Browse by: "2006"

This paper assesses how and in what circumstances, fiscal consolidations are affected by monetary conditions, using data covering 24 OECD countries over the past 25 years, Focusing on fiscal consolidation “episodes”, it is found that these tend to occur when large budget deficits threaten sustainability and usually when other macroeconomic indicators -- inflation, the exchange rate and unemployment -- suggest a “crisis” situation. After controlling for these factors, the paper finds strong econometric evidence that consolidation efforts are more likely to be pursued and to succeed if the monetary policy stance is eased in the initial stages of the episode, thus contributing to offsetting the contractionary impact of fiscal tightening. However, the link is far from mechanical and there are also counter-examples where monetary easing was followed by aborted consolidation efforts. Central bank independence explicitly precludes direct responses of monetary policy to fiscal actions. However, the paper also provides evidence that the indirect reaction of monetary policy and financial markets to fiscal consolidation may be influenced by the quality of fiscal adjustment, as short and long-term interest rates are more likely to fall during episodes characterised by greater reliance on current expenditure cuts. While this means that causality runs both ways, the paper provides evidence that, even after controlling for this proxy of fiscal adjustment quality, changes in monetary stance do affect the chances that a fiscal retrenchment plan will be successfully pursued.

The 2005 reform of the EU Stability and Growth Pact has provided leeway for governments to let their fiscal deficit temporarily breach the 3% rule to finance the immediate budgetary cost of structural reform, such as compensation schemes to offset redistributive effects. Against this backdrop, it is useful to dispose of empirical estimates of the effect of structural reform on fiscal outcomes, not only the short term cost but also the long-run fiscal gain stemming from changes in spending parameters and better economic performance. Based on econometric estimates for a pool of 21 OECD countries, this study finds a significant net fiscal gain of structural reform.

Le gouvernement flamand de Belgique a récemment approuvé l’affectation d’un investissement d’un milliard d’euros à des infrastructures scolaires dans le cadre de partenariats public-privé ; il s’agit de son premier grand projet de ce type. Les partenariats public-privé, tels qu’ils sont envisagés par la Communauté flamande, permettent au gouvernement de répondre rapidement aux besoins urgents, mais aussi de répartir les coûts sur une plus longue durée.

Les organismes d’aide et les investisseurs privés s’en remettent de plus en plus aux indicateurs de gouvernance. Ces indicateurs font l’objet d’utilisations abusives généralisées. Les utilisateurs comme les pays en développement gagneraient à ce que les indicateurs soient plus transparents.

Educational buildings and grounds can provide a supportive and stimulating environment for the learning process as well as contribute to greater community needs. These issues were addressed at an international conference entitled “Making Space: Architecture and Design for Young Children”. Described here are the importance of outdoor space to learning in New Zealand, presented at the event, and a campus for pupils in Scotland (United Kingdom) visited by conference participants.

Access to outdoor space is seen as essential to New Zealand children’s development. An early childhood education consultant explains how the early childhood curriculum is linked to both indoor and outdoor spaces in line with socio-cultural learning theory.

A new campus in Scotland built to regroup several educational institutions for young children has been successful in uniting different faiths and integrating pupils with special needs. Further information about the conference is available in PEB Exchange no. 57, February 2006.

The City of Lisbon, Portugal, is working to better integrate children with disabilities at primary school level. It recently has undertaken an accessible school programme and has restored an historic building as part of this effort.

The use of governance “indicators” is booming. These indicators are supposed to quantify the quality of a country’s governance institutions by considering, for example, the extent of corruption in the economy, the quality of public and private regulatory systems, the prevalence of “rule of law”, the level of political stability, and the effectiveness of government.

Belgium’s Flemish government recently approved a EUR 1 billion investment in school infrastructure through public-private partnerships, its first major initiative of this kind. The Flemish Community’s variant of public-private partnerships in school building allows the government to meet urgent needs in the short run, but also to spread the costs over a longer period.

In order for microfinance institutions to reach more poor people they should become an integral part of the financial sector, and develop as sound domestic intermediaries. They should go commercial, broadening their client basis and scaling up their loans to small enterprises. Will it mean that they will loose their soul? Actually no; on the contrary, they will inject more soul into formal banking practices.

In December 2005, the United Kingdom launched a process for evaluating the design quality of primary and secondary school buildings. The Design Quality Indicator (DQI) for Schools is a tool that can assist stakeholders – teachers, parents, school governors, students, community members, local authority clients and building professionals – to achieve design excellence in new or refurbished school buildings and grounds. The DQI framework was developed by the Department for Education and Skills and the Construction Industry Council.

Le nouveau campus du Queen Margaret University College, au Royaume-Uni, est dans sa conception un centre éducatif de proximité, soucieux du développement durable. Les étudiants et le personnel initialement consultés au sujet de la conception du campus ont montré qu’ils souhaitaient vivement disposer d’un environnement écologiquement viable, dans lequel tous puissent jouir de très nombreux espaces verts. C’est pourquoi les architectes du campus se sont employés à développer au maximum la biodiversité, à favoriser les moyens de transport écologiques et à tirer le meilleur parti possible de la lumière du jour et de la ventilation naturelle à l’intérieur des bâtiments. Ce projet de réimplantation prévoit de transformer une douzaine d’hectares de terres agricoles pauvres en une diversité d’habitats pour la flore et la faune permettant la création d’espaces verts. Le campus sera ouvert au grand public à des fins éducatives et récréatives.

