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This seminar proceedings examines whether the current designs of social protection systems in OECD societies are well-suited to contemporary life-course realities. It looks in detail at recent policy developments in OECD countries to develop more flexible time-based social policies, as well as related issues, such as asset-based welfare programmes, as well as policies to encourage redistribution of income and/or time over the life course and how these might be structured most effectively.
Over the past few years, most Asian jurisdictions have substantially revamped their laws, regulations and other corporate governance norms. However, enforcement remains a significant challenge and “an unfinished agenda”. This publication offers a unique snapshot of how corporate governance is being enforced in Asia. It provides policy makers, judges, investors, board members and stakeholders with cases studies and analysis that illustrate how regulators deal with enforcement in practice.
La mondialisation de l’économie et l’intensification de la concurrence intervilles qui s’ensuivit ont profondément changé la gouvernance des régions urbaines. Ceci est particulièrement clair dans le domaine de l’aménagement du territoire. Ce changement est souvent décrit comme l’évolution d’un mode de gouvernance managériale, dont le principal souci est de mettre concrètement les services publics à la disposition des citoyens, à celui de l’entrepreneurialisme. L’entrepreneurialisme se caractérise surtout par la prise de risque, l’innovation, par l’importance qu’il attache au secteur privé, ainsi que par des approches stratégiques favorisant la croissance économique. Cette étude fait le tour des problèmes que l’entrepreneurialisme urbain devra surmonter pour maintenir et renforcer sa légitimité en ce XXIe siècle. En effet, les responsables de la politique de la ville devront répondre à un éventail de plus en plus large de préoccupations sociales, environnementales et culturelles, en même temps qu’économiques.
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico in 2005, the region’s oil production and refining infrastructure was devastated and world energy markets were disrupted. The International Energy Agency decided in a matter of days to bring 60 million barrels of additional oil to the market. The emergency response system worked – the collective action helped to stabilise global markets. This book describes the oil emergency response systems of IEA countries and assesses how well prepared the IEA is to deal with an oil supply disruption.
This 2007 edition of the International Energy Agency's periodic review of Switzerland's energy policies and programmes takes an in-depth look at the energy challenges facing Switzerland and provides critiques and recommendations for policy improvements. It finds that Switzerland is entering decisive times in its energy policy. In 2008, the country should see remarkable advance in electricity market reform. Support for renewable electricity is set to increase massively. Decisions on post-Kyoto targets are getting closer, and a CO2 tax will be introduced for heating and process fuels. Plus, new measures to increase energy efficiency and the broader use of renewable energy are high on the political agenda. Since the last in-depth review in 2003, Switzerland has made progress in most areas of energy policy. Still, more work remains to be done. Maintaining sufficient electricity capacity implies even stronger policies to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Switzerland’s climate policy should focus more on reducing emissions from private car use, the largest and fastest-growing emitter. Switzerland’s world-class energy R&D is expected to more than halve energy needs per capita by the second half of this century. This ambitious goal needs to be supported by consistent policies on energy efficiency and climate change.
Esta 13ª edición de las Perspectivas agrícolas anuales (tercera elaborada de manera conjunta con la FAO) brinda una evaluación de las perspectivas de los mercados agrícolas con base en proyecciones que se extienden hasta 2016 para la producción, el consumo, el comercio, las existencias y los precios de productos agrícolas principalmente de la zona templada. Las proyecciones se basan en supuestos específicos relacionados con las condiciones macroeconómicas mundiales, el crecimiento de la población, las políticas agrícolas y comerciales nacionales, las técnicas de producción y las condiciones atmosféricas. El documento muestra que estos mercados son influidos por las evoluciones económicas y las políticas gubernamentales y realza algunos de los riesgos e incertidumbres que podrían influir en los resultados de los mercados. Además de los países de la OCDE, las proyecciones de los mercados que figuran en el informe abarcan a un gran número de países y regiones, incluso a los gigantes agrícolas de la India, China, el Brasil y Rusia, así como a la Argentina, Sudáfrica y diversos países menos desarrollados.
