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This paper reviews the recent development of the funded pension system in the Russian Federation and considers it role in the context of the overall retirement income system. By describing current OECD practices and policy recommendations and comparing them with the current Russian pension system, the report aims to facilitate ongoing discussions between the OECD and the Russian Federation regarding the latter’s pension system.
The report is based to a large extent on existing OECD published material, in particular the latest edition of OECD Pensions at a Glance (2011) and the OECD Pensions Outlook 2012. It also draws on the OECD review of labour and social policy published in December 2011.
We examine the response of a large panel of German establishments to the crisis in terms of their job flows (changes in employment) and consequent worker flows (hires, separations and layoffs). We analyse the extent to which job flows and worker flows at the establishment level are systematically related to institutional arrangements intended to promote flexibility such as Kurzarbeit (short-time work, STW) and Arbeitszeitkonten (working-time accounts, WTA). We find pronounced evidence of labour hoarding in the sense that labour productivity fell rapidly during the 2008-09 downturn, but we find no evidence that STW (or other policies) increased labour hoarding by reducing layoffs. This may well reflect the probable selection effects involved which are not accounted for by observable differences between STW and non- STW establishments.
Council Directive 2011/70/Euratom of 19 July 2011 establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste1 (Waste Directive) was adopted with the support of all member states of the European Union. Following the adoption of the Council Directive establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations in 2009 (Safety Directive), the Waste Directive represents another important step towards building and strengthening the most advanced possible legal framework for nuclear energy in Europe.
Rapid and sustained economic growth in the emerging world has brought new members, notably China, into the group of middle-income countries. Reaching this level of income, however, has historically presented countries with a new set of challenges to development, resulting in slowing growth and an entrapment in what is known as the middle-income trap. Limited income convergence in Latin America has at least partly been due to its reduced capacity to engage in a structural transformation conducive to higher productivity. In contrast, emerging Asia offers a few examples of these ‚virtuous. productive transformations. With these two references in mind, we build a comparative analysis based on the following points: First, we illustrate differences in the process of structural transformation, both with regard to sector productivity and employment absorption. Second, we adopt the Product Space methodology to compare the structural transformation that took place in both regions. Finally, we consider the role played by Productive Development Policies (PDP) in shaping the process of structural transformation, through a comparative review of these policies in Korea, Brazil and Mexico. In short, the analysis allows us to gauge the role that the economic specialisation of a country plays in facilitating transitions to more advanced stages of economic development.
In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, radical Islamists are targeting fragile and conflict-affected states and encouraging the formation of groups which act against the state (either violently or subversively). These processes exacerbate existing fragility and increase conflicts among communities in countries that already suffer from poor social cohesion and integration. This paper describes the ideas and methods with which radical Islamist groups are destabilising some fragile and conflict-affected states in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Sudan, Nigeria and Chad. It also evaluates the extent to which modern communication technologies help spread these ideas among Islamists in these states. In supporting fragile and conflict-affected states that are being infiltrated by radical Islamism, international donors should tackle two related phenomena: 1) regulating the telecommunication market and use of the Internet and social media; and 2) improving education. The non-violent aspects of Islamist radicalisation processes suggest that a dialogue with radical Islamists is still possible. In this sense, some of their projects, particularly their efforts at Arabisation, could be harnessed to increase literacy levels in order to favour general education and development and diminish fragility.
This paper presents an application of the SYMBOL model, which was recently developed by the European Commission. In this application, we assess the potential impact of a crisis in the banking sector on public finances in four EU Member States chosen as examples. Results show that two Member States have a relatively higher probability of being in a situation where government finances have to cover losses generated in the banking system.
Little research has been done into how the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) affect national educational reform and policy-making. This paper examines the normative impact of PISA by investigating how, and the extent to which , national policy actors use PISA in policies and practices, to evaluate and improve school-system performance. Drawing on the results of a survey of country practices, the study shows that PISA has become accepted as a reliable instrument for benchmarking student performance worldwide, and that PISA results have had an influence on policy reform in the majority of participating countries/economies.
