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Mobility has been central to economic development and social progress in the modern era. There is emerging evidence, however, that personal daily travel has recently ceased to grow in developed economies. The historic increase in mobility served to enlarge access to desired destinations and allowed more choice of jobs, homes, shops schools etc within acceptable travel times. Access and choice increase in proportion to the square of the speed, whereas choice of any given kind of destination is characterised by declining marginal utility. Accordingly, saturation of daily travel demand is to be expected and is a likely explanation for the observed cessation of per capita growth of personal travel.

This paper reports on the construction of an Input-Output table for the economy of Morocco. The table is calibrated to the year 1990 and details the interactions between 133 primary, manufacturing, and service sectors, relying on a combination of a more aggregate table estimated by the Moroccan government and detailed data from official sources. This table will form the core of a detailed social accounting matrix (SAM) currently under construction as part of the same work programme. Ultimately, the SAM will be incorporated into a general equilibrium model, to be used cooperatively by the Development Centre, the Moroccan government, and the World Bank for trade and resource policy analysis. This report describes in detail the construction of the Input-Output table, presents the table in its entirety, and provides some preliminary multiplier estimates elucidating the links between Moroccan agriculture and the rest of the economy ...

This paper reviews the main monthly indicators that could help forecasting world trade and compares different type of forecasting models using these indicators. In particular it develops dynamic factor models (DFM) which have the advantage of handling larger datasets of information than bridge models and allowing for the inclusion of numerous monthly indicators on a national and world-wide level such as financial indicators, transportation and shipping indices, supply and orders variables and information technology indices. The comparison of the forecasting performance of the DFMs with more traditional bridge equation models as well as autoregressive benchmarking models shows that, the dynamic factor approach seems to perform better, especially when a large set of indicators is used, but also that the marginal gains in adding indicators seems to diminish after a certain stage.

The idea of local “ownership” of development policies is now popular among the donor community, but without a reduction of conditionality on aid disbursements, enhanced ownership will be difficult to achieve. While there are still strong reasons for attaching certain kinds of conditionality to aid, policy conditionality has been shown to be largely ineffective and often counterproductive. Donors insisting on policy conditions may in any case soon find themselves sidelined, as developing countries find alternative official and private sources of finance with fewer strings attached.

In the highly competitive international world of learning, universities make full use of favourable league table positions to strengthen their reputations. Yet are they, in so doing, entering into a Faustian Bargain in which the long-term cost outweighs the short-term gain? Success in league tables comes at a cost in terms of accepting the orthodoxies of others instead of pursuing particular institutional missions linked to the particular priorities of the local community.

Based on recent surveys of institutional experience and on a new analysis of the impact of league tables on English higher education, this paper argues that if, as seems likely, rankings are here to stay, the shortcomings of the present approach must be acknowledged and addressed.

By Peter W.A. West, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom

L’exploitation des classements nationaux et internationaux par les établissements d’enseignement supérieur : Un pacte avec le diable ?

Face à l’internationalisation du secteur éducatif, désormais hautement concurrentiel, les universités exploitent au maximum leur place dans les classements internationaux en vue d’accroître leur prestige. Mais cette stratégie ne revient-elle pas à conclure un pacte avec le diable, dont les coûts à long terme sont en réalité bien supérieurs aux avantages immédiats ? L’université qui choisit d’asseoir sa réputation sur ces classements accepte en effet, implicitement, de se plier aux règles fixées par ceux qu’elle cherche à émuler, au lieu de concentrer ses efforts sur certaines missions spécifiques, plus en adéquation avec les besoins particuliers de la communauté locale.

À la lumière de sondages récents menés auprès des établissements, et d’une nouvelle analyse de l’impact des classements sur le système d’enseignement supérieur britannique, ce rapport suggère que si la pratique des classements persiste – et c’est fort probable – le secteur n’aura d’autre choix que d’identifier leurs insuffisances et anomalies pour y apporter les améliorations nécessaires.

Par Peter W.A. West, Université de Strathclyde, Royaume-Uni

The Slovakian university campus usually consists of separate functional zones assembled around the campus centre. The central area allows for interaction and directs students towards other integrated centres.

This paper presents an application to Ecuador of a computable general equilibrium model with a financial component, following the lead of F. Bourguignon, W. Branson and J. de Melo. Their macro-micro model was introduced in Technical Paper No.1 "Macroeconomic Adjustment and Income Distribution. A Macro-micro Simulation Model".

