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In 2020, the Province of Zuid-Holland set up the “Strategy Circular Zuid-Holland: Accelerating Together”, with the commitment of reducing the use of primary raw materials by 50% by 2030 and to reach full circularity by 2050. New challenges in terms of value chain disruptions and increased scarcity of critical materials and opportunities led the province to develop several initiatives and collaborating platforms to advance towards a circular economy. This case study provides ways forward on how to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy through the OECD 3Ps framework: People and firms, Policies and Places.

The Eurométropole of Strasbourg (EMS) started its circular journey in 2010 with a focus on waste prevention, followed by the development of its “Circular Economy Roadmap” in 2019, which aimed to integrate circular economy principles into EMS' public procurement and operations. The EMS is currently in the process of updating the Roadmap to address challenges related to regulation, co-ordination across the 33 municipalities and financing. This case study provides ways forward on how to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy through the OECD 3Ps framework: People and firms, Policies and Places.

Supply chain disruptions, related to natural events or geopolitical tensions, have in recent years prompted policy makers to identify potential vulnerabilities related to critical trade dependencies. These are commercial links that could potentially impose significant economic or societal harm, be a source of coercion, a risk to national security, or disrupt strategic activities. Using three complementary methodologies — detailed trade data analysis, input-output data techniques, and computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling — this paper examines the nature and evolution of trade dependencies between the OECD countries and major non-OECD economies (MNOE). It shows that global production has become increasingly concentrated at the product level, with China representing 15% of import dependencies in strategic products for OECD countries in 2020-21 compared to 4% in 1997-99. The methodologies used in this paper unanimously demonstrate a high degree of trade interdependency between OECD and MNOE countries. The current debate on “de-risking” international trade, therefore, needs to carefully consider the possible costs and benefits of different policy choices.

This paper explores the economics of Artificial Intelligence (AI), focusing on its potential as a new General-Purpose Technology that can significantly influence economic productivity and societal wellbeing. It examines AI's unique capacity for autonomy and self-improvement, which could accelerate innovation and potentially revive sluggish productivity growth across various industries, while also acknowledging the uncertainties surrounding AI's long-term productivity impacts. The paper discusses the concentration of AI development in big tech firms, uneven adoption rates, and broader societal challenges such as inequality, discrimination, and security risks. It calls for a comprehensive policy approach to ensure AI's beneficial development and diffusion, including measures to promote competition, enhance accessibility, and address job displacement and inequality.

This paper first presents a meta-analysis of the causal impact of cultural participation on well-being. The meta-analysis classifies the literature according to the strength of the evidence available and various types of cultural activities. Secondly, this paper uses data from time use surveys from Canada, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States to study individuals’ emotional responses to a series of daily activities. This is then used as a basis for an empirical assessment of the drivers of time allocation across different activities, showing that expectations of future well-being are one of the reasons why individuals decide to engage in cultural activities. Furthermore, the model helps explain why cultural participation, in spite of being one of the most enjoyable human activities, is also the least undertaken. We show that heterogeneity of preferences results in a strong selection effect in available statistics.

This paper argues that countries will need to better assess potential savings in the provision of universal benefits and providing services free to all at the point of delivery. Instead, programmes will need to be targeted at those truly in need, and services only free to those with limited ability to pay. It draws an analogy to the progressivity of the tax system where those with greater means pay higher taxes. A similar philosophy should be the basis of government spending. It highlights examples of the application of means-testing and user charging for key areas including retirement benefits, health care and education. The paper is meant to stimulate discussion among Senior Budget Officials.

This paper examines the role of mobilising political will in establishing the conditions necessary for economic and social inclusion of refugees, internally displaced persons, and formerly displaced persons who achieve durable solutions such as voluntary return. It investigates the role and conditions to mobilise political will for more comprehensive and inclusive policies that can lead to long-term local development in contexts of forced displacement in low- and middle-income countries (LICs and MICs). Case studies from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ecuador, Iraq and Lebanon illustrate the ways in which political will, or its absence, can shape the approach to supporting the forcibly displaced and hosting communities. The paper also proposes a conceptual model for mobilising political will to facilitate sustainable development support in contexts of forced displacement.

This paper explores enhancements to international large-scale assessments (ILSAs). It advocates for diversification, targeting specific groups or individuals for more precise diagnoses, and flexibilisation, refining the item bank for assessments' relevance and adaptability. The paper also introduces prototypes for new assessment tools, representing a significant evolution in ILSAs' design and application, aiming for broader impact and increased adaptability in ILSAs.

