Browse by: "2024"

Thanks to the large investment of official data producers in OECD countries, measures of subjective well-being have become increasingly robust and meaningful from a policy perspective. In the ten years since the OECD published its Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, the inclusion of subjective well-being indicators in national measurement frameworks and household surveys has grown. Country practice has converged around a standard measure of life satisfaction, however affective and eudaimonic measures of subjective well-being remain less harmonised. This policy insights, along with its accompanying working paper, identify priority areas for future OECD work by marrying the practical concerns of data collectors with good practice as identified by the academic literature.

With a far greater share of the student cohort progressing into upper secondary education than previous generations, modern upper secondary systems need to accommodate a wider variety of student interests, aspirations and learning levels. To respond to these needs, countries need to balance choice and specialisation to promote coherence. Systems that provide too much choice or specialisation risk hindering coherence, while those with too little choice or specialisation risk that upper secondary does not enable students to identify their interests and deepen their skills in those areas, which is essential for smooth transitions into post-secondary pathways and the labour market. This Education Spotlight provides a framework for countries to consider how far their current system supports the goals of choice, specialisation and coherence and provides examples from across OECD countries as inspiration for future reforms.

The evidence review examines the state of academic careers in higher education systems in OECD countries, providing an overview of available data, research evidence and examples of policy and practice. Key concerns for academics and policy makers include the working conditions of academics, an increasing reliance on precarious and casual contracts, high workloads and negative impacts on work-life balance. Career incentives currently tend to focus on – and favour – research output, often side-lining teaching, engagement, and other duties. Initial academic training generally fails to prepare academics comprehensively for their roles, and more continuous professional learning will likely be needed to support academics to exploit the potential of increasingly digitalised learning environments. Although flexibility in academic career paths has been promoted in some higher education systems, academics tend to remain in academia, with limited inter-sectoral mobility. The review highlights the persistent under-representation of – and challenges confronting – women and marginalised groups in academia. Despite the growth of international mobility and collaboration, the participation of academics in internalisation activities varies considerably within and between institutions and across higher education systems. Furthermore, a troubling decline in academic freedom over the past decade raises substantial concerns.

Ce guide fournit une feuille de route aux gouvernements locaux, aux communautés et aux musées sur la manière de définir ensemble un programme de développement local. Il prend en compte cinq dimensions : Exploiter le pouvoir des musées en faveur du développement économique local ; 2. S’appuyer sur le rôle des musées pour la réhabilitation urbaine et le développement de la communauté ; 3. Créer des sociétés ouvertes à la culture et créatives ; 4. Faire des musées des espaces d’inclusion, de santé et de bien-être ; 5. Placer les musées au cœur du développement local.

La présente note exploratoire propose une vue d’ensemble, de haut niveau, des principales approches utilisées pour le calcul des indicateurs de l’intensité carbone au niveau des produits et des secteurs ainsi que des difficultés rencontrées, notamment en ce qui concerne la collecte et la vérification des informations dans l’ensemble de la chaîne logistique. Bien que l’analyse porte essentiellement sur les approches utilisées dans les secteurs à forte intensité d’émissions et exposés aux échanges commerciaux (FIEEEC), les conclusions peuvent aussi être plus largement pertinentes dans d’autres secteurs. Dans cette analyse, les difficultés liées au calcul des indicateurs de l’intensité carbone au niveau des secteurs seront prises en compte, en particulier eu égard au fait que ces indicateurs peuvent servir eux-mêmes à la construction des indicateurs au niveau des produits.

De plus en plus, l’accent est mis sur les risques auxquels les individus, les entreprises et les pouvoirs publics sont confrontés (qui, par exemple, affectent leur bien-être ainsi que leurs conditions matérielles ou leur situation financière fondamentale) et sur les dommages qui se manifestent. On constate néanmoins une certaine hétérogénéité dans la manière dont les pays et les entreprises structurent et déploient leurs efforts, négligeant parfois de fixer des objectifs communs ou harmonisés ou d’établir des indicateurs cohérents permettant d’évaluer leur impact sur l’environnement et la société. L’établissement d’une sémantique commune sur le concept de transition juste et une solide compréhension de ses activités par les pouvoirs publics et les entreprises permettraient d'évaluer l'ampleur du problème. Cette synthèse donne un aperçu de certaines pratiques positives afin d'encourager d'autres à se lancer et fournit un point de référence pour mesurer les actions futures.

Alors que le coût de la vie augmente, que les écarts de salaires s’intensifient et que la pauvreté des travailleurs est un problème généralisé, le concept de salaire vital a connu un regain de popularité. Cette synthèse présente et contextualise le concept de salaire vital. Elle met également en évidence les hypothèses et les critères de mesure clés qui sous-tendent le calcul d'un salaire vital et appelle à plus de clarté et de cohérence dans les méthodologies existantes.