Containing sprawl is a major preoccupation of many urban planners, who view sprawl as responsible for driving up environmental costs and congestion. Nevertheless, many economists see benefits to sprawl, allowing households access to larger and cheaper properties. This Round Table examines the costs and benefits of sprawl, shedding light on the linkages between urban form and economic growth, and explored the tradeoffs involved in trying to contain sprawl. Discussions were based on papers prepared by Elizabeth Deakin (UC Berkeley), Matthew Kahn (Tufts University), Gilles Duranton (University of Toronto) and David Banister (University College London).
Finding a suitable work/family life balance is a challenge that all parents face. Some people would like to have (more) children, but do not see how they could match that commitment with their employment situation. Other parents are happy with the number of children in their family, but would like to work more. Yet other parents who are happy with their family situation, may wish to work at different hours, or reduce hours worked to spend more time with their children. This book synthesises the finding of the 13 individual country reviews published previously and extends the scope to include other OECD countries, examining tax/benefit policies, parental leave systems, child care support, and workplace practices.
"...a good source for a socio-political analysis of OECD countries and comparative political hypothesis testing."
-Stan Silverberg, Catawba College
"...a great way of helping students learn to read and interpret graphical data."
-Ken Wedding, author of The AP Comparative Government and Politics Examination: What You Need to Know, Second Edition
Pour de nombreux urbanistes, il est important de contenir l’étalement urbain, qui est considéré comme à l’origine des coûts environnementaux et de la congestion. En revanche, beaucoup d’économistes attribuent des avantages à l’étalement urbain, qui permet par exemple aux ménages d’accéder à des logements plus grands et moins chers. Cette Table Ronde examine les coûts et les avantages de l’étalement urbain, en mettant en évidence les liens qui existent entre forme urbaine et croissance économique. Elle étudie les arbitrages à faire quand on tente de contenir l’extension des villes. Les débats prennent appui sur des communications de Mme Elizabeth Deakin (UC Berkeley) et de MM. Matthew Kahn (Tufts University), Gilles Duranton (University of Toronto) et David Banister (University College London).
En finir avec l'échec scolaire remet en cause l’idée qu’il y aura toujours des ratés et des marginaux, ceux qui ne peuvent ni ne veulent réussir à l’école. En réalité, des initiatives prises dans de nombreux pays démontrent qu’il est possible d’abaisser le taux d’échec et de décrochage scolaire – et de réduire l’énorme coût social des adultes qui n’ont pas acquis les qualifications de base indispensables pour trouver leur place dans la société. Cet ouvrage propose une précieuse analyse comparative des démarches nationales en matière d’équité en éducation et examine, notamment, les aspects suivants ; la filiarisation, les classes de niveau et la sélection par les résultats ; le choix de l’école ; les structures de l’enseignement secondaire et les programmes de la deuxième chance ; le redoublement ; les liens école-famille ; l’éducation des jeunes enfants ; l’affectation des ressources ; les objectifs chiffrés d’équité ; les besoins spéciaux des migrants et des minorités. L’analyse conclut que trois facteurs jouent un rôle déterminant pour l’équité dans l’éducation (la conception des systèmes éducatifs, les pratiques de classe et la dotation en ressources), et propose aux pouvoirs publics, dix mesures appuyées par des données, pour réduire le taux d’échec et d’abandon scolaire.
This publication looks at the importance of the EU sugar industry in the global sugar market. It analyses how sugar reforms adopted by the EU council in 2006 have led to market changes. The first part of this report looks at what might happen if complete policy reform and full trade liberalisation took place. This gives the reader insight into the impact that sugar support policies have had in making this industry one of the most heavily subsidised, protected and distorted agricultural commodities markets. The effect that sugar support policies in the EU and worldwide have made to production and trade developments in other countries are also highlighted. The second part of this report looks forward, to examine how the sugar market may evolve up to 2015 in light of the sugar policy changes which were introduced in 2006. Finally, an initial evaluation of the EU sugar policy reform is made in light of the OECD Ministerial principles for agricultural policy reform.
