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This paper reviews opportunities and challenges for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from Morocco’s transport sector. It provides an overview of the transport system and reviews the country’s existing policies and future plans for reducing CO2 emissions from transport. The paper also provides an overview of the data on transport activity and emissions available for Morocco, and the tools used by government agencies for assessing them. Finally, it proposes options for further action in the context of ITF’s “Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies” (DTEE) project

About 90% of homes in the Netherlands depending on natural gas for heating, the Netherlands has made a commitment to phase out natural gas by 2050. To achieve the goal, the Netherlands has rolled out a natural gas-free pilot programme in 66 neighbourhoods. These neighbourhood pilot projects enabled municipalities to learn what it takes to start energy transition.

Based on a city survey carried out across 26 local governments, key findings from this report call on national and local governments joining up their efforts to take place-based measures.

This paper is the first case study applying the policy framework presented in the OECD report Decarbonising Buildings in Cities and Regions published in March 2022. The present case study provides a deep dive into the Netherlands’ experience to demonstrate the potential of cities and regions to advance the decarbonisation of buildings.

Intergovernmental fiscal frameworks usually reflect fundamental societal choices and history and are not foremost geared towards achieving economic policy objectives. Yet, like most institutional arrangements, fiscal relations affect the behaviour of firms, households and governments and thereby economic activity. This paper presents empirical research on the potential effects of fiscal decentralisation on a set of outcomes such as GDP, productivity, public investment and school performance. The results can be summarised as follows: decentralisation, as measured by revenue or spending shares, is positively associated with GDP per capita levels. The impact seems to be stronger for revenue decentralisation than for spending decentralisation. Decentralisation is strongly and positively associated with educational outcomes as measured by international student assessments (PISA). While educational functions can be delegated either to sub-central governments (SCG) or to schools, the results suggest that both strategies appear to be equally beneficial for educational performance. Finally, investment in physical and – especially – human capital as a share of general government spending is significantly higher in more decentralised countries.
This paper analyses the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and economic activity. Like other institutional arrangements, fiscal decentralisation affects firms, households and public entities, and the way they save, invest, spend or innovate. This in turn may have considerable consequences for the long-term growth potential of a country. Based on a set of growth regressions, the results suggest that the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and GDP per capita, productivity or human capital is positive and statistically significant, while the relationship with investment is insignificant. Doubling the sub-central tax or spending share (e.g. moving from a decentralisation ratio of 15 to 30%) is associated with an increase of GDP per capita by 3% on average. Revenue-based decentralisation indicators (e.g. decentralisation of tax revenue or tax autonomy) deliver results both statistically and economically (larger coefficients) more significant than spending-based indicators. The results vary little between federal and unitary countries in general. Intergovernmental transfers tend to be negatively associated with GDP per capita. Finally, the relationship between decentralisation and GDP per capita is non-linear, with results suggesting that returns to decentralisation are decreasing.
Theories of fiscal competition between jurisdictions suggest that investment in productive relative to consumptive spending is higher in a decentralised setting, and that efficiency of the public sector is also higher. This paper empirically analyses the link between decentralisation and the composition of public spending as well as the relation between decentralisation and educational performance. The results suggest that fiscal decentralisation increases the share of public funds directed to capital spending and that the bulk of this shift is due to higher education spending. Using an education production function approach and PISA results (Programme of International Student Assessment) as an indicator of educational output, the results suggest that educational performance is significantly higher in decentralised countries, even when controlling for spending and other variables affecting education. A 10% point increase in decentralisation increases educational performance by four PISA points, thereby improving the PISA ranking by around four country positions on average. Decentralisation to lower government levels and decentralisation to the school level (school autonomy) have a similar impact on educational performance.
Decentralisation has become a key issue in development policy in the past two decades. Whereas the advantages and risks of transferring power and resources to local tiers of government have been debated for quite some time, it is only very recently that the linkages between decentralization and poverty reduction have been addressed. This Policy Insight highlights key determinants for a pro-poor decentralisation process and discusses major lessons learnt for donors.
French

Decentralisation has been advocated by donors and development agencies as an important factor broadening citizen participation and improving local governance, thereby promoting poverty reduction from the bottom up. On the basis of a comprehensive review of 19 country case studies documented in the literature, this paper questions this assumption.

Based on a survey, this paper presents new data on the decentralisation of the housing system and co-ordination mechanisms across levels of government, focusing on the provision of social housing. Decision-making in social housing tends to be more devolved to sub-national actors, as compared to other key public services. Policy decision making tends to be more centralised, while sub-national governments and housing providers have more control over decisions regarding the inputs, outputs and monitoring of social housing. Governments globally have implemented a mix of housing policy interventions. Demand side interventions include tax allowances and subsidies to facilitate the purchase of a home or the provision of social housing in the rental market to those in need. Interventions to influence the supply of housing are generally aimed at housing developers or sub-national governments, to stimulate housing construction. There are a number of policy tools readily available to sub-national governments to improve housing outcomes, including the implementation and reform of taxes on immovable property and the relaxation of restrictive land use regulations.