African armed conflicts involve a myriad of state forces, rebel groups and extremist organisations bound by rapidly changing alliances and rivalries. Organisations that were allies one day can fight each other the next and co-operate later still. The objective of this note is to update the pioneer work on conflict networks conducted by the OECD Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) in the region by using a formal approach to networks known as dynamic social network analysis. Leveraging a dataset of 3 800 actors and 60 000 violent events from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) from 1997-2023, the note monitors how the co-operative and rivalrous ties between violent actors have changed over time, both at the regional and local levels. The growing number of belligerents, increasing density of rivalrous relationships and growing polarisation of the conflict networks observed in this note are extremely worrying for the future of the region. Not only do they make peaceful efforts more difficult than ever, but they also contribute to increasing the number of potential victims among the civilian population.

The evidence review examines the state of academic careers in higher education systems in OECD countries, providing an overview of available data, research evidence and examples of policy and practice. Key concerns for academics and policy makers include the working conditions of academics, an increasing reliance on precarious and casual contracts, high workloads and negative impacts on work-life balance. Career incentives currently tend to focus on – and favour – research output, often side-lining teaching, engagement, and other duties. Initial academic training generally fails to prepare academics comprehensively for their roles, and more continuous professional learning will likely be needed to support academics to exploit the potential of increasingly digitalised learning environments. Although flexibility in academic career paths has been promoted in some higher education systems, academics tend to remain in academia, with limited inter-sectoral mobility. The review highlights the persistent under-representation of – and challenges confronting – women and marginalised groups in academia. Despite the growth of international mobility and collaboration, the participation of academics in internalisation activities varies considerably within and between institutions and across higher education systems. Furthermore, a troubling decline in academic freedom over the past decade raises substantial concerns.

This scoping note presents a high-level overview of the main approaches to, and challenges faced when, calculating product-level carbon intensity metrics, including those applicable to collecting and verifying information across the supply chain. Though the analysis focuses on approaches used in emissions-intensive trade-exposed sectors (EITE), the findings also have broader relevance to other sectors. As part of the analysis, challenges relating to computing sector-level carbon intensity metrics are also considered, particularly as inputs to product-level metrics.

The OECD and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) have developed jointly the new Multinational Enterprise Information Platform (MEIP). MEIP is built on past OECD and UN efforts to compile statistics on the scale and scope of the international activities of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). The new platform uses publicly available data to gather information on the world’s 500 largest MNEs in a timely manner, facilitating a comprehensive view of their physical and digital presence. It also includes a monitoring tool for large events such as Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). The platform also provides a valuable benchmark for National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and researchers, allowing them to compare the national presence of an individual MNE to the global presence. Information on MNEs and their global network can also be visualised in a user-friendly dashboard.

The growth of strategic budget initiatives – such as gender budgeting and green budgeting - has been a prominent trend in OECD countries. This is driven by a desire to use the budget to help deliver transformational change in relation to key policy priorities demanding a whole-of-government response. This paper outlines the emergence of strategic budget initiatives across OECD countries and offers some preliminary observations on how these initiatives are being designed and implemented.

The frequency and severity of extreme wildfires are on the rise in the United States, causing unprecedented disruption and increasingly challenging the country’s capacity to contain losses and damages. These challenges are set to keep growing in the context of climate change, highlighting the need to scale up wildfire prevention and climate change adaptation. This paper provides an overview of the United States’ wildfire policies and practices and assesses the extent to which wildfire management in the country is evolving to adapt to growing wildfire risk under climate change.

This policy perspective examines Indonesia’s Merdeka Belajar (“Emancipated Learning”) initiative, a comprehensive education reform agenda initiated in 2019. The primary objective of this reform is to enhance learning outcomes, make schooling a more joyful experience, and empower students and school communities. The new "Emancipation Curriculum" emphasises foundational competencies and 21st-century skills and adopts holistic, formative assessment methods. It streamlines content and introduces innovative teaching methods, while increasing teachers' flexibility and autonomy in schools. It also instigates a new model of teacher professional learning. This document contextualises these initiatives within the international education landscape. It offers perspectives on what could help Indonesia ensure the success of these reforms, potentially reshaping the country’s educational future and contributing to its development and prosperity.

The paper assesses the impact of the global minimum tax (GMT) on the taxation of multinational enterprises (MNEs), based on a comprehensive dataset capturing the global activities of large MNEs. It has four key findings. First, the GMT substantially reduces the incentives to shift profits. Second, the GMT is estimated to very substantially reduce low-taxed profit worldwide through lower profit shifting and top-up taxation. Third, the GMT is estimated to increase CIT revenues. Finally, the GMT is estimated to reduce tax rate differentials across jurisdictions with potential impacts on the allocation of investment and MNE activity.

This paper provides a critical review of public sector innovation measurement approaches and related gaps. It explores alternative approaches to measure public sector innovation measurement which respond to different use cases, and paves the way for operationalising a measurement framework for public sector innovation. The paper proposes creating a continuous stocktake of public sector innovation measurement activities in Member countries, improving existing frameworks or creating new frameworks to guide public sector innovation measurement more systematically at country level, and identifying indicators that would be most useful for cross-country comparability.