DYK: The wages of sugar farmers in the EU are three times above the world average
Portugal’s tertiary education sector has expanded significantly over the last 20 years, but participation and overall educational attainment levels remain below European standards and enrolment rates have begun to decline. The OECD review recommends that Portugal’s national government should focus on strategic direction and leave higher education institutions wider latitude for accomplishing public priorities consistent with their mission. Among its proposals for reform, the review calls for the creation of a National Council on Higher Education to oversee Portugal’s higher education strategy. The review also calls for major changes in the governance and management of higher education institutions to bring them into line with national goals, encourage their responsiveness and efficiency, and improve their quality. Improving research and innovation is a key strategic objective of the Portuguese government, and the OECD review suggests a number of qualitative changes in Portugal’s tertiary education system to enhance performance in this area.
As Asian markets are now increasingly integrated in the world economy their domestic insolvency systems need to meet the expectations of international investors and lenders. Many Asian jurisdictions are responding by reforming insolvency laws, introducing new procedures and strengthening institutions, but others are much less active. This conference proceedings includes papers showing how far various Asian countries have come in building effective and predictable insolvency systems and shows to what extent their systems provide confidence to investors and lenders.
The Indian Ocean tsunami that hit South and Southeast Asia in December 2004 was one of the worst natural calamities of recent times, the scale of the devastation to coastal communities across the region almost incomprehensible. As befits a disaster of such magnitude, the humanitarian response was massive. In the course of the relief operations, however, Asian governments and donors increasingly expressed the need for measures to prevent corruption amid widespread concern that significant amounts of tsunami aid may be being diverted to unscrupulous hands.
In response to growing concerns about corruption, the ADB-OECD Anti- Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific and Transparency International organized an experts meeting on corruption prevention in tsunami relief operations hosted by the Government of Indonesia. The meeting, which brought together the six worst-affected countries—India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand—aimed to identify concrete priority measures to be taken by each stakeholder, including governments, donor agencies, civil society and private sector organizations involved in aid delivery and reconstruction work, to prevent and curb corruption in service delivery and procurement related to tsunami relief.
This publication synthesizes the meeting’s most important deliberations and conclusions, providing a useful resource for the wide range of individuals and organizations working to ensure equitable tsunami assistance. It assembles the issue papers and the conclusions and framework for action developed as a result of discussions and presentations by experts.
The harmful effects of corruption on social welfare, political stability and economic development are well known. Combating corruption has gained high priority throughout the world. In Asia and the Pacific, 23 countries have in the framework of the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific endorsed an Anti-Corruption Action Plan that guides reform efforts in their respective countries. While significant progress has been achieved under this regional instrument, the battle against corruption is far from being won.
To address this challenge and build capacity in a number of particularly crucial areas, the ADB/OECD Initiative's fourth regional anti-corruption conference has brought together more than 150 senior representatives of governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and the international development partner community in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in December 2003. The present publication offers an insight into the most recent national anti-corruption strategies of Asian and Pacific countries, as well as an overview of preventive and enforcement policies and practices developed in the region, with special focus on the management of conflict of interest, measures aimed at curbing corruption in public procurement, corporate ethics, whistleblower protection, forensic accounting and mutual legal assistance.
Prosecution of corruption is a particularly difficult endeavor and successes in this field still too rare. The detection rate is often low due to the lack of verifiable information that is received from public servants or other citizens. Particular difficulties arise when an investigation involves prominent politicians and wealthy businessmen, or when dealing with international bribery cases that require the assistance from foreign jurisdictions in order to collect evidence. Shortcomings that are at the root of these problems can be found at legislative level; in addition, many law enforcement agencies are technically not apt to deal with complex crimes such as corruption in an appropriate manner.
Considering the need for capacity building that countries of the Asian and Pacific region have expressed for capacity building in this reform area of the Action Plan, the ADB/OECD Initiative organized a master training seminar on Effective Prosecution of Corruption.
This document assembles the seminar’s background papers and case studies, and the experts’ and participants’ views on the key topics that formed the basis for discussion at the seminar. As such, the publication aims to make the expertise exchanged and acquired during the seminar accessible to a broader public and thus to contribute to the overall aim of combating corruption in the new millennium.