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Isotopes, radioactive and stable, are used worldwide in various applications related to medical diagnosis or care, industry and scientific research. More than fifty countries have isotope production or separation facilities operated for domestic supply, and sometimes for international markets.
This publication provides up-to-date information on the current status of, and trends in, isotope uses and production. It also presents key issues, conclusions and recommendations, which will be of interest to policy makers in governmental bodies, scientists and industrial actors in the field.
Radioactive and stable isotopes are used throughout the world and in many sectors, including medicine, industry, agriculture and research. In many applications isotopes have no substitute, and in most others they are more effective and cheaper than alternative techniques or processes.
This publication is the first international survey on the beneficial uses and production of isotopes. It provides an overview of their main uses, and detailed information on the facilities that produce them world-wide. Trends in isotope supply and demand are analysed, and the conclusions and recommendations presented point to key issues to be considered by governments.
Protecting people, rather than specific jobs, plays a key role in promoting labour-market inclusiveness and dynamism. Effective unemployment benefits reduce inequality, and raise productivity by facilitating a good match between workers’ skills and job requirements. They are a crucial policy lever for adapting to the major societal, technological and environmental transitions of our time.
This report is the first of a number of OECD country reviews of income support policies. Each report analyses key policy challenges, discusses recent reform initiatives, and identifies good practices from other OECD countries.
This report on Korea focuses on avenues for strengthening benefit coverage, income security and re-employment in the context of a “dual” labour market with large parts of the workforce in short-duration, non-standard or informal employment. It welcomes Korea’s recent reforms towards more accessible jobseeker support, and points to priorities for additional policy action to make income and employment support more effective and inclusive.
Protecting people, rather than specific jobs, plays a key role in promoting labour-market inclusiveness and dynamism. Effective unemployment benefits reduce inequality, and facilitate a good match between workers’ skills and job requirements. They are a crucial policy lever for adapting to the major societal, technological and environmental transitions of our time. This report on the United States is the second of a number of OECD country reviews of income support policies. Each report analyses key policy challenges, discusses recent reform initiatives, and identifies good practices from other OECD countries.
The report examines the reach and generosity of unemployment insurance and other income support for working age households, with a special focus on disadvantaged labour market groups. What are key gaps in benefit receipt between wage- and salaried employees and non-standard workers (part-time workers, those on temporary contracts, and self-employed workers including own-account workers)? What factors, including race/ethnicity and gender, drive non-entitlement to unemployment compensation? The report examines these questions, considers the impact of recent extensions to the unemployment insurance programme in response to the COVID pandemic, and outlines policy directions for strengthening out-of-work support.
Unemployment and related welfare benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. For the first time, this publication analyses the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for many different family types and labour market situations. This volume enables the reader to discover exactly what features of the tax and benefit system cause disincentives to work; it compares all the different benefits made available to those without work and the taxes they pay with potential in-work incomes. In-work incomes in some countries are little higher than benefits made available to those without work. Furthermore, some benefits are withdrawn as earnings rise, reducing the attraction of moving up the job ladder. Unemployed families who face these disincentives may become locked in unemployment and are at risk of exclusion from the labour market.
Unemployment and related benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. The Benefit Systems and Work Incentives series, started in 1998, addresses all the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for many different family types and labour market situations. This year's edition includes a section that describes the changes that occurred over the two-year period 1995-1997 affecting benefit systems and work incentives in OECD countries. We have also included some detailed calculations which illustrate the uses of net income calculations and the resulting marginal effective tax rates. Furthermore, Greece has now been included amongst the countries in our study. The series is a valuable tool used to compare the different benefits made available to those without work (net of taxes) with potential in-work incomes. This differential, in some countries, is very small. Furthermore, the reduction of certain benefits, as earnings rise, sometimes reduces the attraction of moving up the job ladder. Consequently unemployed families, who face these disincentives, may become locked in unemployment and are at risk of exclusion from the labour market.