This paper focuses on the market openness aspects of regulatory reform in Indonesia to devise recommendations for improving the country’s regulatory processes. These recommendations involve institutionalising independent and objective evaluations of policies from an economy-wide perspective, as well as instituting a process by which broad public consultations are systematically required. Moreover, the findings in this paper suggest that the Indonesian economy would benefit from streamlining the licensing regime. The paper also identifies a need to ensure that new laws and regulations benefit Indonesia as a whole. Finally, the paper advocates for better co-ordination between the central government and the periphery. The implementation of these recommendations will help Indonesia achieve its goal of becoming one of the world’s ten major economies by 2025.
This paper takes a fresh look at the nature of financial and real business cycles in OECD countries using annual data series and shorter quarterly and monthly economic indicators. It first analyses the main characteristics of the cycle, including the length, amplitude, asymmetry and changes of these parameters during expansions and contractions. It then studies the degree of economic and financial cycle synchronisation between OECD countries but also of economic and financial variables within a given country, and gauges the extent to which cycle synchronisation changed over time. Finally, the paper provides some new evidence on the drivers of the great moderation and analyses the banking sector’s pro-cyclicality by using aggregate and bank-level data. The main findings show that the amplitude of the real business cycle was becoming smaller during the great moderation, but asset price cycles were becoming more volatile. In part this was linked to developments in the banking sector which tended to accentuate pro-cyclical behaviour.
- Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; Korea and Singapore (the East Asian Newly Industrialised Countries or NICs) have been successful in attaining income convergence with high-income countries while Latin American countries remain caught in the Middle-Income Trap.
- The East Asian NICs pursued export-led growth by targeting strategic industries which facilitated gradual diversification and upgrading into new products that required similar skills and inputs.
- Comparing the experience of the NICs to Latin American economies reveals that successful diversification and upgrading of a country’s export structure requires coherent and complimentary policies in the areas of education, infrastructure, innovation and access to finance.
Neither the achievement of price stability, via the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), nor the application of micro-prudential oversight, via the Financial Services Authority (FSA), led to overall financial stability. There is a gap that needs to be filled by a macro-prudential authority (M-PA), the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) in the United Kingdom. The only macro-prudential instrument used heretofore has been the publication of Financial Stability Reviews (FSR). While worthy, these have been ineffective. The M-PA should have the following powers: First, the power to alter the composition of Central Bank (CB) assets, by adding to (subtracting from) its holdings of claims on the private sector. The argument that such actions are ‘quasi-fiscal’, and should therefore not be undertaken, is not supported. Second, the power to adjust margins (Capital adequacy ratios, liquidity ratios, loan-to-value ratios, etc.) to influence the conduct of financial intermediation. The argument that the use of such powers puts the FPC in a difficult conflict with the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is not supported...
Switzerland is among the OECD countries with the largest immigrant populations – 27% of the working-age population are foreign-born – and the issue of immigration is high on both the policy agenda and in the public debate. Given the numerous debates around this issue in Switzerland, one could be tempted to think that immigrants are less well integrated than in other countries...
The greening of the labour market will create new opportunities for workers, but also new risks that could undermine political support for green growth policies. Accordingly, labour market and skills policy should also seek to maximise the benefits of green growth for workers while assuring that unavoidable adjustment costs are shared fairly. This report aims to provide guidance for how best labour market and skill development policy can contribute to a fast, efficient and fair transition to a low carbon and resource efficient economy, particularly in developed countries.
This paper represents the final OECD report for the European Commission project on “The jobs potential of a shift towards a low-carbon economy” (VS/2010/0618 – S12.576453).
Since the realisation, at the beginning of the 1900s, that exposure to ionising radiation could cause detrimental health effects, experts in the field have worked together to establish a scientific basis for describing radiation-related risks, to recommend practical principles for protection against radiation-related risks and to develop international standards and national regulations in this area.
- Nearly half of teachers believe that teacher appraisal and feedback are carried out mainly to fulfill administrative requirements and about 75% say that they would not receive any recognition for improving their teaching or for being more innovative.