State-of-the-art scientific evidence shows that our planet is approaching several environmental and climate tipping points faster than previously expected. This means that the international community is facing a rapidly closing window of opportunity to achieve profound transformations across sectors, systems and mindsets to secure a sustainable and liveable future. What is the role of education system in enabling social change at the massive scale and pace needed for climate change mitigation? And what policy levers can they employ to build resilience and adapt to environmental challenges? This paper explores ways to rethink educational approaches in the context of climate change, focussing primarily on school education, while exploring links to other levels of education. It looks specifically at strategies to restructure foundational science education and cross-curricular learning, zooms in on the potential of place-based approaches in empowering learners for action, and concludes by identifying policy levers to increase education system resilience.

This Policy Insights draws on data collected as part of the Opportunities module in the 2022 OECD Risk that Matters survey and explores public preferences for policies and measures aimed at reducing inequality and enhancing opportunities for all. The analysis reveals that, despite shared concern over inequalities and limited opportunities, opinions on solutions differ. Across the OECD countries surveyed, there is strong support for policies aimed at fostering equal opportunities and limiting market disparities. On the contrary, redistributive measures receive a milder level of support. A large majority of respondents also believe that the private sector can play a significant role by paying fair wages, addressing wage inequalities, creating jobs in the country and by investing in their workforce. This is the last Policy Insights of a three-part series on Measuring Opportunities: The Role of Public Perceptions.

This scoping note presents a high-level overview of the main approaches to, and challenges faced when, calculating product-level carbon intensity metrics, including those applicable to collecting and verifying information across the supply chain. Though the analysis focuses on approaches used in emissions-intensive trade-exposed sectors (EITE), the findings also have broader relevance to other sectors. As part of the analysis, challenges relating to computing sector-level carbon intensity metrics are also considered, particularly as inputs to product-level metrics.

Despite the ambitious carbon reduction targets set by policy makers worldwide, current investments fall well short of the net-zero emissions scenario. This paper analyses the factors holding back corporate green investment, with a particular focus on the role of firm capacity – specifically financing constraints and weak green management practices – and its interaction with environmental policy. Combining a variety of econometric techniques, including panel data models, difference-in-differences settings and instrumental variable approaches, our cross-country analysis on large listed companies shows that: i) both financing constraints and a lack of green managerial capacity reduce firms’ probability of investing in green technologies, leading to higher emission intensity; ii) well-designed environmental policies can mitigate these impacts. A case study using more granular data on Portuguese firms further shows that: iii) green investment is more elastic to financing conditions than other types of investment; iv) investment in integrated technologies is more sensitive to financing conditions and to managerial capacity compared to end-of-pipe solutions. Lastly, the paper discusses a wide range of policy options that may be considered to foster the green transition through upgrading firms’ capacity.

This scoping review examines the effectiveness of online and blended learning in fostering higher-order thinking skills in higher education, focussing on creativity and critical thinking. The paper finds that whilst there is a growing body of research in this area, its scope and generalisability remain limited. Current evidence suggests that, for most students and contexts, in-person learning yields better or equivalent outcomes for higher-order thinking skills than fully online learning. However, blended and flipped learning show promise. In some cases, they may be more effective than in-person learning to develop higher-order skills. The review aims to be of use to higher education practitioners by synthesising, for the first time at such a scale, the diverse literature on what supports students to develop these skills online. This has been linked to active and interactive online learning, well-structured project-based learning, disciplined questioning, students labelling relevant dimensions of their thinking, and regular, quality instructor and peer feedback. The review calls for improved research design to understand the effectiveness of different modes of learning and address gaps in the literature, which include fostering creativity online and ensuring equitable online skills development across disciplines and teaching contexts. Policy implications include the need to integrate attention to higher-order thinking skills into professional learning, innovation funds, national networks and quality assurance to support effective online teaching of these skills across higher education systems.

The OECD and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) have developed jointly the new Multinational Enterprise Information Platform (MEIP). MEIP is built on past OECD and UN efforts to compile statistics on the scale and scope of the international activities of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). The new platform uses publicly available data to gather information on the world’s 500 largest MNEs in a timely manner, facilitating a comprehensive view of their physical and digital presence. It also includes a monitoring tool for large events such as Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). The platform also provides a valuable benchmark for National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and researchers, allowing them to compare the national presence of an individual MNE to the global presence. Information on MNEs and their global network can also be visualised in a user-friendly dashboard.

Many ocean economic activities are not readily visible in official statistics, hindering policymakers' access to crucial information for decision making. The OECD ocean economy measurement project aims to address this by aligning ocean economy statistics with broader economic data and ensuring international consistency. This paper compares the measurement strategies of eight OECD member countries using principles from the system of national accounts. It also highlights the ocean economy thematic accounts of four countries and summarises their methods. The paper concludes with recommendations for integrating ocean economy measurements with national accounting standards, a vital step for improving the evidence base for ocean policymaking.