The authors first review the crisis of the Ecuadorian economy, the stabilization programmes that were implemented by governments and the economic effects of these programmes. Then the model and the corresponding data base are presented and used to perform three dynamic simulations. In the first case, there is no adjustment; in the second simulation, all public expenditures are reduced by the same percentage; and in the third simulation, the annual growth in money supply is reduced. For each simulation, the authors display the effects on growth, imbalances and income distribution. Finally a sensitivity analysis has been undertaken in order to assess the impact ...

The design of this flexible school for early childhood education in Milan, Italy, takes into account children’s development and the different ways they experience space according to their age. The facilities will include not only a nursery school and kindergarten, but also a drop-in day-care centre, a play centre and outdoor areas to develop the senses.

In recent years entrepreneurship has become a buzzword that?s entered the mainstream. Politicians continuously cite its importance and the need to create more entrepreneurial societies, and newspapers and television programmes frequently create themes around successful entrepreneurs. But, the pursuit and development of policies related to entrepreneurship are often hampered by the limited, albeit growing, empirical information relating to entrepreneurship (its size, factors and benefits). Therefore, in the absence of definitions that capture the essence of entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship indicators that are internationally comparable, policy makers are left somewhat rudderless when it comes to developing policies, particularly when they relate to learning from international best-practice. These shortcomings and the growing importance of entrepreneurship in the policy domain have magnified the need for a sounder basis for internationally comparable indicators of entrepreneurship. This paper provides a framework that is intended to provide that sounder basis. It does so by adopting a holistic approach, and, so, by focusing on the: factors that impede or motivate entrepreneurship (determinants); measures that provide indicators of the state of entrepreneurship (entrepreneurial performance); and, outcomes (impacts) of that performance on the economy as a whole. Each of these three themes provides the overarching structure to the framework, using a standardised OECD definition of entrepreneurship, and, within each, we develop a suite of indicators that provide the basis for quantifiable information to be collected in an internationally comparable way for each of these themes.

This paper proposes an analytical framework for assessing policies that will contribute to a better integration of environmental externalities in the pursuit of economic efficiency and growth objectives. The framework consists of two parts. The first part lays out principles and criteria for the identification and selection of policies that will benefit both income and the environment or that will boost income at the least cost in terms of the environment (and vice-versa). In general putting a price on a pollution source or on the over-exploitation of a scarce resource is found to be the most efficient single policy to address many environment externalities. However, given that environmental damage often result from several interacting market failures, an appropriate policy response will in many cases involve a mix of complementary instruments. The second part focuses more on issues of structural adjustment related to the transition towards a greener economy. It finds that green growth policies could lead to significant re-allocation of resources within and across broad economic sectors. A policy framework facilitating the re-deployment of labour across firms and sectors, as well as the entry of new firms and the exit of firms in declining industries will thus be important in order for countries to seize the opportunities brought about by green growth policies.

The external accident cost of road use is a function of the marginal relationship between road use and accidents, as expressed, for instance, by the elasticity. This elasticity is, however, not necessarily constant, but may be assumed to depend on the traffic volume as seen in relation to road capacity. Dense or congested traffic may force speed levels down, decreasing the risk of accidents or at least the average loss incurred given that an accident takes place. Relying on a large econometric accident model based on monthly cross-section/time-series data for all provinces of Norway, we derive non-linear empirical functions describing the relationship between road use and accidents and discuss their implications in terms of accident costs and externalities. The analysis reveals that there is probably a large accident externality generated by heavy vehicle road use, but that the marginal external accident cost of private car use is quite small, perhaps even negative. To the extent that it is positive, it is so in large part on account of public and private insurance. Contrary to what is frequently believed and maintained, auto insurance does not serve to internalise the cost of accidents. In fact, its primary purpose and effect is exactly the opposite. The adverse incentives created by insurance could, however, be mitigated by certain innovative approaches to ratemaking. Such schemes would ideally involve more decision variables than just the decision to drive. Incentives could, in principle, be attached to speeding, route choice, vehicle choice, safety equipment, or time of day/week/year.

