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Health care expenditure per person, after accounting for changes in overall price levels, began to slow in many OECD countries in the early-to-mid 2000s, well before the economic and fiscal crisis. Using available estimates from the OECD’s System of Health Accounts (SHA) database, we explore common trends in health care expenditure since 1996 in a set of 22 OECD countries. We assess the extent to which the trends observed are the results of cyclical economic influences, and the respective contributions of changes in relative prices, health care volumes and coverage to the slowdown in health care expenditure growth. Our analysis suggests that cyclical factors may account for a little less than one half of the estimated slowdown in health care spending since the crisis, suggesting that structural changes have contributed to the trends. Before the crisis the slowdown in health care expenditure growth was accounted for by health care prices growing less than general prices and a reduction in care volumes, whereas the latter accounts for most of the steeper deceleration after the crisis. Although both privately and publically financed health care expenditure grew at a reduced pace during the study period, the sharp post-crisis deceleration happened mostly in the public component. When examined by function, the slowdown in publicly-financed expenditure has been largest in curative and rehabilitative care (particularly after the crisis) and in medical goods (especially pharmaceuticals), whereas the deceleration in the privately financed component is largely in medical goods (including pharmaceuticals). We conclude that structural changes in publicly financed health care have constrained the growth of care volumes (especially) and prices leading to a marked reduction in health care expenditure growth rates, beyond what could be expected based on cyclical economic fluctuations. We examine a range of government policies enacted in a selection of OECD countries that likely contributed to the structural changes observed in our analysis.

Health care expenditure per person, after accounting for changes in overall price levels, began to slow in many OECD countries in the early-to-mid 2000s, well before the economic and fiscal crisis. Using available estimates from the OECD’s System of Health Accounts (SHA) database, we explore common trends in health care expenditure since 1996 in a set of 22 OECD countries. We assess the extent to which the trends observed are the results of cyclical economic influences, and the respective contributions of changes in relative prices, health care volumes and coverage to the slowdown in health care expenditure growth. Our analysis suggests that cyclical factors may account for a little less than one half of the estimated slowdown in health care spending since the crisis, suggesting that structural changes have contributed to the trends. Before the crisis the slowdown in health care expenditure growth was accounted for by health care prices growing less than general prices and a reduction in care volumes, whereas the latter accounts for most of the steeper deceleration after the crisis. Although both privately and publically financed health care expenditure grew at a reduced pace during the study period, the sharp post-crisis deceleration happened mostly in the public component. When examined by function, the slowdown in publicly-financed expenditure has been largest in curative and rehabilitative care (particularly after the crisis) and in medical goods (especially pharmaceuticals), whereas the deceleration in the privately financed component is largely in medical goods (including pharmaceuticals). We conclude that structural changes in publicly financed health care have constrained the growth of care volumes (especially) and prices leading to a marked reduction in health care expenditure growth rates, beyond what could be expected based on cyclical economic fluctuations. We examine a range of government policies enacted in a selection of OECD countries that likely contributed to the structural changes observed in our analysis.

This paper documents a number of stylized facts of quarterly frequency cyclical fluctuations in a specific group of developing economies, previously belonging to the same country organization, the former Soviet Union. We find that in these countries (1) fluctuations are in general less persistent than elsewhere; (2) private consumption is extremely volatile; (3) net exports are procyclical and persistent in commodity exporter countries; (4) government consumption is a very important, dominantly procyclical determinant of output; (5) Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and to a smaller degree, Kazakhstan and Moldova are surprisingly similar in the behavior of their GDP components, industrial production and certain nominal variables; (6) there is mixed evidence regarding the dominance of supply versus demand shocks.

Cyberbullying is a high priority policy challenge in many OECD countries. In recent years, the literature base on cyberbullying has rapidly expanded, shedding insights into the prevalence of the issue, highlighting which characteristics make children more likely to be cyberbullied, those that make them more likely to cyberbully others, and how this affects or is affected by well-being. Education systems have responded to this challenge in different ways such as promoting awareness of the issue, providing support to children in schools, through Internet safety initiatives, and implementing policies and sometimes laws to combat cyberbullying. There are a number of empirically assessed interventions that aim to support victims and reduce perpetration, although more information is needed on how to develop and scale up effective interventions. Furthermore, the current literature base underscores the need to establish a common and agreed upon definition of cyberbullying, and a need for research to identify its causes and effects.

Curriculum plays an important role in ensuring continuity and progression from early childhood education and care (ECEC) to primary education. The alignment of curricula and standards across these settings shapes children’s early experiences with education systems, with implications for children’s relationships and engagement in both ECEC and primary school, as well as longer-term learning and well-being outcomes. Governments can achieve curricular continuity in various ways, ranging from high-level alignment of goals across multiple curriculum documents to full integration of the curriculum into a single document that covers both ECEC and primary school. The broader contexts of education systems, such as organisation and governance, the training of staff and teachers who work in these settings, matter for curricular continuity – and an integrated curriculum alone does not guarantee a continuous experience for children. International data and in-depth case studies from seven jurisdictions (Japan, Luxembourg, New Jersey [United States], New Zealand, Norway, Scotland [United Kingdom] and Victoria [Australia]) provide insights to these different approaches to curricular alignment.

This paper discusses the financial systems of OECD Enhanced Engagement Countries (EE5: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa). Rather than providing a comprehensive survey of each financial system, it is designed to highlight some of the salient features of EE5 financial systems, emphasising those aspects of the system that these countries have in common and those that are different from those in OECD countries. While there are significant differences among EE5 countries, this group shares some distinctive characteristics. EE5 have relatively lower financial assets/GDP ratios and their financial intermediation remains relatively bank dominated and less international. Equity markets have reached proportions comparable to those of OECD countries, but fixed income markets (especially private debt markets) remain relatively backward. At the same time, the financial systems of EE5 countries have been developing rapidly supported by steady reforms. Going forward, many institutions outside OECD countries are likely to become bigger players in financial markets, and the emergence of large asset holdings, rising shares of world equity and bond markets and the emergence of powerful financial institutions in new regions of the world are likely to influence the contours of the world financial system in years to come.

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the current period performance of the OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) for 21 OECD Member countries and three zone aggregates for which CLIs are available for a longer time period. The main aim of the current analysis on CLIs is to further evaluate the quality of the indicator in order to identify areas where their reliability could be improved. The results show that first estimates of CLIs are revised frequently but the size of revisions is rather small for most countries and almost neglectable for zone aggregates and there is no evidence of bias. The OECD CLI is, however, designed to provide early signals of turning points (peaks and troughs) between expansions and slowdowns of economic activity. Forecasting turning points is one of the main objectives of the leading indicator technique, because predicting the timing of cyclical turning points is one of the least reliable activities in economic forecasting. The results provide evidence that first and second estimates of year-on-year growth rates give reliable signals of approaching cyclical turning points. Finally, the importance of smoothness of components in the calculation of first and second estimates of the CLI and the overall smoothness of the CLI itself is noted in the findings. The results support the argument that it is not enough to have timely components they also need to be smooth to guarantee small revisions. Overall, this study has shown that whilst it could be dangerous to draw conclusions on the directions up or down in growth rates from one or two months figures for several countries, the first and second estimates of the CLIs give early signals of approaching turning points which in most cases are not revised later.

This document compiles information provided by member countries and other delegations on current developments on the safety of manufactured nanomaterials (section I) in their countries or organizations. There are also written reports on current activities related to nanotechnologies/ nanomaterials in other International Organisations such as the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) (section II). In addition, delegations added a short bulleted list of highlights at the top of their submissions to give readers a general idea of key events since the 1st meeting of the Working Party.