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Fiscal federalism can be an important complement to structural reforms and budget consolidation. Empowering sub national governments, while at the same time making them accountable to local citizens in the uses of tax money, could improve the allocation of public resources and promote catch up of the lagging regions. Italy has launched itself in the federalist direction by decentralising spending, regulatory and tax powers in the late 1990s and reinforcing growing lower level responsibilities with a constitutional reform in 2001. The constitution has yet to be fully implemented, though the government has signaled its intention to do so. A stronger focus should now be put on the financing side, i.e. getting a better match between spending responsibilities and taxing powers so as to boost local autonomy and responsibility in line with the goals of federalist reforms. As the lower levels are fully in charge of health and long term care, they will face intense pressures due to population ageing, which is especially rapid in Italy, so that more tax bases should be devolved to them, especially as pension reform has reduced such pressures on central government. Redistributive mechanisms should be redesigned to improve fiscal effort, and Italy must decide in that context to what extent it can really afford to guarantee uniform national service levels – and conversely, how much regional differentiation of services it will tolerate in pursuit of higher efficiency. Framework conditions need to be strengthened, notably accounting standards which need to be upgraded and unified. Fiscal discipline under the Internal Stability Pact should be strengthened via better ex ante co-ordination and tougher sanctions ex post.
This paper discusses the objectives of tax reform and explores the most important environmental factors that influence the reform process, focusing on the circumstances that explain when these objectives and environmental factors may become an obstacle to the design and implementation of tax policies. The second part of this paper discusses strategies that might help policy makers to successfully implement fundamental tax reforms.
Developing countries have collectively displayed relatively high growth rates in the last decade. Although large disparities still persist in standards of living, low and middle income countries averaged economic growth of 6.2% between 2000 and 2008, pulling 325 million people out of poverty (World Bank, 2010). Global growth has been accompanied by environmental degradation and in some cases there are growing numbers of people still living in poverty. Key questions for development planning today in countries include: Can developing countries strike a balance between economic growth, societal well-being and environmental protection? Can inclusive, green growth be a way forward? This report presents a case study on Cambodia designed to answer these questions. The case study draws on several sources of information to compile a “snapshot” of the situation today. In particular, qualitative information was gathered through a two-day, multi-stakeholder workshop and through bilateral interviews conducted with relevant actors from both public and private sectors. It also draws on relevant literature to present a balanced picture of the state of play on green growth in Cambodia.
Ethiopian society, economy and environment are so intimately interlinked that systematic attention is essential if clashes are to be resolved and synergies realised. For example, the majority of poor people are principally dependent on agriculture but, in turn, society is dependent on farmers managing land well to sustain water supplies, biodiversity and other environmental services. Such relationships are dynamic and increasingly intense: climate change, rising population, resource scarcities and price volatilities put them all under pressure. An integrated perspective that works operationally is needed – one that makes economic, social and environmental sense and that inspires stakeholders. The holistic approach that the Ethiopian Government has recently developed aims to tackle the problems inherent in growth paths that produce environmental problems, and to realise potentials from investing in Ethiopia’s natural assets. For example, the country’s agricultural products and potential for green hydroelectric power are unique attributes that could drive development in ways that are environmentally sound and provide new jobs and satisfying livelihoods...

This document analyses German environmental policies, including, among others, discussion of air and water quality policy, use of the waste management hierarchy approach and of voluntary agreements. The German public has been highly sensitive to environmental concerns, leading to many policy initiatives in this area since the early 1980s. Significant environmental improvements have been achieved, using an approach frequently based on detailed regulations, often developed with the close involvement of industry and even individual polluters. There has developed a tendency to relieve some of the heaviest polluters from the most stringent regulation, on the grounds of competitiveness concerns, and some polluting activities receive considerable direct or indirect subsidies; these policies will increasingly make it unnecessarily expensive to meet environmental targets. Objectives need to be defined more clearly and consistently and a less discriminatory approach to taxation and ...