With its publication of the Thematic Review on the Transition from Initial Education to Working Life in 2000, OECD has laid the foundation for the development of indicators regarding the transition from education to work. One of the core activities of OECD’s Network B in 2005 and 2006 was to further develop these indicators by establishing a framework for monitoring transition systems. A transition system is defined as “the social institutions and processes through which a society provides its members to make the transition from the education system to the employment system”. The current report presents the results of this developmental work. It first presents the results of a quick scan carried out among the Network B members on the policy goals for transition systems and relevant indicators used to assess national situations (November 2002-January 2003). Next a theoretical framework is presented that identifies the most relevant characteristics of transition systems. It also relates the outcomes of the transition system to relevant characteristics of the educational system on the one hand and the employment system on the other hand. Based on the results of the quick scan and the developed theoretical framework, an evaluation of the earlier defined policy goals is carried, proposing a new set of 11 policy goals. As a next step, the existing data sources from OECD, EUROSTAT and major international surveys have been analysed to identify relevant indicators for the policy goals as well as descriptors for relevant other aspects of the developed framework. This report presents an overview of these indicators and descriptors. The theoretical framework and the developed set of indicators have been discussed at the March 2006 meeting of the Network B in Washington DC. Members of the network have also sent written comments. All these comments have been taken up in this final version. The report concludes with recommendations for the further data collection strategy.

OECD Member countries have grown increasingly interested in the use of

contract type arrangements in the 1990s as a means of improving public sector

performance. This interest reflects a number of broad challenges to traditional

governance structures. These challenges include the demand for greater efficiency

through highly adaptive and flexible public sectors and the increasing pressure of

accumulated public debt and fiscal deficits. "Governments must strive to do

things better, with fewer resources, and, above all, differently."

In 2015, PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment) asked students to describe their well-being in addition to collecting information on students’ subject-specific skills. This paper provides a comprehensive overview and details the policy relevance of the following five dimensions of well-being covered in PISA 2015: cognitive, psychological, social, physical and material well-being. In addition, the paper outlines the underlying indicators of each dimension and their theoretical and analytical value for education policy. This paper concludes by identifying data gaps within the indicators and exploring how future cycles of PISA could bridge these gaps in order to provide a more comprehensive portrait of students’ well-being.

Over the last three decades, a number of frameworks have been developed to promote and measure well-being, quality of life, human development and sustainable development. Some frameworks use a conceptual approach while others employ a consultative approach, and different initiatives to measure progress will require different frameworks. The aim of this paper is to present a proposed framework for measuring the progress of societies, and to compare it with other progress frameworks that are currently in use around the world. The framework does not aim to be definitive, but rather to suggest a common starting point that the authors believe is broad-based and flexible enough to be applied in many situations around the world. It is also the intention that the framework could be used to identify gaps in existing statistical standards and to guide work to fill these gaps.

This article explores the planning and design of educational facilities from a gender perspective, with a view to guiding future research and policy analysis.

This second edition of the Global Action Plan for Electronic Commerce published by the Alliance for Global Business (AGB) reflects a number of developments in the global discussions about electronic commerce since the first Global Action Plan was submitted on behalf of business to the OECD Ministerial in Ottawa, Canada, in October 1998.

The Russian economy continues to grow strongly, buoyed by rising terms of trade, which, in turn, are supporting a boom in domestic consumption. This paper addresses the challenge that the adjustment to sustained high oil prices poses for macroeconomic management. It first examines the impact of rising terms of trade on the domestic economy, particularly with respect to exchange-rate appreciation, competitiveness and inflation. It then considers the role of monetary and fiscal policies in ensuring a smooth adjustment to the higher terms of trade. The paper argues that fiscal policy should be the primary instrument for tackling this challenge. It therefore focuses on the potential role of a fiscal rule in insulating the economy and the budget from commodity-price fluctuations, and on the management of windfall oil and gas revenues accumulated in the fiscal Stabilisation Fund.

The twin problem of in-work poverty and persistent labour market difficulties of low-skilled individuals has been one of the most important drivers of tax-benefit policy reforms in OECD countries in recent years. Employment-conditional cash transfers to individuals facing particular labour-market challenges have been a core element of “make-work-pay” policies for some time and are now in use in more than half of the OECD countries. They are attractive because they redistribute to low-income groups while also creating additional work incentives. But like all social benefits, they have to be financed, which creates additional economic costs for some. This paper discusses the rationale for in-work benefits (IWB), summarises the main design features of programmes operated in OECD countries, and provides an update of what is known about their effectiveness in terms of reducing inequalities and creating employment. As policies aiming to promote self-sufficiency, wage subsidies and minimum wages share a number of the objectives associated with IWB measures. We review evidence on the effectiveness of minimum wages and wage subsidies and discuss links between these policies and IWBs. Finally, we outline some potential consequences of weakening labour markets for the effectiveness of make-work-pay policies.