La municipalité de Lisbonne (Portugal), qui s’efforce d’améliorer l’accueil des enfants souffrant de déficiences à l’école primaire, a récemment mis en oeuvre un programme visant à rendre les écoles plus accessibles et a restauré un bâtiment historique dans le cadre de ce projet.

En décembre 2005, le Royaume-Uni a adopté un dispositif pour évaluer la qualité de la conception des établissements primaires et secondaires. L’indicateur de la qualité de la conception (DQI) des établissements scolaires est un outil susceptible d’aider les acteurs concernés – enseignants, parents, administrateurs d’école, élèves, citoyens, autorités locales clientes et professionnels du bâtiment – à atteindre l’excellence dans la conception des établissements scolaires et des terrains, qu’il s’agisse d’espaces nouveaux ou réaménagés. La grille d’évaluation DQI a été établie par le ministère de l’Éducation et le Conseil de l’industrie de la construction (Construction Industry Council).

The new campus of Queen Margaret University College in the United Kingdom is designed to be a sustainable educational and community resource. Early consultation with students and staff on the campus design revealed a strong desire for a sustainable environment, with plenty of green space for all to enjoy. In response to this, the design focuses on maximising biodiversity, encouraging green transport, and making the most of natural daylight and ventilation in interior spaces. The Queen Margaret RE:LOCATE project will transform 35 acres of low grade farmland into diverse wildlife habitats to provide the parkland setting. The campus will be open to the public for leisure, education and recreation.

Pour se rapprocher davantage des pauvres, les organismes de micro-finance devraient devenir partie intégrante du secteur financier et s’affirmer comme les intermédiaires de terrain. Il leur faudra commercialiser leur démarche, élargir leur clientèle et leur gamme de crédits en direction des petites entreprises. Risquent-ils d’y perdre leur âme ?

Les bâtiments et terrains scolaires peuvent créer un environnement pédagogique favorable et stimulant et répondre davantage aux besoins de la population locale. Ces questions ont été abordées lors d’une conférence internationale intitulée « Création d’espaces : l’architecture et la conception au service des jeunes enfants ». Cet article révèle à quel point les espaces extérieurs comptent dans le processus d’apprentissage à partir d’une étude de cas en Nouvelle-Zélande présentée lors de la conférence, et décrit par ailleurs un campus scolaire en Écosse (Royaume-Uni) où certains participants se sont rendus.

En Nouvelle-Zélande, l’accès à l’espace extérieur est jugé essentiel pour le développement des enfants. Une conseillère en éducation de la petite enfance précise comment le programme d’éducation préscolaire, dans la logique des théories socioculturelles de l’apprentissage, est indissociable des espaces à la fois intérieurs et extérieurs.

En Écosse, un nouveau campus, conçu pour regrouper plusieurs établissements éducatifs destinés aux jeunes enfants, est parvenu à rassembler des enfants de différentes confessions et à intégrer des élèves présentant des besoins éducatifs particuliers. Pour en savoir plus sur cette conférence, voir le numéro 57 de PEB Échanges, février 2006.

With population ageing, fiscal consolidation has become of paramount importance for euro area countries. Consolidation can be pursued in various ways, with different effects on potential growth, which itself will be dragged down by ageing. A dynamic general equilibrium model with overlapping generations and a public finance block (including a pay-as-you-go pension regime, a health care system, non ageingrelated public spending and a stock of debt to be repaid) is used to compare the macroeconomic impact of four scenarios: a) increasing taxes to finance unchanged pensions and repay public debt, b) lowering future pension replacement rates and repaying public debt through a lower ratio of non ageing-related outlays to GDP, c) raising the retirement age by 1.25 years per decade and increasing taxes only to pay off debt, and d) increasing the retirement age by 1.25 years per decade and paying off debt through a lower ratio of non ageing-related expenditure to GDP. This last scenario is the one where growth is strongest: with gradual increases in the retirement age and spending restraint, average GDP growth in the 2010s would be 0.34 percentage point stronger than in a scenario where fiscal consolidation is achieved exclusively through tax hikes. The appropriate conclusion from the model is not that public spending is bad per se, but that cuts to lower-priority spending items can deliver surprisingly large income gains compared with the alternative of raising taxes.

This paper provides empirical evidence on the changing nature of manufacturing in OECD countries, including the continued loss of employment in the manufacturing. It examines the extent to which manufacturing output and employment are declining in OECD countries and explores possible causes, including increased productivity, slow growth in demand for manufacturing products, loss of markets to imports, statistical and classification issues, and so on. The paper finds that the share of manufacturing in OECD economies is declining and argues that this is likely to continue. It also presents...