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Tackling methane in the coal sector is a major opportunity for climate action that can also strengthen energy security. Experience shows that there are several steps countries can take today – using existing technologies and tools – that can lead to significant reductions in methane emissions from coal mining. This report highlights the lessons learned in different coal-producing jurisdictions to support the development of smart and effective methane regulation. It then provides detailed guidance on the process of designing, drafting and implementing new regulations. Finally, it discusses the different regulatory approaches currently in use for methane, with the aim of providing a comprehensive toolkit for policy makers.

Trust in public institutions is a cornerstone of the Norwegian administrative and political model. It has also been a crucial element in Norway’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Preserving and strengthening this “trust capital” will be essential for Norway in addressing future trade-offs and challenges, such as ensuring the sustainability of the welfare model, coping with climate change and maintaining social cohesion. Based on the results of the OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions and using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, this study examines the main determinants of trust in Norway’s national government, local government and public administration.

In New Zealand, the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis is considered effective as it protected people’s lives with limited disruption to society and the economy. A key factor in achieving these results was a focus on collective goals, grounded in the high-trust relationship that exists between New Zealanders and their public institutions. Still, high levels of trust should not be taken for granted. As new challenges emerge and old ones reappear, people in New Zealand expect the government to build on the lessons from the pandemic to improve service delivery and the resilience of public institutions. This report provides recommendations for further strengthening trust, including making public services more responsive, integrating long-term thinking into policy making, countering the spread of mis- and disinformation and reinforcing New Zealand’s integrity system.

Public trust is a cornerstone of the Finnish administrative and political model, it has also been a key element of Finland's successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Preserving and strengthening the Finnish trust capital will be of essence for facing trade-offs and challenges ahead, particularly on the recovery phase following the pandemic. Through the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods this study examines the key determinants of trust in government, the local government and the public administration in Finland. Overall, it finds that responsiveness of public services and reliability of policies are key determinants of trust in institutions in Finland.

Brazil's public governance efforts have been seen as a model for other Latin American countries in areas such as civil service reform, open and digital government. However, in line with regional trends, trust in government and public institutions in Brazil has consistently declined in recent decades, hindering inclusive and sustainable growth, as well as social cohesion. The COVID-19 and other emerging crises have further exacerbated this trend and highlighted the need to strengthen the resilience of public institutions. Brazil is the first country in Latin America to undertake an OECD study on the main drivers of trust in public institutions, as part of a broader effort in building trustworthy relationships between the people and institutions. This report provides novel evidence on Brazilian people’s expectations and evaluation of government’s reliability, responsiveness, openness, integrity and fairness, based on the OECD Trust Survey. Based on this evidence, it identifies opportunities to further enhance trust, including improving the delivery and responsiveness of public services, enhancing foresight, planning, and preparedness to address long-term challenges, and promoting communication and engagement between the government and the people.

This 1963 report presents the articles on the avoidance of double taxation on income and capital, as agreed upon by the Fiscal Committee. Double taxation is the taxation of a single taxpayer with respect to the same subject matter over the same period in more than one country. This draft aims to inspire further conventions on the elimination of double taxation, a threat to trade and migration. The report includes commentaries on the articles, progress on the elimination of double taxation, and possible future developments. 

Don´t Fix, Don´t Float is a book about credibility, or lack thereof. It deals with questions pertaining to international financial architecture from the perspective of developing countries, emerging markets and transition economies. Should the monetary authority fix the exchange rate of the national currency? Should it instead let the currency float in foreign exchange markets? What about bands, baskets and crawls between the fix and the float corners? Answering these questions is of significance to the national economy involved and, with regard to global finance, often beyond.

In the same way that there may never be a pure float, even among key currencies, an instant fix does not provide a fast lane to credibility. Credibility is earned abroad as the development process reinforces institution building in monetary, financial and budgetary matters. Indeed, rules for budgetary adjustment (such as the zero deficit in Argentina or the EU Stability and Growth Pact) are necessary for any exchange-rate regime to deliver economic growth and development. In Don´t Fix, Don´t Float, the case for intermediate regimes is made for five country groups in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Developing countries, emerging markets and transition economies, together with the OECD area, are facing the consequences of a worsening global economic outlook. In this environment, the development perspective underlying Don’t Fix, Don’t Float is clearly essential.

