This Working Paper studies ways to stimulate the private rental sector (PRS) of the housing market – and compares experiences with policies and reforms in Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the Czech Republic. Although in many countries the PRS has decreased in importance since the Second World War, there are signs of a growing importance and possible ‘revival’ of the PRS. A well-functioning PRS and neutrality in housing policies can improve the functioning of the housing market – by promoting residential mobility, increasing housing options for households and generating competitive supply and affordable prices. The PRS can have positive effects on the economy and labour mobility and reduce inefficiencies and risks of owner-occupied and social housing. Trade-offs between goals in housing policies, and regulatory impediments to a level playing field between segments of the housing market (owner-occupancy, social rental, private rental) are analysed. The article outlines policy options in promoting a well-functioning PRS: lessons are drawn on tenancy security, rent-setting regulations, social housing, demand subsidies, fiscal measures for rental and owner-occupied housing and barriers for PRS supply. Experiences from the countries show that it is hard to create a level playing field – there are inefficiencies in all four countries. Nonetheless, there are many positive experiences of stimulating the PRS: reforms in Finland and the Czech Republic stimulated the PRS to become a competitive and important part of the housing market, and Dutch policies are adapted to stimulate a level playing field. The ‘resilience’ of the German housing system during the economic crisis shows that the large PRS and tenure neutrality have important stabilising effects on the German economy.

This paper develops a simple model-based framework for stress testing fiscal consolidation strategies under different scenarios of future shocks. A baseline scenario assuming a gradual debt consolidation is presented and by assuming different future developments (e.g. lower potential growth) and/or model specification in terms of a fiscal rule confidence bands around the baseline are obtained. Trade-offs between costs and benefits are evaluated, in terms of cumulative output loss and primary surpluses, as well as political difficulty of fiscal strategies and risk of failed consolidation. The model is applied to Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. This working paper relates to the 2013 OECD Economic Surveys of Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys)

To achieve its vision to become one of the most attractive and competitive regions in Europe by 2025, the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region put in place eleven fields of action that promote sustainability across policy areas, such as sustainable and needs-based mobility, regional innovation promotion, regional energy transition and education of the future. This report offers guidance on how the metropolitan region could harness the SDGs as an integrated framework to address its main challenges, including climate change, the impacts of digitalisation on the labour market, territorial disparities among urban and rural areas as well as the co-ordination of actors and policies across three different federal states, notably on funding.

Strategies to 'activate' the unemployed with the help of high-quality employment services have continuously gained importance in the policy debate. The purpose of this report is to examine how activation strategies and the performance of employment services are addressed in three countries which have undertaken considerable reforms in recent years, namely Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. All three review countries have implemented a 'mutual obligations' approach.

Past consolidation has allowed the automatic stabilisers to operate fully during the crisis. Further fiscal easing in late 2008 and early 2009 contributed to a markedly widening fiscal deficit in 2010. A newly enacted fiscal rule, which limits the structural budget deficit of the federal government to a maximum of 0.35% of GDP and requires balanced structural budgets for the Länder, will help bring public finances back to a sustainable path. However, some elements of the new rule may need to be fine tuned in order for it to be more effective. To comply with the transition requirements of the new rule, consolidation beyond a mere phasing-out of the stimulus packages will be needed between 2011 and 2016. Priority should be given to reducing public expenditure, notably by improving public sector efficiency and by cutting back on grants and government consumption, and to phasing out distorting tax concessions. To improve the structure of the tax system, the government should consider raising the share of taxes on property and consumption in total tax revenues. This paper relates to the 2010 OECD Economic Survey of Germany. (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/germany).

A first step to implement effective migrant integration policies is to know who does what in policy sectors key to integration. Responding to this need, this paper offers policy makers a tool to understand the organisation of public action in key sectors for integration - Employment, Education, Housing, and Health/Welfare – in a sample of 10 OECD countries: Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The complexity of the division of powers among levels of government calls for coordination mechanisms between actors, whatever the level of decentralisation. Besides, it throws lights on subnational governments’ role in integrating migrants and enabling them to participate to local development for the benefits of all. The geographic differences that exist in migrant presence and outcomes mean countries should build on local authorities' knowledge of local realities, aptitudes to coordinate different policy fields at the relevant scale and cooperate with non-governmental organisations.

Non-residential investment has fallen over the past 20 years as a share of GDP and is now lower than in several other high-income OECD countries. Business investment growth has been weak since the outbreak of the global financial and economic crisis. Government investment has been low, especially at municipal level. Investment in knowledge-based capital (KBC), which is closely related to long-term productivity performance, has been subdued. Weak growth prospects in the Euro Area have weighed on business investment and an increasing share of firms invests in distant, more dynamic markets. Policies that strengthen stability and growth prospects in the Euro Area would raise the attractiveness of Germany as a location to invest, notably steps to strengthen the single market and cross-border infrastructure, and complete the banking union. Steps to liberalise regulation of services, in particular knowledge-intensive professional services, would raise investment and productivity. Policies that encourage the reallocation of resources would also increase investment in KBC. Poor municipalities invest relatively little and there is scope to lower the cost of public investment projects. Better use of e-governance and more performance-oriented budgeting could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public investment.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the policy ecosystem in place for social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It identifies the state’s key strengths and challenges and provides policy recommendations to support the development of a stronger policy ecosystem.

