Over the last decade, the space economy has seen significant shifts, welcoming new entrants and types of capital. Annual launch activity has increased, in large part thanks to the influx of private investment. This raises questions about the future development of the sector. Drawing on OECD insights within science, technology, and innovation, this policy paper examines public and private investment trends in the space economy and discusses how public policy decisions and instruments can contribute to attracting more and higher-quality private investment.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented global economic downturn, affecting productivity, business dynamics, and digital technology adoption. Using a comprehensive commercial database from Spiceworks Ziff Davis, this study analyses the firm-level drivers of digitalisation during the pandemic across 20 European countries. The findings show that a considerable share of firms introduced new digital technologies during the COVID-19 crisis. Notably, firms that were larger, more digitalised, and more productive before the pandemic were more likely to introduce new digital technologies in 2020 and 2021. Additionally, firms with pre-existing complementary technologies had a higher likelihood of adopting digital applications that gained momentum during the pandemic (such as digital commerce, collaborative software, cloud, and analytics). These patterns may increase polarisation among the best-performing firms and the rest of the business population. Public policy can play a key role in fostering an inclusive digital transformation in the post-pandemic era.

People’s ability to access essential services is key to their labour market and social inclusion. An important dimension of accessibility is physical accessibility, but little cross-country evidence exists on how close people live to the services facilities they need. This paper helps to address this gap, focusing on three types of essential services: Public Employment Services, primary schools and Early Childhood Education and Care. It collects and maps data on the location of these services for a selection of OECD countries and links them with data on population and transport infrastructure. This allows to compute travel times to the nearest service facility and to quantify disparities in accessibility at the regional level. The results highlight substantial inequalities in accessibility of essential services across and within countries. Although large parts of the population can easily reach these services in most countries, some people are relatively underserved. This is particularly the case in non-metropolitan and low-income regions. At the same time, accessibility seems to be associated with the potential demand for these services once accounting for other regional economic and demographic characteristics.

In 2020, the Province of Zuid-Holland set up the “Strategy Circular Zuid-Holland: Accelerating Together”, with the commitment of reducing the use of primary raw materials by 50% by 2030 and to reach full circularity by 2050. New challenges in terms of value chain disruptions and increased scarcity of critical materials and opportunities led the province to develop several initiatives and collaborating platforms to advance towards a circular economy. This case study provides ways forward on how to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy through the OECD 3Ps framework: People and firms, Policies and Places.

The Eurométropole of Strasbourg (EMS) started its circular journey in 2010 with a focus on waste prevention, followed by the development of its “Circular Economy Roadmap” in 2019, which aimed to integrate circular economy principles into EMS' public procurement and operations. The EMS is currently in the process of updating the Roadmap to address challenges related to regulation, co-ordination across the 33 municipalities and financing. This case study provides ways forward on how to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy through the OECD 3Ps framework: People and firms, Policies and Places.

Die Ansichten von Patient*innen und Bürger*innen und ihr aktives Engagement sind entscheidend, um die Sicherheit und Personenzentriertheit der Gesundheitssysteme zu steigern. Auch im Hinblick auf die gemeinsame Konzeption der Gesundheitsdienstleistungen und Realisierung guter Gesundheitsergebnisse sowie den Aufbau von Vertrauen in die Gesundheitssysteme sind sie ein wesentlicher Faktor. Patient*innen, Familien, Versorgende und Bürger*innen können zur Verbesserung der Patientensicherheit auf allen Ebenen der Gesundheitssysteme beitragen: von der klinischen, lokalen, institutionellen Ebene (z. B. Krankenhaus, Pflegeheim) über die Gemeinschaftsebene (z. B. Primärversorgung, häusliche Pflege) bis zur nationalen Ebene. Der vorliegende Bericht, der sechste in der Reihe zur Ökonomie der Patientensicherheit, erfasst 1. die wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der Patienteneinbeziehung zur Förderung der Patientensicherheit, 2. die Ergebnisse einer Pilot-Datensammlung zur Messung von Sicherheitserfahrungen aus Patientensicht und 3. den Status der diesbezüglichen Initiativen in 21 Ländern, die an einer Snapshot-Umfrage teilgenommen haben. Darüber hinaus enthält er Empfehlungen zur Förderung einer stärkeren Patienteneinbeziehung in die Patientensicherheit.

Supply chain disruptions, related to natural events or geopolitical tensions, have in recent years prompted policy makers to identify potential vulnerabilities related to critical trade dependencies. These are commercial links that could potentially impose significant economic or societal harm, be a source of coercion, a risk to national security, or disrupt strategic activities. Using three complementary methodologies — detailed trade data analysis, input-output data techniques, and computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling — this paper examines the nature and evolution of trade dependencies between the OECD countries and major non-OECD economies (MNOE). It shows that global production has become increasingly concentrated at the product level, with China representing 15% of import dependencies in strategic products for OECD countries in 2020-21 compared to 4% in 1997-99. The methodologies used in this paper unanimously demonstrate a high degree of trade interdependency between OECD and MNOE countries. The current debate on “de-risking” international trade, therefore, needs to carefully consider the possible costs and benefits of different policy choices.

This report examines the work of the business ombudsman institutions of Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan in order to identify their successful practices, as well as gaps that can be addressed through mutual learning and knowledge sharing. It reviews key aspects of the work of these institutions, including the legal framework for their operations, independence and accountability safeguards, funding mechanisms and operational procedures. Based on the analysis, the report offers a number of recommendations that can help improve existing institutions and also be useful to countries that are considering establishing them.

