Browse by: "F"

There is growing concern, across a wide range of countries, about the levels of financial capability of consumers. A large number of initiatives are therefore being developed to address this issue; and countries are increasingly rolling out national strategies on financial capability. To do this effectively requires evidence on the areas where financial capability in the population is low and an identification of the extent to which these should be addressed by financial education and/or consumer protection measures. Yet there is remarkably little robust information in this area and none that is comparable across countries. This report is aimed at informing the work of the OECD International Network on Financial Education (INFE) in this field, by 1) elaborating a set of draft good practice guidelines for the design of national financial literacy surveys and; 2) proposing guidelines for the design of a core set of good practice questions for embedding within any national surveys aimed at measuring financial literacy levels.

The abuse of public office for private gains – discourages business dynamism, reducing investment and innovation, and weighs on growth prospects. It also undermines the equality of opportunities, distorts the income distribution and erodes trust in government. Corruption is often closely associated with other economic crimes such as tax evasion and money laundering. Corruption takes diverse forms such as bribery and abuse of functions, and is often a multi-faceted phenomenon. It prevails through many different mechanisms, stemming from deficiencies in specific policy areas under weak constraints against corrupt behaviour. Therefore, successfully combatting corrupt behaviour requires a comprehensive approach, addressing a wide range of policy areas. The framework developed in this paper explores in detail how corruption is associated with different policy settings. This framework also makes the most use of the existing corruption indicators, which reflect different understandings of corruption, in order to identify priority policy areas for each country. This framework aims to serve as a pathway to orient OECD Economic Surveys to state-of-the-art policy discussions which have been increasingly matured in each policy area within the Organisation.

The authorities have a very ambitious environmental-policy agenda, aimed chiefly at cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also at dealing with local air and water pollution, waste management and the conservation of biodiversity. The laws that followed the Grenelle de l?environnement encompass policy measures in energy generation, manufacturing, transport, waste management, construction and agriculture to encourage a transition towards a low-carbon economy. The government is committed to an ambitious GHG reduction objective of 75% to be achieved by 2050. This paper evaluates its policies in terms of cost effectiveness, with a special emphasis on: how to impose a unique carbon price in the aftermath of the rejection of the carbon tax by the Constitutional Council; the challenges relating to renewable and nuclear electricity generation; the ways to reduce carbon intensity in the residential and transport sectors; how to improve waste management; and whether external costs related to the use of fertilisers and pesticides are properly accounted for in water management. Whereas considerable progress has been made to “green” the economy, an important challenge that remains is to internalise global and local externalities in all sectors of the economy so as to increase the cost-effectiveness of environmental policies.

This working paper looks at the Frascati Manual (FM) framework for Research and Development (R&D) statistics and the System of National Accounts (SNA) framework of comprehensive economic accounts - giving an overview of their shared history and analysing similarities and differences in their approaches to measuring R&D following a fundamental change of the treatment of R&D in the 2008 SNA.

The working paper also highlights the various actions taken in the 2015 revision of the FM which respond to National Accounts data needs and thereby aims to provide a common platform for collaboration and dialogue between FM and SNA practitioners. Finally, the FM and SNA R&D statistics are presented and their conceptual, data, and coverage underpinnings compared, helping to elucidate issues that need to be communicated to users so that they can better understand and interpret these related but different R&D statistics.

Free trade zones (FTZs) are vulnerable to illicit trade; despite many governments and zone operators taking steps to mitigate these vulnerabilities, they remain especially acute in trading operations of specific goods. One of these is gold. High-risk gold originating in Latin America and the Caribbean is often laundered within the region before advancing to destination markets. This report examines the risks and vulnerabilities linked to financial crimes in gold trade through FTZs, focusing in particular on Colombia, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

This report aims to provide a basis for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the current system, in comparison to rail systems elsewhere in the world, and provide an analytical basis for identification of opportunities for further improvement. It also discusses risks in relation to regulatory reform and the policy making process for managing those risks.

A review has been conducted, at the request of the French Authorities ministère de l’Industrie and ministère de la Recherche, of the first part of the CEA Report 2005 Les déchets radioactifs à haute activité et à vie longue – Recherches et résultats, that is Axe 1 – Séparation et transmutation des radionucléides à vie longue (CEA/DEN/DDIN/2004-642). This review has been organised by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and carried out by an international review team (IRT) of independent specialists representing all the relevant aspects of chemical partitioning, transmutation and nuclear materials technology. The CEA Report 2005 (the Report) represents a key milestone in the programme of work for which the CEA is responsible under Area 1 of the Law of 30 December 1991 that is “research into solutions enabling long-lived radioactive elements present in waste to be partitioned and transmuted”...