Based on an OECD survey, this paper presents quantitative and qualitative data on the decentralisation of health systems, focusing on how they vary according to different institutional characteristics and what types of performance measurement systems are used in the health sector. Decision-making in health care tends to rest largely with the central government, which has considerable power across many aspects of the delivery of health services. However, sub-national governments have more control over decisions regarding the inputs, outputs and monitoring of health care services. The majority of OECD countries tends to rely on centralised performance measurement systems, especially to monitor the performance of hospital providers, focusing more on improving performance rather than reducing service costs. Less likely to be monitored under a specific performance framework are providers of ancillary services, retailers and other providers of medical goods, and providers of preventive care.

Decentralising health services – the transfer of power and responsibility from the central to the local level – should help the poor if local resources, accountability and governance are in good shape. The process in China and India had negative effects because local governments remained under-funded and health was not seen as their priority. Contrary to this, decentralisation in Indonesia and the Philippines produced better health outcomes because they reformed healthcare funding. This is key to successful pro-poor decentralisation.
French

Globalisation accompanied by the growing importance of information technology and knowledge-based production pose challenging problems for federations. We summarise the difficulties that traditional decentralised federations face in addressing problems of competitiveness, innovation and inequality brought on by globalisation. Adapting to these challenges involves rethinking the roles of various levels of government and rebalancing them appropriately. On the one hand, responding to inequality enhances the policy role of the federal government. On the other hand, state and local governments must respond to the imperative of providing education and business services to equip citizens and firms to compete in the knowledge economy. Perhaps most important, large urban governments are best placed to provide the physical and social capital to support innovation hubs. A key challenge for fiscal federalism is to facilitate the decentralisation of responsibilities to urban governments. This entails new thinking about revenue decentralisation, policy harmonisation and the structure of intergovernmental transfers so that cities can implement their policies effectively and accountably.

This article sheds light on the role of subnational governments in health systems across OECD countries. The views in this article show a move away from traditional measures of decentralisation, such as the share of subnational government expenditure of total expenditure, to measures capturing a range of responsibilities in the health sector. The data comes from the 2017 OECD Survey on Performance Measurement Systems in the Health Sector and Responsibilities across Levels of Government. The results show that despite health representing a large sector of subnational government expenditure, central governments still have considerable decision-making power. This power applies to key policy-making and budgeting decisions.

In 1998 Indonesia embarked on an ambitious course of decentralisation. Over a period of a few years, facilitated by financial transfers from the central government, responsibility for many public services and administrative tasks were devolved to local authorities. This process is continuing. Regional development is now very much in the hands of the four sub-national tiers of government. However, the speed of the devolution means that much is being done without the required accompanying skills, technical capacities, resources and oversight. As a result, while good progress has been made nationally along a number dimensions, outcomes in health, education, infrastructure, corruption and the provision of other social services have not improved as quickly as was hoped, and the variance in results across the regions has been enormous. Rather than simply devolving more and more responsibilities to sub-national authorities, the central government needs to take a more strategic view of regional economic development. This includes monitoring the performance of sub-national governments, providing them with technical assistance where needed, encouraging them to emulate the best performers and in the short- to medium-term using grants to direct spending to priority areas. The inter-governmental transfer framework also would benefit from better oversight and a strategic vision. Moreover, the perverse incentives it embodies are driving rent-seeking and the fragmentation of local jurisdictions. In the longer term the objective should be tax autonomy and transfers based exclusively on block grants although this should be conditional on adequate oversight and administrative capacities within the sub-national authorities. Conflicting and overlapping laws and regulations across levels of government are also inhibiting regional development by obstructing private business development and investment. This Working Paper relates to the 2016 OECD Economic Survey of Indonesia (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-survey-indonesia.htm).

Decentralised development cooperation (DDC), or partnerships for sustainable development between cities and regions in developed and developing countries, can help drive major global agendas forward. Achieving a sustainable, equitable and resilient future requires action from subnational governments in many key SDGs and emerging areas, such as the response to the global health crisis, support for refugees and implementing net-zero pathways. The Global policy toolkit: Guidance for practitioners shows how DDC can promote mutual benefits and peer-to-peer learning, bring development co-operation closer to people and their daily lives, and deliver technical services and expertise. By providing a repository of good practices and guidance on implementation modalities, the toolkit seeks to promote policy dialogue and mutual learning across DDC actors and to enhance DDC effectiveness, efficiency and impact worldwide.