Carbon market mechanisms such as emissions trading systems and crediting mechanisms can have multiple objectives. A key goal is to lower the cost of achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. Market mechanisms can also catalyse investment in low carbon technologies and practices, provide local environmental and health benefits, contribute to fostering innovation, provide a source of government revenue and facilitate more ambitious mitigation action in future. They can therefore play an important role in the diverse policy toolkit needed to address the global issue of climate change. This paper identifies the key design elements of market mechanisms and examines the governance structures and decision-making processes used to create tradable GHG units in existing systems both inside and outside of the UNFCCC. The analysis explores the potential involvement of international, national and sub-national regulatory bodies in the governance and decision-making processes and the possible role that internationally-agreed standards could play in providing confidence in the quality of GHG units.
New Zealand generally performs well in terms of economic and social inclusion. It has high employment rates, and education and health-care systems work well for most. However, some New Zealanders are stuck on low incomes and face material deprivation and multiple barriers to economic and social participation. The ranks of those falling behind increased in the wake of the economic reforms in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which succeeded in halting the decline in GDP per capita relative to the OECD average but contributed to large increases in income inequality and poverty that have only been partially reversed since then. These developments have been aggravated by the rising burden of housing costs on low-income households. Māori, Pasifika and low-income households have also experienced slower rates of improvement in many health and education results. NZ governments have made improving outcomes for disadvantaged groups a top priority in recent years. Reforms are being made to facilitate the transition of welfare beneficiaries into work, increase the supply of affordable and social housing and enhance health and education outcomes for disadvantaged groups. These reforms go in the right direction and, in many cases, would be more effective still if complemented by other reforms.

Norway, like a number of other countries, saw steep growth in house prices during the pandemic. This added to past years of strong price increases and has brought renewed concern for housing affordability. Tax advantages to buying homes inflate house prices, contribute to wealth inequality and divert resources from more productive investments. An underdeveloped rental market is an additional consequence of Norway’s pro-homeownership policies. Beyond tax reform and targeted support for low-income households, including renters, lasting improvements in affordability will require measures to enhance the responsiveness of residential construction to increased demand. However, creating room for new housing supply can involve difficult trade‑offs with environmental and other policy objectives.

Open science commonly refers to efforts to make the output of publicly funded research more widely accessible in digital format to the scientific community, the business sector, or society more generally. Open science is the encounter between the age-old tradition of openness in science and the tools of information and communications technologies (ICTs) that have reshaped the scientific enterprise and require a critical look from policy makers seeking to promote long-term research as well as innovation.
This report recommends that privacy notices be short, simple and usable to make it easier for individuals to assimilate the information they contain and to compare the privacy practices of the organisations processing their personal data.
French
This paper studies the interaction between different actors in the policy-making process of fiscal transfer reform in Colombia. To analyse this reform, we use the “life cycle of reform” framework. In that context, we follow critical phases in the reform process: planning, dialogue and adoption, and implementation and sustainability stages. This paper shows that the economic context and institutional factors, such as the new political structure for interactions between agents after the 1991 Constitution, were fundamental in achieving the reform. Moreover, it confirms previous studies showing that communication and compensation strategies play a key role in the approval of reforms. When the “sustainability” of the reform is analysed, this study shows that there is a need to improve the co-ordination of public policies at different levels of government.
This study provides critical observations on the state of key global equity markets as recent developments have put into question their efficiency and effectiveness in facilitating capital formation. It covers the top 26 initial public offering (IPO) producing nations, with a particular focus on stock markets in the United States.

Services are an important part of global economic activity and of international trade. Nevertheless, compared to its very large tourism sector, the sector of high-end business services in Thailand remains small. As IT and information, and professional services are traded indirectly through value chains and are now crucial elements of manufacturing, strengthening these services would benefit Thailand in its post-COVID-19 participation of global value chains, enhancing the competitiveness of its manufacturers. This paper analyses how Thailand can seize the opportunity of growing international trade in services. It points out that liberalising services sector markets would strengthen the competitiveness of the services sectors and boost productivity not only in the sectors, but also in manufacturing sectors that rely on these services as input. In this regard, Thailand can benefit more from service-oriented Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). Moreover, eliminating FDI restrictions would not only be crucial to spur employment and exports, but also benefit consumers. The paper identifies that, to maximise the benefits of services trade integration, Thailand needs to step up policies to re- and up-skill workers and make the labour market more flexible.

Good architecture responds to contemporary challenges, irrespective of fashionable trends, and is characterised by rigorous building processes. Office buildings, housing, stadiums and theatres offer outstanding examples of this principle. But do school buildings figure among them? Happily, in Germany they do, although they are still too rare. This article focuses on school building processes and raises the following questions: what sort of challenges will we meet in the future? Will a culture of planning be sufficient to foster the emergence of modern and tailor-made learning environments?
To continue catching up with living standards in other OECD countries Poland needs to invest in higher skills. Crucial elements include: i) making sure that all children have access to high-quality early childhood education; ii) strengthening the basic skills of vocational education students and the relevance of their studies through stronger links with firms; and iii) improving the quality of universities by linking university teachers’ pay and career progress with their teaching and research performance. The Polish government has taken action in many of these areas. More needs to be done to put immigrants’ skills to better use. Polish return migrants frequently complain about difficulties in using their skills acquired abroad, while many immigrants of foreign origin work in professions that do not match their qualifications. Ongoing reforms to improve recognition of foreign credentials and new possibilities to validate work experience through formal qualifications will be helpful.

