Browse by: "2013"

This paper provides both descriptive and empirical evidence about the main youth labour market problems in Spain. Using the experiences of other EU economies as a benchmark, we document the performance of Spain as regards a wide set of youth labour market dimensions. These include employment and unemployment rates, youth wages, decisions to work and study, youth mobility, type of employment contract, time to find a first job, skill mismatch, etc. Cross-country econometric evidence from different micro-datasets is reported to understand the role played by several underlying supply/demand factors which might explain the difficulties faced by the Spanish youth labour market (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Spain).

Under the Universal Credit reform, the main means-tested benefits except the Council Tax Benefit will be pooled into one single benefit with one single taper rate. The reform will give people better incentives to work, reduce complexity and contribute to reducing poverty. The reform could reduce the number of workless households by between 45 000 and 240 000 and increase labour supply by the equivalent of 15 000-85 000 full-time employees. Increased take-up and increased entitlements for low income families will further reduce poverty and increase equality. However, the cost of childcare remains high even after taking childcare benefits into account. Despite significant improvements, childcare expenses will continue to be a hurdle to progress in work for second earners and lone parents, even after the Universal Credit reform.

Important gender gaps in entrepreneurship exist. Men are three times more likely than women to own a business with employees. Women rarely own large businesses and their average earnings from selfemployment are up to 60% lower than for men. Cultural norms, stereotypes and lack of role models make women less interested in an entrepreneurial career and less confident in their capacities as entrepreneurs. Other obstacles such as time shortages and the composition of their professional networks lead women to start relatively small businesses, with low levels of initial capital and bank financing. These obstacles establish a competitive disadvantage for companies owned by women, which translates in levels of labour productivity that are 5 to 30% lower than those of companies owned by men. This paper also presents examples of policy initiatives in the domains of credit, training and awareness raising that can unlock the double dividend of women’s entrepreneurship: higher empowerment of women and more productive businesses. Better data and more analysis are an essential precondition for a more effective implementation of these policies.

This study looks into the use of fixed term contracts and agency work in Russia during and shortly after the crisis 2009-10 with the help of an enterprise survey. The results of variance analysis show that the use of fixed-term or agency work contracts is not uniform across sectors, size and skill requirements. Probit analysis reveals that the use of fixed term contracts also in-creases the likelihood of using agency work, but not the other way around. The increase of tem-porary and agency work contracts increases the turnover on the labour market and contributes to an increase in dualisation, but may also help to prevent a larger increase in unemployment during crisis periods.

The extent to which firms face price-elastic demands for their products is important in the application of competition law and in judgments made as to whether they have significant market power. In the context of the airport industry, assessing price-elasticities is complicated by the fact that one major type of consumer of airport services, the air passenger, is not charged directly for use of terminals and airside infrastructure. Instead, the airport derives its revenues from charges to airlines and from the supply of non-aeronautical services. The charges to airlines then become one of many input costs that the airlines recoup from passenger fares, and this intermediation has significant implications for the demand analysis.

New business models can make an important contribution to the transition to green growth. While some new business models involve large firms, others are small start-up firms that seek to exploit technological or commercial opportunities that have been neglected or not yet explored by more established firms. New firms tend to engage in more radical innovation than existing firms, and scaling up new business models can therefore help reduce environmental pollution, optimise the use of natural resources, increase productivity and energy efficiency, and provide a new source of economic growth. Although the market for green goods and services is growing, the development of new business models is affected by a range of barriers, many of which can be addressed by well-designed policies.

• On average across OECD countries, around 4% of students are top performers in reading, mathematics and science (all-rounders).
• Australia, Finland, Hong Kong-China, Japan, New Zealand, Shanghai-China and Singapore have larger proportions of these students than any other country or economy.

There are two main sources of confusion in the public corporate governance debate. One is the confusion about the role of public policy intervention. The other is a lack of empirical knowledge about the corporate landscape where rules are supposed to be implemented and the functioning of today’s equity markets, where voting rights and cash flow rights are traded. To mitigate some of this confusion, this paper provides both an analytical framework for the role of public policy and a description of the empirical context that influences the conditions for that policy. It underlines the importance of focusing on the overall economic outcome and, in particular, how rules and regulations impact the conditions for companies to grow and create value by accessing public equity markets. In terms of the empirical context, we point to fundamental changes in the functioning of equity markets that may call for a fresh look at the economic effectiveness of corporate governance regulations. Among other things, we document a dramatic shift in listings from developed to emerging markets over the last decade, which means that concentrated ownership at company level has become the dominant form of ownership in listed companies worldwide. We also discuss whether the lack of new listings of smaller companies in developed markets is related to excessive regulatory burdens and unintended consequences of a decade of profound stock market deregulation. The discussion about listings illustrates that corporate governance rules and regulations do not only affect companies that are already listed. From a policy perspective, it is equally important to assess the implications for unlisted companies that may, in the future, require access to public equity markets for growth and job creation. We also document how the lengthened and ever more complex chain of intermediaries between savers and companies may influence the efficiency of capital allocation and the willingness of investors to take an active long-term interest in the companies that they own. It is shown that institutional investors are a highly heterogeneous group and that their willingness and ability to engage in corporate governance primarily depend on the economic incentives that follow from their different business models, investment strategies and trading practices. We provide examples of how regulatory initiatives to increase shareholder engagement may have unintended consequences, and note that the diversity and complexity of the investment chain can render general policies or regulation ineffective.