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda raises the urgency to address growing financing and capacity needs at all levels of government in developing countries (para. 34) while the 2030 Agenda calls to “localise” the SDGs. In its High Level Communiqué of 31 October 2017, the DAC stressed that “complex challenges increasingly require coherent approaches at all levels and co-ordinated, inclusive actions”, remaining “committed to improving quality and impact of our development co-operation policies”. Decentralised development co-operation, or international development co-operation carried out by subnational governments, is one tool OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members can deploy to ensure that development co-operation is fit-for-purpose and responds to the local realities of the 2030 Agenda. The paper provides an assessment of the potential strengthens of decentralised development co-operation approaches as well as new opportunities to overcome longstanding challenges, including through the promotion of new forms of multi-level and multi-stakeholder partnerships.

Evidence of public concerns about globalisation is pervasive -- in the newspapers, on the Internet and more formal discussions of public policy. The business community has been attempting to position itself with respect to these concerns. Indeed, voluntary efforts to define and implement appropriate standards for business conduct constitute one of the more prominent managerial developments in recent years. These efforts have also often involved significant contributions from NGOs, governments and intergovernmental organisations.

The issuance of voluntary codes of conduct has been an important facet of these developments. Such codes are voluntary expressions of commitment made by an organisation to influence or control behaviour for the benefit of the organisation itself and for the communities in which it operates. Private companies and associations of companies have issued such codes, calling them codes of conduct, ethics statements or guidelines, in response to both internal and ...

Decision-makers in fisheries management are confronted with the challenge of how to respond to existing and predicted changes in ocean conditions that are likely to affect the stocks of fish they manage. In order to address climate change most research and thinking advises decision-makers to ensure that fisheries are well-managed and abundant in an ecosystem context. These policies can best allow fisheries to adapt to changing climate. To address climate change, decision-makers should carefully monitor changing conditions and potential changes in factors affecting fish stock abundance. An adaptive approach to fisheries management under conditions of climate change requires that decision-makers engage with fishing interests in a transparent manner and in ways that respect the input of fishing interests and in ways that acknowledge the levels of uncertainty. This approach implies a governance approach to management that is closer to co-management or shared management responsibility than in most hierarchical processes that characterize fishery management to date. The answer to the question of when fishery decision-makers should begin to incorporate climate change into decision making processes is that they should have started yesterday. The justification for this is that even today, climate variability can affect fishery management decisions and the sooner this is understood and incorporated into the management process the better. In economic terms, a conservative decision relative to fisheries management is likely to produce a positive long term benefit whereas the failure to recognize the need to act in time may have serious immediate negative consequences especially when compounded by inadequate management. While climate change can also produce positive consequences for some species a note of caution is still advised in anticipating and responding to such opportunities.

This paper analyses trends in business dynamism across 18 countries and 22 industries over the last two decades, using highly representative comparable data. It finds that declines in business dynamism, pervasive in many countries, are driven by dynamics occurring at a disaggregated sectoral level, rather than reallocation across sectors. Average trends within sectors point to steady declines in each country over the last two decades, even after accounting for the role of the business cycle, with market structure and firm heterogeneity emerging as prominent determinants. Investments in intangibles and digital technologies, globalisation, and changes in demographics also contribute to these trends. Policy can, however, help boost business dynamism by reducing barriers to entry and to knowledge diffusion, favouring experimentation and creative destruction, and increasing absorptive capacity and firms’ potential to benefit from technological change.

Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) have become the major route for countries to reduce trade barriers and open new markets. To fully assess the current state of market opening for agricultural products and examine the potential impacts of RTAs, access to up-to-date and consistent information on preferential tariffs is crucial. There are multiple databases that collect information on preferential tariffs; however, it is not always easy to identify how these databases differ in terms of their data collection, treatment and representation, nor which database is the most appropriate for a specific type of analysis. This practical guide aims to help trade negotiators, policy makers, researchers, and private sector actors to identify which international or national database to use for their analysis of preferential tariffs on agricultural products.

This paper compares notional defined-contribution pension schemes (also known as notional accounts) with two alternative designs of earnings-related pension schemes: points systems and definedbenefit plans. It examines, in detail, four economic advantages of notional accounts that deliver retirement incomes in an equitable and economically efficient manner. The issue of equity arises in the treatment of people who draw their pensions at different ages and contribute for a different number of years. The issue of economic efficiency arises because pension systems can and do distort individual decisions to work and save. First, benefits are based on lifetime earnings, rather than a subset of “best” or “final” years’ pay. Secondly, an extra year’s contribution gives rise to an additional benefit. Thirdly, benefits are reduced to reflect the longer expected duration of payment for people who retire early and, similarly, increased for people who retire late. Finally, benefits are reduced as life expectancy increases, again to reflect the longer duration for which benefits would be paid. An analysis of OECD countries’ pension systems – of all different types – shows that most have already achieved most of these objectives, but without adopting notional accounts.
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