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La Provincia Autonoma di Trento (Trentino) è tra le regioni più produttive d'Europa, ma negli ultimi due decenni la crescita della sua produttività è stata stagnante. Di conseguenza, il divario di produttività del Trentino è aumentato di oltre il 20% rispetto a regioni con lo stesso livello di produttività nel 2000. L'analisi comparativa dei fattori di produttività del Trentino con quelli delle regioni "pari" evidenzia diverse priorità di politica economica. Queste includono: rilanciare la produttività nei settori commerciabili, anche attraverso una maggiore internazionalizzazione; aumentare la quota di forza lavoro con un'istruzione terziaria; e ottenere di più dalla R&S pubblica, incentivando al contempo la R&S del settore privato.

This policy paper aims to help governments develop regulatory experimentation constructively and appropriately as part of their implementation of the 2021 OECD Recommendation for Agile Regulatory Governance to Harness Innovation. Regulatory experimentation can help promote adaptive learning and innovative and better-informed regulatory policies and practices. This policy paper examines key concepts, definitions and constitutive elements of regulatory experimentation. It outlines the rationale for using regulatory experimentation, discusses enabling factors and governance requirements, and presents a set of forward-looking conclusions.

<img src="https://assets.oecdcode.org/ilibraryres/img/DG-Reform_banner-Kappa_it.png" class="img-responsive" style="padding-bottom:5px;" alt="EU Funded Note"/>
Nelle odierne società guidate dalla conoscenza, le università svolgono un ruolo cruciale nel promuovere l'innovazione e la crescita sostenibile all'interno dei loro ecosistemi. Migliorare le attività di scambio e collaborazione di conoscenze (KEC) all'interno del sistema universitario italiano è essenziale per il progresso della società, il benessere e l'aumento della produttività delle imprese di diverse dimensioni e fasi di sviluppo e generare valore per la società. Questo documento offre una proposta di riforma per le politiche di potenziamento del sistema di scambio e collaborazione di conoscenze tra università e società in Italia.

State-of-the-art scientific evidence shows that our planet is approaching several environmental and climate tipping points faster than previously expected. This means that the international community is facing a rapidly closing window of opportunity to achieve profound transformations across sectors, systems and mindsets to secure a sustainable and liveable future. What is the role of education system in enabling social change at the massive scale and pace needed for climate change mitigation? And what policy levers can they employ to build resilience and adapt to environmental challenges? This paper explores ways to rethink educational approaches in the context of climate change, focussing primarily on school education, while exploring links to other levels of education. It looks specifically at strategies to restructure foundational science education and cross-curricular learning, zooms in on the potential of place-based approaches in empowering learners for action, and concludes by identifying policy levers to increase education system resilience.

For implementing their economic and social policies, governments have traditionally relied on direct spending but increasingly use “non-standard” policy instruments, such as loans and guarantees. However, in many OECD countries, loans and guarantees are not yet submitted to the same scrutiny than direct spending as part of the budget process, and future costs associated with the use of these policy instruments are often not estimated, nor provisioned, making them appear initially costless. In turn, this generates risks of potentially biased budgetary decision making, deviations from medium-term spending plans and limited transparency. Considering experiences of OECD countries, this paper advises that budget offices take a leading role in proposing budgetary treatments for loans and guarantees that ensure an even-level playing field with traditional spending and put considerations of efficiency of spending above optimisation of short-term fiscal outcomes.

Reforming agricultural support is increasingly considered a viable means to enhance agriculture’s contribution to climate change mitigation, while fulfilling broader food systems policy objectives related to food security and livelihoods. This study uses a new computable general equilibrium model to investigate a set of global policy reform scenarios that reorientate governments’ budgetary transfers to agriculture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The results suggest that removing budgetary support globally would reduce agricultural emissions by 2.1% with potential negative effects on food supply. Reorienting existing support, instead, could have significantly stronger effects: decoupling payments from production and tying these to suitable agri-environmental practices could raise emission reduction to over 4% without harming food supply. Targeted investments in productivity and abatement technologies could bring additional emission savings in the long term with co-benefits for food security. Overall, combining green decoupling and investment policies in OECD countries would reduce global agricultural emissions by 5% – or by 11% if extended to other regions – while balancing outcomes across the three dimensions of the food systems’ triple challenge.

Two out of five OECD countries contract out some of the job brokerage and counselling functions of publicly financed employment services using outcome-based payment models. This paper examines several important aspects related to the design and implementation of such outsourcing. First, innovative payment models can improve incentives for external providers to offer training and more effective services for hard-to-place clients. Second, providing forward guidance to providers and accounting for contingencies can mitigate their risks, e.g. of being underpaid relative to expenses incurred, thus lowering service costs. Third, letting individuals choose a provider can result in services that are better tailored and foster ongoing competition between providers. Finally, automating data exchange can, somewhat paradoxically, improve data privacy and data protection while enabling new payment models. These and related findings are discussed with country examples based on desk research and interviews with stakeholders in several OECD countries. The paper builds on work conducted in the project “Reforming the Swedish Public Employment Service”, which was carried out with funding from the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and was implemented by the OECD in cooperation with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support.