In this paper we describe the main features of the French social housing system as viewed from abroad, and place it within the context of systems in other major developed countries, particularly in Europe. At 17% of the total stock the social sector in France is of similar scale to many other European countries but aims to play a more =universalist‘ role. Moreover the sector still benefits from a special circuit of finance as well as direct subsidies to a greater degree than many comparator countries. Even so, increasing proportions of social tenants come from lower income groups and the government has legislated for rights to assistance. In this context we examine the comparative evidence on the stock of social housing and new construction in the sector; financing and subsidy regimes; systems for allocating tenants to social-housing dwellings; and the resulting demographics. We identify some French policies and practices that reflect the country‘s relative interest in maintaining a traditional social sector and areas such as public/private partnership where France has acted as leader in policy development. We also identify aspects of social housing where France is anomalous in a European context, as well as some where policy appears to have limited economic rationale. Finally, we make some observations about possible future policy directions. This Working Paper relates to the 2011 OECD Economic Survey of France (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/france).

This paper investigates the extent to which inflation rates in selected euro area countries are synchronised. The synchronisation of inflation is analysed using the multiple-correlation and multiple cross correlation at different frequencies using the methodology of wavelets. This new measure of cohesion based on wavelets allows us to assess how synchronisation has fevolved across different frequencies. Our results indicate that inflation correlations are more apparent at lower frequencies and the co-movement grows with lower frequencies. When we allow the correlation to be analysed across different frequencies as well as over time, our results indicate that the correlation has increased after the formation of euro area probably because of the common monetary policy.

Keywords: Co-movement, wavelets, time-frequency, inflation cycles
JEL classification: C40, E31, E32, F44

The Cancun Agreements outlined the list of topics to be included in biennial reports and indicated that guidelines for them were to be developed, but provided limited guidance on their structure and content. This paper proposes a structure for biennial reports for both developed and developing countries under the UNFCCC, and outlines possible reporting formats by which countries could submit this information.

The paper suggests that: (i) a similar structure is developed for biennial reports from both developed and developing countries; this would ensure consistency of information presented within different countries’ reports, and would also facilitate international assessment and review (IAR) and international consultations and analysis (ICA); (ii) three main sections are included for biennial reports from all Parties: GHG inventory information; progress on mitigation and mitigation actions; and financial, technology and capacity building support; in addition, a section on emissions projections would be mandatory for developed countries and optional for developing countries; (iii) biennial reports focus on key information where possible, with fuller descriptions and background information reported either in annexes (in the case of national inventory reports from developing countries) or less frequently via other reporting mechanisms under the UNFCCC (such as national communications).

This paper also proposes that flexibility be maintained in the reporting guidelines for biennial reports. This could be achieved through the use of “reporting levels” which reflect the different national circumstances and levels of reporting experience between Parties (particularly within the group of developing country Parties). Parties could choose the most appropriate level for each section of their report according to their goal type or reporting capacity, and “move up” levels as and when they can (as is currently the case for GHG inventory calculations). A limited number of levels are suggested for developed countries, as in many cases reporting to the highest level is already mandatory for these countries. For developing countries there could be greater flexibility and a higher number of reporting levels, reflecting the broad range of national circumstances and reporting capacities within this group. The introduction of reporting levels into guidelines would allow countries to provide information at a level that is consistent with their current capabilities, and to improve their reporting over time.

OECD countries invest significant resources in evaluating agricultural pesticides before they are marketed (or re-evaluating pesticides that have been in use for many years) to ensure that they do not pose unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. Since many pesticides used in OECD countries are the same, governments have recognised the substantial benefits that can be gained if the task of pesticide evaluations for registration and re-registration is shared, rather than duplicating each others' work. The OECD Pesticides Programme is working to establish the infrastructure that will facilitate such work sharing. The recent adoption of an OECD-wide future "vision", with specific deadlines for work sharing, should lead to additional (and more routine) work sharing arrangements between governments and industry.
This document provides responses to questions that are frequently asked by governments and industry about the concept of work sharing, and how it would operate in practice. Many of the questions were raised at an OECD seminar on work sharing, held on 31 May, 2006, at the Pesticide Control Service in Ireland. The answers were prepared by a panel of OECD government representatives at that seminar.

The inefficiency, corruption and lack of accountability that afflict public administration in Russia impose substantial direct costs on both entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens. This paper examines the major weaknesses of Russia’s public administration and assesses the government’s recently revised programme of administrative reform. It lays particular stress on the relationship between public bureaucracies and the larger institutional environment within which they operate, as well as on the need for far greater transparency of public bodies and stronger non-judicial means of redress for citizens wishing to challenge bureaucratic decisions. Many of the problems of Russia’s public administration are aggravated by the fact that the Russian state often tries to do too much: the paper therefore explores the link between administrative reform and the scope of state ownership and regulation.