• Strong performers and successful reformers in education share some key characteristics: a belief in the potential of all their students, strong political will, and the capacity of all stakeholders to make sustained and concerted efforts towards improvement.
• Countries/Economies that have improved their reading performance over the years have done so by reducing the proportion of poor-performing students, increasing the share of high performers, and/or weakening the impact of students’ socio-economic status on their performance.

• The higher the level of education, the higher the salary cost of teachers per student. In Belgium (Flemish Community), France and Spain, the difference in the annual salary cost between the primary and upper secondary levels of education exceeds USD 1 800 in 2010.
• Between 2000 and 2010, the salary cost of teachers per student increased in nearly all countries at the primary and lower secondary levels of education and, on average, by one-third and one quarter respectively.
• Changes over time in the level of salary cost of teachers are mainly driven by teachers’ salaries; class size is the second main driver.
• Similar levels of expenditure among countries can mask a variety of contrasting policy choices.

High speed rail (HSR) is usually regarded as services operating at 250 kmph or more, and these invariably require construction of new purpose-built lines. According to the International Union of Railways (UIC), by 2012, a total of 13 000km of such lines had been built worldwide, half in Europe and half in Asia. China had the largest network at 3 426km, whilst Japan, France and Spain all had over 2 000km. There are plans for a further major expansion, with the European Commission calling for a trebling of the kilometrage in Europe by 2030.Yet high speed rail is an enormous investment, with a typical 500km line costing 6-12Bn euros in 2004 prices (Euros 12-24 Bn per km) (de Rus and Nash, 2009). It is necessary to consider very carefully in what circumstances such an outlay is justified.

• The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis has meant a significant number of countries have cut public spending on education. Despite GDP rising in most OECD countries between 2009 and 2010, public expenditure on educational institutions fell in one-third of them.
• Teachers’ salaries were either frozen or cut between 2009 and 2011 in 12 out of the 25 OECD countries with data available. This may discourage the highest-performing students from joining the teaching profession.
• Demand for education and training is increasing even as austerity continues to put pressure on the resources allocated to education. Educational institutions will have to do more with less in the coming years.

• In most countries and economies, students who attend schools in urban areas tend to perform at higher levels than other students.
• Socio-economic status explains only part of the performance difference between students who attend urban schools and other students.
• Schools in urban settings are larger, tend to benefit from better educational resources, and often enjoy greater autonomy in how they can allocate those resources.

Long-term projections suggest that without policy changes, the continuation of business-as-usual economic growth and development will have serious impacts on natural resources and the ecosystem services on which human well-being depends. This highlights the necessity for both developed and developing countries to move to a new growth path that is consistent with the protection of the environment and a sustainable use of scarce natural resources, while still achieving sizeable gains in living standards and reducing poverty...

Differences in the dynamisms of economies are persistent. Notwithstanding the growing body of evidence documenting these large cross-country differences, our understanding of what drives them is still rather limited. This paper seeks to help close this gap. Using unique data for ten countries the analysis sheds light on the factors that shape the distribution of firm growth and on what role policies play in driving cross-country differences. The paper provides new evidence on the link of labour market regulation, bankruptcy legislation, financial market development and R&D support policies with growth dynamics. The study goes beyond looking at differences in average growth rates as it analyses changes in the whole distribution of firms.

• Most students think that what they learned in school is useful for them or their future.
• Students’ attitudes towards school are associated with their reading skills.
• Students who report that the climate at their school is conducive to learning tend to have more positive attitudes towards school.

• Immigrant students who share a common country of origin, and therefore many cultural similarities, perform very differently across school systems.
• The difference in performance between immigrant students and non-immigrant students of similar socio-economic status is smaller in school systems with large immigrant populations and where immigrant students are as diverse in socio-economic status as other students.

• On average across 15 OECD countries, a 30-year-old male tertiary graduate can expect to live another 51 years, while a 30 year-old man who has not completed upper secondary education can expect to live an additional 43 years. A similar comparison between women in the two educational groups reveals less of a difference than that among men.
• In 27 OECD countries, on average, 80% of young tertiary graduates say they vote, while only 54% of young adults who have not completed upper secondary education do so. The difference in voting rates by level of education is much smaller among older age groups.
• Education can bring significant benefits to society, not only through higher employment opportunities and income but also via enhanced skills, improved social status and access to networks. By fully recognising the power of education, policy makers could better address diverse societal challenges.

This study analyses how 14 OECD Countries refer to “value” when making decisions on reimbursement and prices of new medicines. It details the type of outcomes considered, the perspective and methods adopted for economic evaluation when used; and the consideration of budget impact. It describes which dimensions are taken into account in the assessment of “innovativeness” and the consequences of this assessment on prices; it confirms that treatments for severe and/or rare diseases are often more valued than others and shows how countries use product-specific agreements in an attempt to better align value and price.

The decision to exclude an economic operator from participation in a public procurement procedure is a serious one. The impact on the economic operator is potentially significant. The inappropriate exclusion of an economic operator can also adversely affect competition and have an impact on value-for-money outcomes for the contracting authority. SIGMA Brief 24 focuses on the issue of whether it is permitted under EU law to use an official automatic exclusion list for reasons related to prior contract performance, especially in the light of the newest judgements of the Court of Justice of the European Union (case C 465/11). In the context of the Brief, the term “official automatic exclusion list” means a centrally administered and published list of economic operators that are excluded from tendering for public procurement contracts.