The sanitary crisis, created by the outbreak COVID-19, is accelerating Chile’s digital transformation, which has seen a surge in e-learning, streaming, online shopping and marketing and teleworking. The digital transformation has the potential to revamp productivity and inclusiveness, although it comes with adoption barriers and transition costs. Connectivity has increased substantially in the last decades, and the country is ahead of the region. However, fixed high-speed broadband adoption, essential for the digital transformation, lags behind. Firms have started to adopt digital technologies but micro firms and SMEs are well behind. Rural areas have lower connectivity and many workers lack the skills to thrive in the digital world. Lowering the entry barriers in the communication sector and making regulations simpler and clearer would ease infrastructure deployment. Targeted policies for SMEs, such as development of sources of financing or specific programmes for adopting digital tools, would help them access and use digital tools, increasing productivity. Reforms to the innovation ecosystem, competition and the regulatory framework are also needed. To reap the benefits of digitalisation for all, it is necessary to continue investing in quality foundational skills, adult and lifelong learning and in high-skilled ICT specialists. Labour market policies need to be adapted to face the challenges and exploit the benefits posed by the digital transformation. An effective safety net would address possible labour market disruptions.

In the past 30 years Costa Rica has grown steadily and social indicators have improved markedly. Well-being indicators are comparable or even above the OECD average in several dimensions, such as health, environment or life-satisfaction. This paper reviews the social progress that Costa Rica has achieved and identifies reducing inequality and poverty as the main challenges. To tackle those challenges, the paper argues that there is a need to upgrade existing social assistance programmes to maximise their impact. Social policies should put more emphasis on getting more people into formal work, including by raising their skill levels. This is the most effective way to get people out of poverty. Education is the area where the largest gap with respect to OECD countries is observed. Policy efforts are also warranted to tackle informality, which is increasing rapidly, and to close the gender gap in the labour market. The health and pension systems play a fundamental role in maintaining social cohesion in Costa Rica and it is crucial to modernise them and to make them sustainable in the face of demographic challenges. Costa Rica exemplifies the benefits of preserving natural resources in generating growth and employment opportunities, thereby providing a way out of poverty. Building on its achievements in this area, Costa Rica should reinforce environmental protection efforts, such as reducing emissions from the transport sector and improving wastewater treatment.

The People pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development focuses on quality of life in all its dimensions, and emphasises the international community’s commitment to ensuring all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity, equality and good health.
Thailand’s path from a low-income to an upper-middle-income country over recent decades is widely hailed as a development success story. Poverty has fallen impressively and inequality is on a downwards trend, but more efforts are needed to reduce still widespread informality and persistent, substantial regional inequalities, and to further improve living standards, especially for those who currently work informally. To achieve these objectives, the government needs to: (i) consider tax and regulatory measures to encourage formalisation; (ii) boost the participation rates of informal workers in social protection schemes; (iii) expand adequate social safety nets for poor households and the elderly; (iv) prepare the healthcare system for an ageing and modernising society; and (v) improve the education system, particularly in rural areas. Gaps also remain in ensuring women’s political participation and reducing gender-based violence.
This Working Paper relates to the 2018 Initial Assessment report of the Multi-dimensional Country Review of Thailand (http://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/multi-dimensional-review-thailand.htm)

Tax reforms are crucial to promoting inclusive growth in India. The replacement of a myriad of consumption taxes by a Goods and Services Tax (GST) will boost India's competitiveness, investment, job creation and tax compliance. The potential to raise additional revenue from taxes on goods and services is however limited. In contrast, reforming income and property taxes should help to i) raise more revenue to finance much needed social and physical infrastructure while keeping public debt under control; ii) reduce inequality by increasing the redistributive effect of taxation; iii) promote productivity by reducing distortions in the allocation of resources which emanate from the corporate income tax; iv) boost job creation by eliminating the bias against labour-intensive activities; v) promote confidence, and thus investment, by improving clarity and certainty regarding tax rules and their application and vi) reinforce the ability of states and municipalities to provide key public infrastructure and services. This paper presents the main characteristics of the tax system as well as the rationale and options for reform.

This paper establishes an analytical framework for understanding and assessing

Indigenous economic development and well-being in a place-based context. It

identifies the importance of flexibility in geographic scale for organising policies

for Indigenous communities, development objectives that reflect the selfdetermined

and informed choices of Indigenous peoples, and implementing

strategies for development based on the identification of local assets

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