With sound framework conditions, fine universities, good infrastructure and policies friendly towards foreign direct investment, Ireland scores high in international innovation scoreboards. Overall, policies to boost innovation and entrepreneurship are on the right track, but investment in knowledge-based capital could be made a more dynamic source of growth and jobs. While Ireland has made good progress towards building up its scientific capabilities, innovation capacity remains weaker than in other small advanced OECD countries, such as Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. To become more effective, the innovation strategy should be simplified, with a drastic reduction in the number of government agencies involved in funding innovation, so as to better focus on strengthening the linkages between the business and academic communities. While attracting high-tech multinationals should remain central, there is potential to better develop spillovers between these firms and domestic SMEs, notably by establishing applied research centres. Entrepreneurship should be fostered by improving the business environment, including access to non-bank finance, streamlining the insolvency regime and transfer of intellectual property rights, and upgrading the broadband network. This working paper relates to the 2013 Economic Survey of Ireland (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/ireland)

From 1983 to 1989 Mexico pursued a strategy of integration into the global economy and reducing dependence on the US economy. That strategy was based on bilateral sectoral negotiations with the United States and multilateral negotiations through GATT to obtain recipiocity for Mexico’s own trade liberalisation, combined with efforts to attract Japanese and European FDI. Economic reforms included rather harsh macroeconomic adjustments (notably fiscal-deficit reduction), which lowered annual inflation from 200 to 20 per cent, and trade liberalisation, which has helped to make Mexico a leading exporter of manufactures. More gradual and pragmatic reforms were undertaken to promote FDI, deregulate industry and privatise state enterprises.

The globalisation strategy was perceived as too ambitious, however, and abandoned in mid-1989 for three principal reasons: the US-Canada FTA was seen as a threat, changes in Eastern Europe were thought to undermine possibilities for significantly ...

This paper uses panel regressions to investigate the effects of innovation policies and framework factors on business R&D intensity and patenting for a sample of 20 OECD countries over the period 1982- 2001. Both sets of factors are found to matter; the main determinants of innovativeness appear to be the availability of scientists and engineers, research conducted in the public sector (including universities), business-academic links, the degree of product market competition, a high level of financial development and access to foreign inventions. The effect of direct public financial support for business R&D is generally positive but modest, though it may larger for cash-constrained firms. Intellectual property rights appear to increase patenting significantly, but have little impact on R&D spending. Finally, the paper takes a closer look at the labour market for researchers, estimating jointly equations for employment and wages. Although the supply of scientists and engineers is eventually responsive to wage differentials, both with other professions and across countries, the evidence suggests that it may difficult to raise significantly the real amount of domestic R&D in the short run because the supply of researchers is relatively inelastic.

Many OECD countries have in recent decades experienced periods of relatively rapid growth in nonemployment benefit expenditures and recipiency rates which have not subsequently been reversed. By contrast, in a number of OECD countries the number of unemployment benefit recipients has declined fairly sharply since the mid-1990s. Although national situations for particular benefits vary greatly, a variety of evidence suggests that there is now often substantial scope for bringing people currently in the sick and disabled, lone-parent, old-age and non-categorical social assistance groups into employment.

Innovation surveys provide a broad measure of the successful commercial introduction of new product and process innovations. The dual purposes of this paper are to establish whether survey-based measures of innovation are related to more widely used intermediate measures, such as R&D and patents, and to identify the principal factors that affect the probability of successful innovation. Cross-country panel data is used from the third European Community Innovation Survey (CIS3), with allowance made for possible differences by firm size and by sector of activity. The survey measures of innovative activity and success are found to be positively correlated with past R&D and patenting, suggesting that factors affecting the development of innovations also affect their subsequent implementation. The availability of qualified personnel and private financing, less rigid product and labour market regulations, greater co-operation in the innovation process and public financial support are all found to be positively associated with the proportion of successful innovators for at least some sectors and firm sizes. Innovation in small firms is found to be more dependent on co-operation and the availability of finance than in larger firms.

All countries in Central and Eastern Europe are experiencing a switch from labour hoarding to labour shedding with rapidly rising unemployment. Identifying each country's specific labour market problems - in particular, those groups which are most vulnerable to unemployment - will be essential for developing appropriate policies. Based on detailed statistical information being collected by the OECD, this paper provides an overview of labour markets in Central and Eastern Europe, both prior to and since the start of the transition process.

Section I of this paper describes the main characteristics of employment and wage structures which have been inherited from the former centrally-planned system in Central and Eastern Europe and also analyses longer-run demographic and labour force trends. Section II discusses more recent labour market developments, including the nature of employment losses, job creation in the private sector and the characteristics of the unemployed. Finally, some specific recommendations are provided on how to improve monitoring systems of labour market developments in these countries.