It includes a conceptual framework for social entrepreneurship and social innovation (Chapter 2); with recommendations and analyses to build institutional and legal frameworks for social enterprises (Chapter 3), improve access to finance for social entrepreneurship development (Chapter 4), promote access to private and public markets for social entrepreneurship development (Chapter 5), and strengthen social impact measurement and reporting for social enterprise development (Chapter 6).

STRING is a political cross-border organisation spanning five cities (the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Copenhagen, Malmö, Gothenburg and Oslo) and eight regions (Schleswig-Holstein, Region of Southern Denmark, Region Zealand, Capital Region of Denmark, Region Skåne, Region Halland, Västra Götalandsregionen and Viken County) across Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Home to around 14 million inhabitants, STRING has good potential to become a leading European megaregion and an internationally acknowledged Green Hub if governments “think big” and work together beyond their own boundaries. Building on its green expertise and high levels of innovation and quality of life, STRING could take advantage of current opportunities such as the construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link to reap the benefits of agglomeration economies and establish itself as a sustainable megaregion. However, time is of the essence. Seizing the political momentum of the coming decade, including the momentum to support a green recovery from COVID-19, will be critical to advance STRING’s green vision and shape a future-proof economic model.

Germany
Judgement of the Federal Administrative Court on the Konrad Repository Project (2007)

Canada
Brunswick News Inc. v Her Majesty the Queen in the Right of the Province of New Brunswick denying release of nuclear power feasibility study (2008)

Germany
Judgement of the Federal Administration Court on the so-called “Biblis-obligations” (2008)

United States
Judgement of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on the interpretation of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Standard Contract (2008)
Summary Order of the U.S. Court of Appeals on petitions for revision of Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations (2008)

France
Administrative Court of Appeal of Lyon, 19 June 2012, Judgements Nos. 12LY00233 and 12LY00290 regarding EDF’s permit to construct a waste conditioning and storage facility (ICEDA) in the town of Saint-Vulbas

Germany
Request for arbitration against Germany at the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) because of Germany’s legislation leading to the phase-out of nuclear energy

India
Cases related to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP)

Switzerland
Judgement of the Federal Administrative Court in the matter of Balmer-Schafroth a.o.v. BKW FMB Energy Inc. on the revocation of the operating licence for the Mühleberg nuclear power plant

United States
Judgement of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacating the NRC’s 2010 Waste Confidence Decision and Rule Update

Germany reduced greenhouse gas emissions substantially but remains an important emitter. Ambitious targets for climate change mitigation have been fixed and a broad range of environmental measures are being implemented. The efficiency of these measures, as well as their coordination, should be improved though, as reaching the targets risks being costly. In particular, the early phase-out of nuclear power and the development of renewable energy sources will require high levels of investment and public financial support. Establishing a clear carbon price in all sectors of the economy and phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies would contribute to reducing the CO2 abatement cost. The generosity of feed-in tariffs also needs to be carefully monitored and adjusted tightly in line with market developments to avoid deadweight losses and excessive increases in electricity prices. In addition, in order to maintain the German leadership in green sectors and preserve future sources of growth, competition in the energy sectors should be increased and eco-innovation further developed. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 Economic Survey of Germany, www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/germany.

This article gives methodological guidance on how best to compare the share of profits in value-added across countries using national accounts. Such comparisons are often based on accounts for institutional sectors such as non-financial corporations. It turns out that these are less internationally comparable than is usually assumed. The main issue is the allocation of certain types of self-employed workers to the corporations’ sector of some countries, most notably Germany and Italy. The consequence is that the measured gross operating surplus of corporations is overstated and has to be adjusted for international comparisons. If this is not feasible, it is preferable to rely on industry accounts, focus on a subset of industries and impute a labour compensation to self-employed workers for international comparisons. Profit shares in France, Germany, Italy and the United States are then much more similar than what the accounts for non-financial corporations suggest. The claim of a global increase in the profit share in the last decades is at best debatable for Germany and not backed with the evidence presented in this paper for France and Italy. It is only for the United States that we can confirm such an increase.

Germany has recently gone through a fundamental process of reform of its higher education system. The last 15 years have been characterised by significant changes in virtually all aspects of the system. The impacts of the Bologna Process have been far reaching. The reform of the governance and funding systems in higher education has also been highly influential.

This article reflects upon the increasing relevance of the concept of competition in higher education and how the realisation of more competitive elements was accomplished in a highly decentralised system of governance. The article also demonstrates the complex interplay between the public discourse regarding the need for more competitive approaches in higher education, legal reforms, changes in funding provisions for higher education and the transformation of rules for attracting human resources.

Concurrence, autonomie et nouveau courant de pensée : transformation de l’enseignement supérieur en Allemagne fédérale

Le système de l’enseignement supérieur allemand a récemment connu un processus de réformes fondamental. Ces 15 dernières années ont été marquées par des changements importants affectant quasiment tous les aspects du système. Les impacts du processus de Bologne ont été considérables. De la même manière, la réforme des systèmes de gouvernance et de financement dans l’enseignement supérieur a exercé une grande influence.

Cet article analyse l’intérêt croissant accordé à la notion de concurrence dans l’enseignement supérieur et la façon dont des éléments plus compétitifs ont été mis en place dans un système de gouvernance fortement décentralisé. L’article démontre l’existence d’interactions complexes entre le discours public sur les besoins d’une approche plus concurrentielle dans l’enseignement supérieur, les réformes légales, les changements apportés à l’attribution de financement et la transformation des règles visant à attirer les ressources humaines.