Unemployment and related welfare benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time, reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. This annual report presents a description of all the benefits available to those without work, and of the taxes they pay, and presents a set of tables facilitating cross-country comparisons of tax-benefit systems. It compares the incomes of a range of families in and out of work in 1999 and describes the incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, across OECD countries.
Launched in 1998, this series (formerly entitled Benefit Systems and Work Incentives) addresses the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for different family types and labour market situations and their impact on household incomes and financial work incentives for an average production worker.
This new edition provides detailed descriptions of all cash benefits available to those in and out of work as well as the taxes they were liable to pay across OECD countries during both 2001 and 2002. Total household incomes and their components are calculated for a range of family types and employment situations. The results are used to examine financial incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, as well as the extent to which social benefits prevent income poverty for those without a job. This book also provides a detailed description of the personal tax systems of each OECD country.Launched in 1998, the latest edition of this series (formerly entitled Benefit Systems and Work Incentives) provides detailed descriptions of all cash benefits available to those in and out of work as well as the taxes they are liable to pay across OECD countries. A special chapter also compares childcare costs across countries and the financial work incentives faced by parents of young children. Using the OECD tax-benefit models, total household incomes and their components are calculated for a range of family types and employment situations. The results are used to examine financial incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, as well as the extent to which social benefits prevent income poverty for those without a job. This volume presents results for 2005 and earlier years.
framework, this Round Table stands out from other overly conventional approaches.
The provision of water supply, sanitation and wastewater services generates substantial benefits for public health, the economy and the environment. Benefit-to-cost ratios can be as high as 7 to 1 for basic water and sanitation services in developing countries.
Wastewater treatment interventions, for example, generate significant benefits for public health, the environment and for certain economic sectors such as fisheries, tourism and property markets.
The full magnitude of the benefits of water services is seldom considered for a number of reasons, including the difficulty in quantifying important non-economic benefits such as non-use values, dignity, social status, cleanliness and overall well-being. Also, information about the benefits of water services is usually hidden in the technical literature, where it remains invisible to key decision-makers in ministries.
This report draws together and summarises existing information on the benefits of water and sanitation.
On 20 February 2019, OECD Council adopted the Recommendation on Countering the Illegal Trade of Pesticides to strengthen cooperation between countries and inspectors. A Best Practice Guidance was developed to provide guidance for inspectors and regulatory authorities on best practices for identifying and tackling illegal pesticides throughout the complete lifecycle of a pesticide, from manufacture, through formulation, trade and use to destruction.
This book identifies the strong potential of the local development approach to help regenerate the economies and societies of less developed regions and to bring greater local participation in the decision-making and actions that underpin restructuring. It is important that the local development policies put into place respond to emerging challenges and take into account innovations and lessons from elsewhere. This book reviews some of these challenges, innovations and lessons. It provides some practical examples (Ballyhoura in Ireland, Serra do Caldierao in Portugal and Jerez in Spain) that will help local actors to make informed decisions on the policy strategies, structures and actions to apply in their own areas.
Efficient provision of transport infrastructure is critical to economic growth. The long asset lives of much transport infrastructure indicates governance through regulation, rather than through contract or public ownership. This can ensure predictability in long-term relationships whilst preserving some flexibility to deal with changes in external circumstances.
The transparency created by a fully independent regulator is invaluable for ensuring sufficient investment is forthcoming, while maintaining reasonable conditions for user access. Discussion at the Roundtable focussed on how to achieve effective independent regulation and how to reconcile independence with the legitimate control of policy by the executive part of government.
Independent regulation is not seen as a universal default governance arrangement. Much of the discussion focused on when to regulate and when to rely on competition, even if imperfect, to drive efficiency. The discussions underscored that there are opportunities to improve performance significantly in the aviation, rail and road sectors, by learning from successful experience in improving governance structures in a range of countries.
