Browse by: "A"
Index
Title Index
Year Index
Following the historic 2015 Paris Agreement aiming to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, 165 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, representing 192 countries, have been submitted. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) detail each Party’s efforts to reduce domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. This paper, recognising the role of cities and regions in implementing the Paris Agreement, highlights the need for an integrated approach in implementing NDCs and long-term low GHG emission development strategies (LT-LEDS) and attempts to present key policy options for such an approach. First, the paper identifies the national and subnational co-ordination mechanisms in current NDCs, LT-LEDS and other subnational climate strategies and argues that the current processes of developing and implementing NDCs and LT-LEDS provide a unique opportunity for national governments to integrate innovative subnational climate action. The paper then assesses the potential for co-ordination of national, regional and local climate mitigation investment through the lens of the OECD Recommendation on Effective Public Investment Across Levels of Government adopted in 2014.
Increasingly, countries are integrating personalised public services to enhance access to, and the experience of those services to significantly improve outcomes for service users. Integrated services are particularly valuable for those with multiple and complex needs who require a range of tailored and, in some cases, specialised supports and services from more than one agency or service provider. Service specialisation can make it difficult for these service users to get the right mix of services and at the right time that best meet their needs. This paper provides a summary of how countries are integrating services to improve the lives and outcomes of care experienced by young people, people with disabilities, and people leaving prison. The paper is intended for policymakers who are seeking new or improved approaches to improving the outcomes of those who rely on personalised services.
This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of innovative start-up firms in Trentino, a high-income mountainous area in the North East of Italy. This work is part of a series of thematic papers on regional start-up landscapes in Italy, produced by the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development. Following the 2018 OECD Evaluation of the Italian Start-up Act, which embraced a national perspective, it represents a first attempt to analyse the impact of this policy at the local level. Among Italian regions, Trentino boasts the highest density of registered innovative start-ups over all young firms established locally. However, innovative start-ups spread unevenly throughout this territory, concentrating in urban areas. Female and young founders are less prevalent than in Italy at large. Firm dynamism, in particular high-growth and exit trends, the uptake of emerging technologies among local start-ups as well as their propensity to use national incentives are other key areas of this work, which concludes with a set of evidence-based recommendations for policy makers.
The characteristics of innovative start-up firms in South Tyrol, the northernmost province of Italy, entirely mountainous, hosting a high-income population belonging to three main language groups. This work is part of a series of thematic papers on sub-national start-up landscapes in Italy, produced by the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development. It represents a first attempt to analyse the effect of the Italian policy framework for young innovative firms at the local level. South Tyrol is home to a relatively small number of registered innovative start-ups, pointing to the presence of obstacles to policy transfer. Evidence suggests that language barriers may play a critical role. Firm dynamism, in particular high-growth and exit trends, the spread of emerging technologies among local start-ups as well as their propensity to uptake national incentives are other major focuses of this work, which concludes with a set of evidence-based recommendations for policy-makers.
This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of innovative start-up firms in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, an autonomous region situated at the extreme North East of the Italian territory, bordering with Austria and Slovenia. This work is part of a series of thematic papers on sub-national start-up landscapes in Italy, produced by the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development. Following the 2018 OECD Evaluation of the Italian Start-up Act, which embraced a national perspective, it represents a first attempt to analyse the impact of this policy at the local level. Friuli-Venezia Giulia hosts a polycentric, mainly urban start-up landscape, with a low prevalence of female and young founders. Its historical sub-regions of Friuli and Venezia Giulia present remarkable differences under several perspectives, including the industrial composition of their start-ups, the spread of emerging technologies among them and their propensity to use national incentives. Firm dynamism, notably high-growth and exit trends, constitutes another major focus of this work, which concludes with a set of evidence-based recommendations for policy-makers.
The debate on industrial policy has made a comeback in both academic and policy circles. Yet, no consensus exists on an industrial policy paradigm and the absence of a common reference framework unduly obfuscates the debate – even which interventions are to be considered “industrial policy” is not clear-cut. Against this background, this paper proposes a coherent framework for analysing the formulation of industrial policy, relying on a purposefully broad definition of the latter. Leveraging the proposed framework and a companion paper which synthetises the available empirical evidence, this paper stresses the complementarities between policy instruments, thereby justifying the use of industrial strategies, acknowledges the role of targeted industrial strategies, which can direct technological change and growth, and of demand-side instruments, which can contribute to transformative industrial change, but calls for a stronger emphasis on evaluation and the regular re-assessment of targeted industrial strategies.
This paper provides an analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on SMEs and entrepreneurs, and the SME and entrepreneurship policy measures implemented during the course of a year since the start of the pandemic. The paper formulates 15 lessons learned for policy going forward, to assist governments build evidence-based policies to support SME recovery and resilience.
This Education Policy Perspectives analyses the different dimensions of education policy implementation and provides a framework to help policy makers make concrete changes to their education system. It proposes actions to consider when designing education policies to reachschools effectively and improve student learning.
