination of options that can significantly reduce energy and CO2 emissions in India’s industrial sector, while enabling the Indian economy to continue to grow and alleviate energy poverty.

Decision-makers in fisheries management are confronted with the challenge of how to respond to existing and predicted changes in ocean conditions that are likely to affect the stocks of fish they manage. In order to address climate change most research and thinking advises decision-makers to ensure that fisheries are well-managed and abundant in an ecosystem context. These policies can best allow fisheries to adapt to changing climate. To address climate change, decision-makers should carefully monitor changing conditions and potential changes in factors affecting fish stock abundance. An adaptive approach to fisheries management under conditions of climate change requires that decision-makers engage with fishing interests in a transparent manner and in ways that respect the input of fishing interests and in ways that acknowledge the levels of uncertainty. This approach implies a governance approach to management that is closer to co-management or shared management responsibility than in most hierarchical processes that characterize fishery management to date. The answer to the question of when fishery decision-makers should begin to incorporate climate change into decision making processes is that they should have started yesterday. The justification for this is that even today, climate variability can affect fishery management decisions and the sooner this is understood and incorporated into the management process the better. In economic terms, a conservative decision relative to fisheries management is likely to produce a positive long term benefit whereas the failure to recognize the need to act in time may have serious immediate negative consequences especially when compounded by inadequate management. While climate change can also produce positive consequences for some species a note of caution is still advised in anticipating and responding to such opportunities.

London 2012 is set to be one the most ambitious Olympic Games ever to have taken place. Already a successful global city London has set itself a unique challenge – not simply to deliver a successful Olympic Games but to regenerate its most socio-economically challenged area of the city. The boroughs which will host 2012 are amongst the most deprived areas in the United Kingdom. The aim from the preparation of the bid was to address this long term challenge. Everyone involved in the delivery of 2012 and the economic development of London is under no illusion that simply by hosting the Olympics a century of deprivation will be eradicated. But accelerating 30-50 years of regeneration and infrastructure investment can create new economic opportunity.