Browse by: "2009"

Drawing on relevant international research, including information from experts’ presentations and papers given at the December 2008 Joint Conference between the OECD and the Government of Mexico, this book sets out good practice in the design and implementation of incentive systems for teachers. With this aim in mind, the book provides analysis and discussion of the design and implementation of incentive systems for teachers as well as guidance on what should be rewarded and how it should it be measured, who should be rewarded, how they should they be rewarded and how policies should be developed and implemented to ensure stakeholder engagement and commitment.

The report looks at the evolution of Japanese agricultural policy over the last several decades, but maintains its analytical focus on policies currently in place. In addition to reporting a wide variety of statistics, much of which were provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), use was made of the OECD PSE/CSE database and the OECD Policy Evaluation Model (PEM) for some of the analytical work.

Land is a key input into agricultural production and the agricultural sector remains the main user of rural land in most OECD countries. How land is managed in agriculture, and the conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses, are likely to have implications not only for the provision of food, but also for the supply of public goods such as rural amenities, as well as for the quantity and quality of water. Changes in agricultural, agri-environmental, land-use, and regional policies – together with factors such as climate and demographic changes – increasingly affect land use and management choices. This report examines the impact of several policies on farmland conversion using a combination of economic analysis and empirical case studies.

In today’s economic context, governments are required to take centre stage, helping workers to compete in the global market whilst also supporting employers so that they may retain jobs, increase productivity and offer better-quality employment at the local level. This book provides a new indicator for benchmarking labour-market policy, reviewing the flexibility available in its management throughout OECD countries. The research offers new evidence of the link between flexibility and employment outcomes. Concrete examples of how localities can harness greater flexibility to generate better economic and social outcomes are provided. The new style of management recommended in this book will be key to any national strategy for returning economies to prosperity.

By 2010 there will be over 3.5 billion mobile phones subscribers, 2 billion TVs in use around the world and 1 billion personal computers.This book examines how "smart" this equipment is from an energy efficiency perspective and what the potential is for energy savings.  It includes a global assessment of the changing pattern in residential electricity consumption over the past decade and an in-depth analysis of the role played by electronic equipment. It reviews the influence that government policies have had on creating markets for more energy efficient appliances and identifies new opportunities for creating smarter, more energy efficient homes.

The 2009 edition of this publication provides comprehensive data on the volume, origin and types of aid and other resource flows to around 150 developing countries for the period 2003-2007. The data show each country's intake of official development assistance and well as other official and private funds from members of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, multilateral agencies and other key donors. Key development indicators are given for reference.

This report examines both the challenges and the opportunities associated with designing and using indicator systems as a tool for the governance of regional development policy. It draws on the experiences of a number of OECD countries and provides an in-depth look at the cases of Italy, the United Kingdom (England), the United States and the European Union.  It builds on previous OECD work on the governance of  regional development policy by extending lessons about contractual relations among levels of government to performance indicator systems.  

Within the context of sustainable development, natural resources and ecosystem services provided by the environment are essential to support economic growth social wellbeing, and human health. Inaction on key environmental challenges, such as climate change, could lead to severe economic consequences in the future. It is important that the measures governments are taking now to address the economic crisis are designed so that they support – and at least do not compromise – sustainable long-term, environmentally friendly growth in the future. This discussion paper highlights some of the measures governments are already taking to 'green' their approches to economic recovery, and some of the key issues they may wish to further consider going forward regarding the impact of these approaches on the environment.

This Overview Guidance Document summarises the major guidance aspects provided in the OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals, Section 5. This document also develops an approach for a Global Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) process to achieve use of a single globally acceptable feeding study for MRL setting and risk assessment for livestock food commodities that involves four key components: 1) Harmonised Guidance for the Definition of Residue; 2) Reasonable Worst Case Animal Diets/Maximum Reasonably Balanced Diet; 3) Harmonised Table of Livestock Feed Commodities; and 4) Definition of Reasonable Worst Case Livestock Feeding Levels. Each of these components is described and supported by the following resources: (i) a table of raw agricultural commodities; (ii) national and regional tables of livestock feedstuffs; (iii) a glossary of Terms; (iv) comprehensive submission criteria for supervised field trials in support of registration in all OECD countries; and (v) instructions for calculating the 1x (lowest dose) pesticide oral administration level for livestock feeding studies, taking into account the various livestock diets around the world.

This Guidance Manual includes detailed explanations on how to implement the OECD Decision C(2001)107/FINAL, as amended; copies of the Decision C(2001)107/FINAL (Annex A), including Appendices 3 and 4, and Appendix 8 which have been amended by C(2008)156; the updated consolidated lists of waste subject to the Green and Amber control procedures (Annexes B and C); other relevant information to facilitate the implementation of the OECD Decision C(2001)107/FINAL, such as applicable international transport agreements and a sample contract; and queries of the interactive database aiming to facilitate the paperwork of all parties involved in transboundary movements of wastes by providing the necessary information to complete the forms for the notification and movement documents. The database includes the information required by the Decision C(2001)107/FINAL, as amended and some practical information for each OECD member country (http://www2.oecd.org/waste).

The latest System of National Accounts (the 2008 SNA) explicitly recognises, for the first time, that expenditures on research and experimental development (R&D) should be recorded as capital formation. This is a natural extension to the 1993 SNA, which recommends recording many acquisitions of software and databases, mineral exploration, and entertainment, artistic and literary originals as capital formation, too. These products have a common characteristic, namely that their value reflects the underlying intellectual property they embody, which is why they are referred to collectively in this publication as intellectual property products (IPPs). But they also share another important characteristic: their measurement is not straightforward, and in the absence of clear guidance it is highly likely that estimates will not be comparable between countries. This Handbook is designed to provide that guidance by considering IPPs collectively, based on their common characteristics, by type, based on any specificities, such as data availability, and by detailed transaction - for example the valuation of IPPs that have been produced for internal use by their developers, the valuation of unsuccessful IPPs, and the production of IPPs produced and made freely available by government.