The framework recognises that education policy has become more complex and requires balancing traditional top-down implementation processes with more bottom-up approaches that leave room for co-construction and local adaptation. It suggests that to accomplish education change in schools, policy makers need to shape a coherent, actionable and well-communicated implementation strategy that engages stakeholders early on and takes into account the environment as part of the policy design process.
The framework is part of the Implementing Education Policies Programme of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills. Building on its knowledge of education policy making across education systems internationally, the programme offers comparative knowledge, peer learning opportunities, and tailored support for countries to help them achieve success in the implementation of their education policies and reforms in the 21st century.
This paper was originally prepared for the OECD Working Party No. 1 under the authority of the OECD’s Economic Policy Committee. Jens Høj and Giuseppe Nicoletti work for the OECD Economics Department as a senior economist in the Country Studies Branch and as Head of the Structural Policy Analysis Division 1, respectively. Vincenzo Galasso is an Associate Professor of Economics at Università Bocconi in Italy and Thai-Thang Dang is a private sector consultant. The authors wish to thank Jean Philippe Cotis, Jørgen Elmeskov, Michael P. Feiner, Christopher Heady, Nick Johnstone and many other colleagues in the OECD Economics Department as well as representatives from OECD member countries for useful comments on a previous version of the paper.
This paper provides an empirical investigation on the drivers of tax and transfer income redistribution to working-age households across the OECD over the last two decades, in a context where it has been declining in the vast majority of countries. The analytical approach is based on a reduced-form model of income redistribution which is estimated through cross-country-time series regressions. The baseline model builds on the political economy literature of income redistribution and includes a set of non-policy drivers such as labour market and socio-demographic conditions as well as measures of globalisation and technological change. The baseline model is augmented with major direct policy drivers of income redistribution covering tax revenue and social spending as well as a selection of tax and transfer policy parameters. Changes in the size of the tax and transfer systems likely to have contributed to the decline in income redistribution include the decline in social spending on cash support for working-age population and the diminishing role of personal income taxes in reducing inequality under the effect of increasing trade openness. Changes in specific tax and transfer policy instruments and parameters likely to have contributed to the decline in income redistribution include a flattening of the tax schedule in the upper-part of the wage distribution, a decline in the generosity and duration of unemployment-related transfers, including cuts to social assistance, and pension and early retirement reforms to encourage longer working life.
This paper presents the results of an ex post evaluation of the impacts of a vehicle tax reform in Ireland, by carrying out a full social cost benefit analysis of a vehicle tax reform that began in Ireland in 2008 and shows that whilst successful in improving the fuel economy of new passenger cars, it may also have caused unintended effects, such as an increased proliferation of diesel vehicles in the passenger car fleet. These outcomes have mitigated the overall benefits. In addition to quantifying the scale of the various effects and outcomes, this paper clearly demonstrates the importance of broad scope policy design.
The Republic of Moldova considers education a national priority and has been making steady progress in reforming and modernising its education system. The Ministry of Education and Research (MoER) in 2023 launched its Education Development Strategy 2030 and requested the European Union (EU) to engage the OECD to undertake a deeper analysis of selected policy domains that are central to its education reform. This laid the foundation for the project “Support to the implementation of education policies in Moldova”, funded by the EU. The MoER expressed a keen interest to learn from international research evidence and relevant international examples to help advance its education reform agenda.
This report is the first output of the project that presents an in-depth analysis of two of three selected policy domains: “professional development of teachers and other education professionals” and “curriculum and learning resources” and has been developed by the OECD in collaboration with the UNESCO International Institute for Education Planning. The report will be valuable for Moldova and other countries that are looking to strengthen their school systems.
This policy brief uses online job vacancy postings as a partial indicator of the impact of COVID-19 on skills demand in five OECD countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) between January and November 2020. The pandemic, as well as containment and mitigation measures designed to halt its spread, had a large but heterogeneous impact on the demand for skills. By early May, the total volume of online job vacancies had fallen by over 50% in all the countries analysed with respect to the beginning of the year, with even larger declines in some sectors. However, the demand for specific skills in the healthcare sector and in logistics increased. There is also evidence of an increase in vacancies involving remote-working arrangements. The brief also shows that the crisis affected differently individuals with different levels of educational qualifications and that such effect differed across the countries analysed.
This report analyses market-distorting factors in the shipbuilding industry with a focus on government interventions. This paper argues that government interventions in this cyclical industry do more harm than good by exacerbating and prolonging economic downturns through two channels. First, it promotes an over-ordering of vessels through lower delivery time, distorting ship buyers’ investment behaviour. Second, it may maintain unproductive capacity in the market that re-enters a new economic cycle, restarting the vicious circle of industrial excess capacity. Against the background of the global nature of this industry, these channels reinforce the case for effective international disciplines on government interventions. Overall, the mature nature of the shipbuilding industry undermines the need for an active industrial policy, beyond facilitating structural adjustment, and emphasizes the necessity for a horizontal policy approach. The work seeks to provide policy makers with a better understanding of how different factors can contribute to excess capacity.