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Aresurgence of interest in new nuclear power generation as part of the energy mix has emerged around the world in the past few years. The reasons for this potential “nuclear renaissance” stem from a complex set of considerations, including the environmental benefits of no “greenhouse” gas emissions, the enhanced reliability of nuclear operations, advantageous fuel and operating costs and government incentives, among others. For the first time in a generation, electric generating companies are giving serious consideration to building new commercial nuclear power plants in the United States.

French
Over the past decade, labour market outcomes have improved in India, with net employment rising markedly for the economy as a whole. However, these gains have arisen primarily in the unorganized and informal sectors of the economy, where productivity and wages are generally much lower than in the formal organized sector. It is only India’s organized sector that is subject to labour market regulation, and here employment has fallen. The role of employment protection legislation in affecting employment outcomes is controversial both in the OECD area and in India. This paper looks at the impact of employment protection legislation and related regulation on the dynamics of employment in the organized sector of the economy, using newly constructed measures of national regulation and state labour reforms. We find that while reforms have taken some of the bite out of core labour laws, more comprehensive reforms are needed to address the distortions that have emerged. This working paper relates to the 2007 Economic Survey of India (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/india).
Although hard to measure, informality is by all accounts high in Latin America: about half of the region’s working population can be considered informal. In Mexico, the only Latin American country that belongs to the OECD, up to 60 per cent of non-agricultural workers – almost 22 million people – are employed informally or self-employed. These working people have opted out or have been shut out of the formal system of taxes and social protection. In that sense, they bear witness to a broken social contract between citizens and the state.
French
The OECD has collected data for public expenditure on labour market programmes (LMPs) continuously since the mid-1980s. For most longstanding Member countries, data according to a consistent classification system and definition of scope are available for reference years 1985 to 2002. Starting with reference year 1998, Eurostat started collecting and publishing data according to a somewhat different classification system and definition of scope. In line with agreements for bilateral coordination of data collection, the OECD after some time adopted - for non-Eurostat OECD Member countries as well as Eurostat countries – most of the features of the Eurostat system. This allows the OECD to use data collected by Eurostat rather than making a separate data request to the 20 Eurostat countries that are members of the OECD. OECD data according to the “new” classification and definition of scope are generally available for reference year 2002 onwards, or 1998 onwards for Eurostat countries. These data are often used in time-series applications, e.g. for documenting long-term trends in total social expenditure (ìn which labour market programmes are one component), or in time-series regressions that attempt to estimate the impact of training programmes vs. job-creation programmes on unemployment. It is no longer practicable to do such work using only the “old” data which stop in 2002 or the “new” data which start in 2002 or 1998. If the two data sets are combined using crude extrapolation and splicing techniques, time-series movements will result primarily from statistical breaks (i.e. changes in definition and coverage of the statistics) rather than real changes in spending patterns.
China currently has a highly diversified structure of pension regulation and supervision. In this paper we first review the legal framework of private pension fund regulation and supervision in other economies, including Australia, Chile, Hong Kong China, Poland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Then, based on international practices and experiences identified, and taking into account China‘s unique situation, we examine potential ways to improve the current private pension regulatory and supervisory structure in the country.
This financial crisis, ending a period of search for yield and increased risktaking,
has triggered various policy responses, ranging from more ad-hoc measures initially to more structured and co-ordinated financial sector rescue actions as the crisis evolved.
Lessons drawn so far should help to devise longer-term, more encompassing and more consistent policies. Various reforms are being proposed by the financial industry as well as by official authorities and international standard-setting bodies, many of which arrive at similar conclusions regarding the causes of and remedies for the crisis.
Shortcomings in risk management, including compensation schemes, governance structures, liquidity and counterparty risk, need to be addressed.
This paper develops and applies a simple “conditional growth” framework to make long-term GDP projections for the world economy, taking as a starting point recent empirical evidence about the importance of total factor productivity and human capital in explaining current cross-country disparities in GDP per capita levels. Other distinct features of the projection framework include human capital projections by cohorts and implicit allowance for the impact of ageing and potential labour market and pension reforms on future growth in employment levels. In the baseline projection, world GDP would grow in PPP terms by about 3 ¾ % per year on average over the period 2005-2050. When expressed in constant market exchange rates, taking into account future Balassa-Samuelson effects, this projection falls roughly in the middle of the range of long-run scenarios recently developed in the context of greenhouse gas emission projections. The sensitivity of the projection to total factor productivity and population growth assumptions is significant, however, and compounds with deeper sources of uncertainty such as model and parameter uncertainty.