First adopted in 1980, the OECD Privacy Guidelines are the first internationally agreed-upon set of privacy principles. They are framed in concise, technology-neutral language and have significantly influenced legislation and policy in OECD member countries and beyond. In 2018, the OECD initiated a comprehensive review of the Privacy Guidelines, which included a survey of Adherents, an ad hoc group of experts, and several workshops to explore the main challenges for privacy and personal data protection in an ever-evolving digital environment. This report presents the review's findings, confirming the continued importance and relevance of the Privacy Guidelines. However, it also highlights persistent and emerging implementation challenges and provides recommendations for addressing them.

The influx of highly qualified refugees from Ukraine has posed unique challenges for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policies and practices in host countries. Analysing recent survey results, this policy brief provides an overview of the diverse RPL measures countries across the OECD have implemented in order to ensure a swift continuation of learning for Ukrainian refugee students. From extending application deadlines to international cooperation on qualifications information sharing, the policy landscape is evolving rapidly to ensure these highly skilled individuals can be included effectively into new educational environments.

This policy paper analyses the role of Korean rural regions in the country’s transition to carbon neutrality by 2050, drawing on a conference organised by the OECD in collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) of Korea. The report outlines the emissions profile of Korea’s rural regions, compares them with other OECD countries and takes a deep dive on the three most emitting sectors: power generation, manufacturing, and transport. The paper then describes Korea’s action plan to reach carbon neutrality. It discusses the just transition challenges in rural regions, highlighting employment risks and opportunities.

This paper provides a factual baseline of the extent to which refugees and internally displaced persons are included in development planning, specifically in the national development plans and sector plans of low- and middle-income countries; in the international development co-operation strategies of Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members and participants; and in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks of the UN development system at country level. It contributes to measuring progress towards commitments – under the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the UN Action Agenda on Internal Displacement – to treat forced displacement also as a development issue. Finally, it formulates policy recommendations to further improve the inclusion of the forcibly displaced in development planning.

During the last decade, several OECD countries have been supporting citizen engagement in policy making to better respond to increasingly volatile environments and complex problems. Ireland has a strong tradition and culture of partnership models and stakeholder engagement in education policy making. However, a desire to explore new opportunities for school community engagement and how they could support existing national consultation processes contributed to the exploration of alternative forms of stakeholder engagement in education. This has prompted the Teaching Council in collaboration with a range of Government Departments and national stakeholders, to request assistance from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) for the project “Support to improve local community engagement in Ireland’s education policy development”. Drawing from international examples, existing stakeholder engagement practices in Ireland, the contributions of a wide range of education stakeholders and a pilot exercise, this report proposes a model and roadmap for exploring the potential of school community engagement to further support policy making across the Irish education system.

La cooperazione internazionale allo sviluppo sta transitando da un modello tradizionale incentrato sullo scambio unilaterale tra donatore e beneficiario a un approccio fondato sul partenariato, che sempre più spesso coinvolge anche regioni e città. Il Friuli Venezia Giulia, una piccola regione dell'Italia nord-orientale che gode di un’ampia autonomia politica, è attivo da tempo nella cooperazione internazionale e ambisce a ottenere maggiori benefici dalle sue iniziative, sia per la comunità regionale che per i partner con cui coopera a livello internazionale. Questo studio analizza la sua strategia sul partenariato e la cooperazione internazionale e propone raccomandazioni per un suo rafforzamento. Tra queste spicca l’invito a concentrare le risorse su iniziative che sfruttino le aree di specializzazione regionale per ottenere un maggiore impatto nei paesi partner e a livello locale.

This report assesses the continued relevance of the OECD Recommendation on Cross-Border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws Protecting Privacy, originally adopted in 2007. It examines whether the Recommendation has kept pace with the evolving needs of Privacy Enforcement Authorities (PEAs) in light of significant technological and legal changes over the past 15 years. While the principles underlying the Recommendation are seen to remain solid, the report highlights several gaps and challenges for cross-border enforcement co-operation. It concludes that the OECD could either provide additional guidance to support the implementation of the Recommendation or consider revising it to better address current challenges.

Germany intends to reach climate neutrality in 2045, tripling the speed of emission reductions that was achieved between 1990 and 2019. Soaring energy prices and the need to replace Russian energy imports have amplified the urgency to act. Various policy adjustments are needed to ensure implementation and achieve the transition to net zero cost-effectively. Lengthy planning and approval procedures risk slowing the expansion of renewables, while fossil fuel subsidies and generous tax exemptions limit the effectiveness of environmental policies. Germany should continue to rely on carbon pricing as a keystone of its mitigation strategy and aim to harmonise prices across sectors and make them more predictable. Carbon prices will be more effective if complemented by well-designed sectoral regulations and subsidies, especially for boosting green R&D, expanding sustainable transport and electricity network infrastructure, and decarbonising the housing sector. Subsidies for mature technologies and specific industries should be gradually phased out. Using carbon tax revenue to compensate low-income households and improve the quality of active labour market policies would help to support growth and ensure that the transition does not weaken social cohesion.