- Although teachers view the appraisal of their work in positive terms, many of them do not get regular appraisals of their work. More than one in five teachers say they have never received appraisal and feedback from their school principal.
- Teachers who receive appraisals report implementing positive changes into their teaching.
Due to its clean burning properties, low investment costs and flexibility in production, natural gas is often put forward as the ideal partner fuel for wind power and other renewable sources of electricity generation with strongly variable output. This working paper examines three vital questions associated with this premise: 1) Is natural gas indeed the best partner fuel for wind power? 2) If so, to what extent will an increasing market share of wind power in European electricity generation affect demand for natural gas in the power sector? and 3) Considering the existing European natural gas markets, is natural gas capable of fulfilling this role of partner for renewable sources of electricity?
This paper looks at how the income distribution in countries changes when the value of publicly-provided services to households is included. We consider five major categories of public services: education, health care, social housing, childcare and elderly care. On average across OECD countries, spending on these “in-kind” benefits accounts for about 13% of GDP, slightly more than the spending on cash transfers – but with considerable cross-country variation. Broadening the income concept to account for in-kind benefits considerably increases households’ economic resources: in a typical OECD country, the average annual household income would be close to USD 28 000, rather than USD 22 000 in purchasing power parities. But public services also contribute to reducing income inequality, by between one-fifth and one-third depending on the inequality measure. Mexico and, according to most inequality measures, the United States, Portugal, Ireland, and the United Kingdom record higher reduction rates, while Slovenia records lower ones. Across all countries, redistributive effects are stronger among specific population groups at higher risk of poverty. Between 2000 and 2007, the redistributive impact of public services remained stable overall. However, the impact became stronger in countries where the share of services in household income increased significantly, while it weakened in those countries where this share decreased. The paper suggests that publicly provided services fulfil an important direct redistributive role in OECD countries.
This paper informs policymakers about ways the Internet impacts the economies, and about the levels and areas of impact. It is designed to structure and to assess the economic impacts areas of the Internet at the individual- firm-, and government-levels, as well as at the aggregate, macroeconomic level.
This paper studies the impact of recent changes in second pension pillars of three Central and Eastern European Countries on the deficit and implicit debt of their full pension systems. The paper seeks to answer the following questions: i) what is the impact on the sustainability of Poland’s pension system of the decrease in the pension contribution going to the second pension pillar from 7.3% to 2.3% in 2011; ii) what are the implications of the recent changes on gross replacement rates; iii) does the weakening of the Polish second pension system have a different impact on pension system sustainability than a similar move in a Hungarian-style pension system with a defined-benefit first pillar and iv) how does Estonia’s temporary decrease in pension contributions compensated by temporarily higher future rates affect pension sustainability in that country. The simulation results show that in our baseline scenario the Polish move would permanently lower future pension-system debt, chiefly as a result of a cut in replacement rates. But using a combination of pessimistic assumptions including strong population ageing, low real wage growth and a high indexation of existing pension benefits, coupled with bringing in tax expenditures related to the third voluntary pension pillar and an increase in the share of minimum pensions leads to higher pension system deficits and eventually more public debt at a very long horizon. The simulations also suggest that the Hungarian pension reversal reduces deficit and debt only temporarily, mainly because of Hungary’s costly defined-benefit first pension pillar: the weakening of the second pillar is tantamount to swapping low current replacement rates (in the defined-contribution second pillar) against high future replacement rates in the defined-benefit first pension pillar. Finally, results show that the Estonian move will increase public debt only very moderately in the long run, even though this result is sensitive to the effective interest rate on public debt.
Public opinion related to the consumption of coal is directed primarily to its environmental impact in light of ongoing efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and tackle global climate change. Nevertheless, the benefits of coal as a widely available and relatively cheap source of energy underscores its important role in energy security, economic development and the alleviation of energy poverty worldwide. Further development and commercial availability of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies will harness the potential of coal and its contribution to sustainable and equal energy spaces.