According to the Commission recommendations, ISAE has recently restructured the methodological framework of its survey on firms operating in the Italian construction sector and in retail trade. The innovations specifically regard the sampling design and the weight system for both sectors; this last revision, in particular, allowed the reconstruction of the ISAE historical series. In the light of the changes introduced, first of all the aim of this paper is to analyze the cyclical features and to evaluate the "leading" performances of the new ISAE series with respect to the quantitative ISTAT data. Finally, we are going to build a "leading indicator" for both construction and retail trade in Italy. We first apply the NBER methodology in order to establish the main cyclical features of the series. Then we use cross-correlation analysis to estimate the extent to which the ISAE variables and the ISTAT series are correlated. Later on the Granger causality and out of sample tests were used to evaluate the forecasting performance of the ISAE series. On the basis of the results obtained, we finally build a leading indicator for both sectors, and test its performance comparing the results to those of the confidence index elaborated by ISAE.

The Bali Action Plan introduced the notion of linking GHG mitigation action in developing countries with support for such action, in a "measurable, reportable and verifiable (MRV)" manner. However, it does not specify the relationship or link that may be made between nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) in developing countries and mitigation support. It also remains unclear whether the MRV requirements apply to the link between NAMAs in developing countries and mitigation support, or to one or both of the separate elements. This paper suggests a number of elements for a possible conceptual framework to "link" mitigation actions with mitigation support, including practical considerations for how one might measure, report and verify progress, with a view to understanding the role for such a framework in a post-2012 agreement.

The design of a successful and effective linking framework might aim to achieve a number of specific goals. On the action side, a key goal may be to integrate NAMAs in developing countries into national development plans and to address a significant mitigation opportunities. On the support side, important goals are perhaps cost-effectiveness and how to prioritise spending. For a linking framework to successfully address these issues, both actions and support would need to be measurable, reportable and verifiable (MRV). Building on existing systems, a framework for MRV based on both the actual, possible or planned mitigation actions in developing countries as well as on current (public) mitigation support from developed countries could be a good starting point for further development of a linking framework.