This paper gives an overview of all development finance sources available to countries of the Organisation of Eastern-Caribbean States (OECS) for enhancing their economic and climate resilience, and progress towards their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After reviewing political and macroeconomic contexts, it examines some of the specific challenges and opportunities they meet in financing their development, including the mobilisation of private finance and domestic resources; public debt sustainability; and the alignment of official development finance (ODF) with their evolving needs. It stresses the risks of inadequately preparing for the end of eligibility to official development assistance (ODA), when countries reach high-income status while remaining highly vulnerable. Finally, it presents recommendations for the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members to better support and accompany OECS countries as they transition to higher-income status.

The Autonomous Province of Trento (Trentino) is among the most productive regions in Europe, but over the past two decades its productivity growth has stagnated. As a result, the productivity gap of Trentino widened by over 20% compared to regions with the same productivity level in 2000. The benchmarking of productivity drivers in Trentino with those of “peer” regions points to several policy priorities, including: reviving productivity in tradeable sectors, also through increased internationalisation; increasing the share of the labour force with a tertiary education; and getting more out of public R&D while boosting private sector R&D.

La Provincia Autonoma di Trento (Trentino) è tra le regioni più produttive d'Europa, ma negli ultimi due decenni la crescita della sua produttività è stata stagnante. Di conseguenza, il divario di produttività del Trentino è aumentato di oltre il 20% rispetto a regioni con lo stesso livello di produttività nel 2000. L'analisi comparativa dei fattori di produttività del Trentino con quelli delle regioni "pari" evidenzia diverse priorità di politica economica. Queste includono: rilanciare la produttività nei settori commerciabili, anche attraverso una maggiore internazionalizzazione; aumentare la quota di forza lavoro con un'istruzione terziaria; e ottenere di più dalla R&S pubblica, incentivando al contempo la R&S del settore privato.

This paper explores the economics of Artificial Intelligence (AI), focusing on its potential as a new General-Purpose Technology that can significantly influence economic productivity and societal wellbeing. It examines AI's unique capacity for autonomy and self-improvement, which could accelerate innovation and potentially revive sluggish productivity growth across various industries, while also acknowledging the uncertainties surrounding AI's long-term productivity impacts. The paper discusses the concentration of AI development in big tech firms, uneven adoption rates, and broader societal challenges such as inequality, discrimination, and security risks. It calls for a comprehensive policy approach to ensure AI's beneficial development and diffusion, including measures to promote competition, enhance accessibility, and address job displacement and inequality.

Global trade in plastic waste and scrap declined further (2017-2022) in 2022. The combined trade surplus of OECD Member Countries (i.e. the difference between exports and imports) continued to decrease. Less plastic waste and scrap is being exported by OECD countries to non-OECD countries, however some countries still export substantial volumes to non-OECD countries. Particularly several non-OECD south-east Asian countries remain large export destinations. Trade between OECD countries has increased. The value and composition of plastic waste and scrap exports in 2021 suggests that more high value and easy to recycle plastic waste was traded. Some volume of plastics waste is likely transformed into a “fuel” via mechanical and chemical processing and subsequently shipped as Processed Engineered Fuel (PEF) or Refuse-Derived Fuels (RDF), broadly categorised under HS 3825. There was an increase in this trade mostly between OECD countries in 2021. The trade regime remains dynamic with new export destinations emerging, which deserve further monitoring.

The pandemic has stimulated growing interest in using advanced practice nurses such as Nurse Practitioners (NPs) to address growing primary care needs linked to population ageing and more people living with chronic conditions, although not all countries are moving at the same speed. This OECD Health Working paper reviews recent developments in advance practice nursing (APN) in primary care in OECD countries. It focusses on NPs in those countries that are recognising this category of nurses, but also describes the emergence of other categories of nurses taking on new roles such as family and community nurses in some European countries. In those countries that have achieved decisive breakthroughs in new forms of task sharing between primary care doctors (GPs) and nurses, increasing the number of APNs in primary care is seen as a real opportunity to respond to primary care needs and reduce pressures on GPs and hospitals.

The state of Paraná in Brazil has turned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guiding framework for its territorial development policy since 2016. Building on the recommendations from the OECD report on “A Territorial Approach to the SDGs in Paraná, Brazil” (2021), the state has continued to leverage the SDGs as a vehicle to address territorial disparities and challenges in a number of policy domains, including agriculture, health, education, economic growth, environmental conservation and public safety. This report assesses the state’s progress on the 2021 OECD recommendations and offers renewed guidance on how to harness the SDGs to tackle the state’s main challenges, including designing a state-wide Sustainable Development Plan and integrating the SDGs in its new 2053 Strategic Vision.

If test-takers do not engage with the assessment, the reliability of test scores and the validity of inferences about their proficiency may suffer. Test-taker disengagement is particularly likely in low-stakes assessments and, according to prior research, for certain types of students. But levels of engagement may also be related to aspects that test developers can manipulate, such as item characteristics. This paper investigates which item characteristics are associated with two indicators of test-taker disengagement, rapid guessing and breakoffs, in an international assessment of reading. Analyses of data from almost 500 000 students from 67 countries and economies that took part in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that rapid guessing was observed mainly on simple multiple-choice questions. Breakoffs were more likely in the presence of idiosyncratic selected-response formats, such as hot spot or matching tasks. Both rapid guessing and breakoffs were more frequent on tasks involving long and complex texts.