This report provides an assessment of public governance and territorial development in Polish local self-government units (LSGUs). It offers key recommendations to governments at the national, regional and local levels in Poland on how to enhance development, improve service delivery and strengthen management processes within LSGUs. It addresses eight key thematic areas, including strategic planning, co-ordination across administrative units and policy sectors, multi-level governance and investment capacity, the use of monitoring and evaluation evidence for decision-making, budgeting, strategic workforce management, open government, and regulatory policy to reduce administrative burden and simplify public procurement. The report proposes a classification of LSGUs in Poland based on OECD typology, in order to reflect the economic functionality of specific regions/territories as a means to help LSGUs design more effective local development policies. A self-assessment tool for LSGUs in Poland complements the report and provides key indicators that allow counties and municipalities to assess their main strengths and weaknesses on public governance and local development practices, plan how to better serve citizens, enhance local sustainable development and engage with stakeholders to build a collective vision and plan of action.
The societal aspects of risk governance are increasingly becoming a part of public decision-making processes. This tendency is particularly evident in matters dealing with the protection of human health and the environment. The NEA Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health organised a workshop to examine stakeholder involvement processes through which governments and regulators can arrive at accepted decisions regarding radiological protection. An example of an area in which stakeholder involvement is important is the clean-up of sites contaminated by accidents or by past industrial or research activities.
These proceedings address the roles of various stakeholders in the decision-making process, and their expectations regarding how a modern system of radiological protection should be integrated within the broader context of risk governance. Case studies are presented to illustrate good practice and as a basis for drawing conclusions regarding general lessons that can be applicable in many different national contexts. These proceedings will be of interest to policy makers, radiation protection experts and interested members of the public.
Established in 1999, the OECD-Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance serves as a regional forum for exchanging experiences and advancing the reform agenda on corporate governance while promoting awareness and use of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. The Roundtable brings together policy makers, practitioners and experts on corporate governance from the Asian region, OECD countries and relevant international organisations. This Roundtable report consist of three sections: 1) an overview of the current policy framework; 2) a summary of the challenges to establishing a formal and transparent board nomination and election process in Asia; and, 3) policy options to improve the transparency of the board nomination and election process in order to reinforce more effective boards.
This report examines the ways in which wider policies can be use to support our common development objectives. It focuses on areas requiring collective action by the entire international community, and complements the OECD’s continuing work on aid effectiveness and monitoring aid flows.
It starts from two premises. First, policies ranging from trade and investment to tax and fiscal transparency, corporate governance, climate change, resource security and social policy have a profound impact on the prospects for achieving sustainable development. Second, whilst these require action by national governments and regional organisations in both developed and developing countries, in today’s interconnected world they also require collective action by the entire international community.
The report covers 18 development policy topics divided into four broad categories: sustainable economic growth, economic governance, the environment and natural resource security, and society. Together these reflect the OECD’s mission to promote better policies for better lives.
This edition of Better Policies for Development focuses on illicit financial flows and their detrimental effects on development and growth. Every year, huge sums of money are transferred out of developing countries illegally. The numbers are disputed, but illicit financial flows are often cited as outstripping official development aid and inward investment. These flows strip resources from developing countries that could be used to finance much-needed public services, such as health care and education.
This report defines policy coherence for development as a global tool for creating enabling environments for development in a post-2015 context. It shows that coherent policies in OECD countries in areas such as tax evasion, anti-bribery and money laundering can contribute to reducing illicit financial flows from developing countries. It also provides an update on OECD efforts to develop a monitoring matrix for policy coherence for development, based upon existing OECD indicators of ‘policy effort’. The report also includes contributions from member states. Most illustrate national processes to deal with policy coherence for development beyond 2015.
In 2015, as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) come to an end, the international community is embarking on a new global framework for sustainable development. The international community, including the OECD and its members, will need to adapt its policy instruments and working methods to successfully achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This report contributes to this process by introducing the concept of Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD), along with a proposal for monitoring coherence.
Better Policies for Development 2015 provides an overview of the core actions involved in aligning separate – and sometimes opposing – policy objectives, as well as managing potential trade-offs and synergies between them. In particular, it applies a policy coherence lens to green growth, as one of the priority areas for policy coherence identified in the OECD Strategy on Development.
The report includes numerous contributions from intellectuals, member states and civil society.