In mid-2008, high employment and low unemployment rates characterised the Estonian labour market in comparison with the average of the EU15 countries. While aggregate outcomes improved during 2000-07, large inequalities persisted across regions, ethnic groups, and workers with different skill levels. As Estonia entered recession in 2008, the unemployment rate almost doubled between the 2nd and the 4th quarter, and is expected to rise further in 2009 and 2010. More flexible labour markets will be a key adjustment mechanism during the recession as well as in the medium term if Estonia is to become a knowledge-based economy. Given the currency board arrangement and low synchronisation with the euro area, flexibility is also needed to cushion asymmetric shocks. In December 2008, parliament adopted the new Employment Contract Act, deregulating employment protection while increasing income security of the unemployed. This paper discusses options for removing the remaining barriers that impede worker reallocation across jobs, sectors, and regions into more productive activities.
This paper presents updated estimates of the OECD employment protection indicators for 30 OECD countries and 10 emerging economies and considers important aspects of employment protection other than those provided in legislation. Collective agreements often contain provisions relating to employment protection, but in most OECD countries, severance pay and notice periods in collective agreements are similar to those set out in legislation. Where bargaining takes place largely outside individual firms at the national, regional or sectoral level and collective agreements include provisions substantially more generous to employees than those in legislation, they are incorporated into the OECD indicators. Many OECD countries exempt some groups of firms or workers from employment protection rules. Such exemptions have mixed success in promoting employment among exempted groups, but do not have a large impact on the accuracy of the OECD indicators. More than half of OECD countries have specialised courts or procedures to handle unfair dismissal cases, reducing the time taken to deal with cases and improving satisfaction with legal outcomes. Resolving disputes early (either through pre-court dispute resolution procedures or pre-trial conciliation) saves time and money compared with waiting for a court decision. More research and cross-country comparable data are needed on the efficiency of conciliation procedures and the cost of pursuing or defending dismissal cases.
In the economic literature there is an increasing interest in the process of job creation and destruction as well of hirings and separations. Many studies suggest that idiosyncratic firm-level characteristics shape both job and worker flows in a similar way in all countries. Others argue that cross-country differences in terms of gross job flows are minor. However, these statements are usually based on the comparison of national estimates, typically collected on the basis of different definitions and collection protocols. By contrast, in this paper, we use crosscountry comparable data on both job and worker flows to examine key determinants of these flows and of their cross-country differences. We find that idiosyncratic firm (industry, firm age and size) and worker (age, gender, education) characteristics play an important role for both gross job and worker flows in all countries. Nevertheless, in contrast with part of the literature, we find that, even controlling for these idiosyncratic factors, cross-country differences concerning both gross job and worker flows appear large and of a similar magnitude. Both job and worker flows in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom exceed those in certain continental European countries by a factor of two. Moreover, the variation of worker flows across different dimensions is well explained by the variation of job flows, suggesting that, to a certain extent, the two flows can be used as substitutes in cross-country analysis. Consistently, churning flows, that is flows originating by firms churning workers and employees quitting and being replaced, display much less variation across countries.
The purpose of this paper is to suggest how the U.S. experience with deregulating its intercity transportation system can identify important considerations for all countries that wish to pursue privatization. Transportation deregulation in the United States gave private railroad, trucking, bus, and airline companies the freedom to set prices, choose which markets to serve, and what level of service to provide. Because U.S. firms were saddled with inefficiencies that developed over decades of regulation, their adjustment to deregulation has been difficult and time consuming. Nonetheless, deregulation has succeeded to a notable extent in the short run and could provide even greater benefits in the long run.
This paper makes a review of the current situation in the interurban passenger transport market by coach in Europe, describing for a number of selected countries the regulatory setting, the main market actors, the main developments have taken place in the last decade or two and a number of resulting challenges, especially in terms of regulation. The paper starts with a chapter on country cases. The next chapter summarises the main facts and trends that appear out of this review. The last chapter draws a few conclusions.
This paper focuses on classifying market access for long-distance passenger rail services in Europe into three main models and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each of these models. The “Tendered Concessions” model aims to introduce competition for the market by which operators are selected in a tendering procedure. The “Monopolistic Network Operator” model aims to sustain network effects by granting a concession to one operator. The “Open Market” model enhances operators’ entrepreneurship by providing opportunities to plan services based on open access to the network. We present the strengths and opportunities, risks and threats without favoring any one model. Classifying the many design options and their different impacts will help to structure the ongoing policy discussion. The paper also gives an overview of the organization of long-distance passenger railway markets in selected European countries, and discusses the development of Germany’s longdistance rail passenger services in particular.
The international discussion about global climate change now revolves around what the necessary set of policies and technologies will be needed to realize reduction goals. Stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations at 450 to 550 parts per million will require policy changes along with innovation and large-scale adoption of GHG-reducing technologies throughout the global energy system. Innovations will need to be supported by international cooperation and behavioral changes to further realize the benefits of technological advances. Much discussion has therefore focused on policies that target technology directly, including research and development (R&D) activities and technology-specific incentives, as well as policies and agreements that increase diffusion and adoption. This paper reviews the recent literature on trends and prospects for innovation in climate change mitigation, to identify the most important international and domestic actions necessary to technologically alter energy systems in a direction that can achieve GHG stabilization targets while also meeting other societal goals. It provides an overview of key technical issues associated with the development, diffusion, and adoption of technologies that mitigate climate change. It examines the role of environment and innovation policy measures to encourage innovation, and it outlines the conditions that trigger these advances. The review highlights that establishing a GHG emission price is essential from a technology perspective. Such a price should be coupled with public R&D support. The review discusses policy features that impact on environmentally oriented R&D, the diffusion of environmental innovations, their deployment in developing countries. In particular, the paper outlines the positive role of international technology-oriented agreements as part of the architecture of an international climate change policy.
Debates exist between those who claim that environmental policy will impose additional burdens and costs on industries, thus impairing their competitiveness, and those who claim that improved environmental performance can spur competitiveness. These arguments often surface when new environmental policy regulation are considered, e.g. when the REACH Directive was introduced in Europe, or when a government is considering the introduction of a carbon tax.