This review represents a new policy approach for public sector reviews, linking the traditional thematic public employment and strategic human resource management (HRM) framework to public sector innovation and service delivery challenges in the Dominican Republic. The study is based on lessons learned from the experience of OECD member and key partner countries, starting with an economic and institutional analysis of the Dominican context in a broader regional perspective. The report provides a detailed diagnosis of its public employment management and pragmatic solutions for improving it. The recommendations are based on assessments in the following priority areas: the use of strategic workforce planning and management, the state's ability to acquire and retain workforce competencies and enhancing government's core values, performance management and leadership, HRM reforms and the capacity to implement innovative approaches for a more efficient and effective public administration leading to better service delivery.

All OECD governments want to give parents more choice in their work and family decisions. This book looks at the different ways in which governments support families. It seeks to provide answers to questions like: Is spending on family benefits going up, and how does it vary by the age of the child? Has the crisis affected public support for families? What is the best way of helping adults to have the number of children they desire? What are the effects of parental leave programmes on female labour supply and on child well-being? Are childcare costs a barrier to parental employment and can flexible workplace options help? What is the best time for mothers to go back to work after childbirth? And what are the best policies to reduce poverty among sole parents?

The recovery after the COVID-19 crisis requires policies and reforms that tackle inequalities and promote equal opportunities. However, the implementation of such reforms requires widespread support from the public. To better understand what factors drive public support, this report provides a detailed cross-country analysis of people’s perceptions of and concern over inequality. It documents how concern over income disparities has risen in OECD countries over the long run. Nowadays, in most countries a large majority of the population believes that income disparities are too large and that intergenerational mobility is low. Yet, sufficient support for inequality-reducing policies may fail to arise if people do not agree on concrete policy options, or doubt the effectiveness of such policies. Moreover, even when the majority demands more equality, a divided public opinion can complicate the introduction of reforms. The report highlights how people within the same country are often divided as to the extent of inequality and what should be done to address this challenge. The report illustrates how the findings from analysis of perceptions and concerns can serve to inform policy making.

There is a discernible and growing gap between the qualifications that a university degree certifies and the actual generic, 21st-century skills with which students graduate from higher education. By generic skills, it is meant literacy and critical thinking skills encompassing problem solving, analytic reasoning and communications competency. As automation takes over non- and lower-cognitive tasks in today’s workplace, these generic skills are especially valued but a tertiary degree is a poor indicator of skills level. In the United States, the Council for Aid for Education developed an assessment of generic skills called the CLA+ and carried out testing in six countries between 2016 and 2021. This book provides the data and analysis of this “CLA+ International Initiative”.

Dividend stripping is a type of fraud that is committed through a complex mechanism of trading, selling and repurchasing shares over a certain period to unlawfully avoid payment of dividend taxes, or to claim unjustified tax reimbursements. Dividend stripping in its many forms poses a great challenge to the tax bases of numerous jurisdictions and may create market distortions that corrode the integrity of the financial system. This report is intended to raise awareness of dividend stripping frauds and provides a number of recommendations for countries around recognising the risk, improving domestic co-ordination and expanding international co-operation. In particular, tackling dividend stripping requires strong domestic inter-agency co-ordination and international co-operation, as well as the sharing of information between jurisdictions. Countries may therefore wish to prepare targeted actions and comprehensive strategies against this phenomenon, including not only tax administrations and law enforcement, but also financial regulators and supervisory authorities, as well as anti-money laundering competent authorities. Legislative changes may also be required in some cases.

This report provides an assessment of spatial inequalities and segregation in cities and metropolitan areas from multiple perspectives. The chapters in the report focus on a subset of OECD countries and non-member economies, and provide new insights on cross-cutting issues for city neighbourhooods, such as the patterns of segregation across income groups, migrant concentration and diversity across cities of different sizes, the role of public transport accessibility in widening intra-city inequalities, and the expected path dependency on outcomes related to segregation. The report also discusses methodological alternatives for measuring different dimensions of inequality and segregation across cities, and highlights the role of public policies in bridging urban divides and the relevance of the scale of analysis in order to make sound international comparisons.

Germany is exploring a new approach towards the final management of its radioactive waste. During this international workshop, invited speakers representing different groups of stakeholders commented on relevant aspects of the new German approach being proposed. This served as a basis for subsequent round-table discussions. These proceedings provide a historical introduction to radioactive waste management in Germany, a detailed summary of the workshop presentations and discussions that took place, and also the NEA Secretariat’s reflections which help place the main lessons of the workshop into a wider perspective.