The report develops a conceptual framework to shed some light on this difficult debate. Competitiveness impacts of environmental policies may derive from the policy itself, or from the improvements of the environmental performance that derives from the policy. These impacts can be analysed at either firm or industry levels; they may differ over the short and long term. Globalisation, with the increasing role of MNEs and mobile capital and labour, is adding more complexity.

This framework is used to decipher some of the messages that come out of empirical studies on these issues. Empirical evidence is mixed, and the paper identifies methodological and substantive reasons why empirical research fails to determine the relationship between environmental policy and competitiveness.

Lessons derive from this literature review. Typically, even when implementing the environmental policy is clearly in the overall interest of society, the costs and benefits of the policy are unlikely to be equally shared among economic agents. While some win, individual firms or industries may stand to lose. Policy design should make sure that the adverse competitiveness impacts are not unnecessarily large, for example by paying attention to predictability, transition periods, and transaction costs. Specific measures to support the losers in their adjustment can also be developed. Sometimes measures to mitigate the adverse competitiveness impacts of an environmental policy are necessary to achieve political support for the policy. In those instances, the planned measures should be carefully analysed from several angles to ensure that they do not inadvertently hurt the efficiency and effectiveness of the original policy. More work is required to further explore these issues, which are consequential for the design, the implementation and the enforcement of environmental policies.

Ce rapport s’intéresse à certains des principaux facteurs à prendre en compte concernant la situation des arabes israéliens sur le marché du travail : les écarts dans le capital humain (éducation, connaissance de l'informatique, maîtrise de l’hébreu) ; le lieu de résidence, la périphérie offrant moins de possibilités d’emploi ; la place traditionnellement limitée accordée aux femmes ; et la discrimination quant à l'accès aux ressources publiques d'une part et aux pratiques des employeurs de l'autre. Deux facteurs supplémentaires affectent en particulier les tendances en cours : l’évolution du marché du travail suite au changement radical vers une économie à forte intensité technologique et la réorientation de secteurs entiers de l’industrie traditionnelle, et l'augmentation significative du nombre de travailleurs étrangers en Israël, qui, dans des secteurs comme l'agriculture et le bâtiment rivalisent directement avec les ouvriers arabes les moins instruits.
Taken together, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa – the “BIICS” – have been an important engine for world growth, and they account for a growing share of global output. However, further reforms will be needed to ensure catch-up to OECD GDP per capita levels over the long term. This paper uses the OECD’s Going for Growth framework, as well as other available evidence linking policies to economic performance, to identify key structural policy challenges in the BIICS for the years ahead. While such challenges vary from country to country, common areas for reform include strengthening policies in the areas of education, product market regulation and labour markets, as well as improving more basic market institutions. This Working Paper relates to the OECD’s Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2010 (www.oecd.org/goingforgrowth) and the Economic Surveys of China, India, South Africa, Indonesia, and Brazil (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys)

The OECD Competition Committee debated competitive effects of land use restrictions in February 2008. Land use restrictions often serve valuable social purposes. The benefits of particular policies for land use must be balanced against the costs, though. The social harms that can arise when land use restrictions create “entry barriers” are rarely considered explicitly. Land use restrictions can raise the price and reduce supply of a broad range of real estate and, by preventing new and innovative stores from opening, reduce shopping options available to consumers. More careful integration of policy on land use restrictions with competition policy could benefit consumers and many entrepreneurs and reduce the likelihood that public or private restrictions will lead to supply scarcity. This roundtable examines competition problems affecting commercial construction and use permits, geographic density tests, adverse impact tests, access condition to rights of ay and private restrictions on land use. Steps are identified for improving public policies towards land use restrictions.

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