Browse by: "2018"

Civil service modernisation is a key priority in Kazakhstan. This report uses the OECD's Survey on Strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) in central governments to examine how Kazakhstan’s practices compare against OECD countries in several strategic areas. It explores how Kazakhstan is looking at skills and competencies throughout the employment cycle; how performance and pay systems contribute to improving public service quality, accessibility and responsiveness; and the role leaders and managers play in the reform implementation process. The report suggests areas for further improvement to help Kazakhstan develop a professional, strategic and innovative civil service.

Best Available Techniques (BAT) have emerged as a key policy tool to prevent and control the emission of industrial pollutants, and thus to ensure the protection of human health and the environment. This report presents the first comprehensive analysis of approaches to establishing BAT and similar concepts around the world, including in OECD members (Korea, the United States, the European Union and New Zealand) and partners (the Russian Federation, India and the People’s Republic of China and) as well as under international conventions. The report demonstrates the key characteristics of more than nine methodologies to establish BAT and similar concepts, providing governments with good practice insights on how to effectively design or review their approach to determining BAT. It also presents a unique, international compilation of existing BAT documents, allowing interested stakeholders to seek guidance from already identified BAT. This is the second in a series of reports developed as part of the OECD’s BAT project.

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.

Metrics matter for policy and policy matters for well-being. In this report, the co-chairs of the OECD-hosted High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand, show how over-reliance on GDP as the yardstick of economic performance misled policy makers who did not see the 2008 crisis coming. When the crisis did hit, concentrating on the wrong indicators meant that governments made inadequate policy choices, with severe and long-lasting consequences for many people. While GDP is the most well-known, and most powerful economic indicator, it can’t tell us everything we need to know about the health of countries and societies. In fact, it can’t even tell us everything we need to know about economic performance. We need to develop dashboards of indicators that reveal who is benefitting from growth, whether that growth is environmentally sustainable, how people feel about their lives, what factors contribute to an individual’s or a country’s success. This book looks at progress made over the past 10 years in collecting well-being data, and in using them to inform policies. An accompanying volume, For Good Measure: Advancing Research on Well-being Metrics Beyond GDP, presents the latest findings from leading economists and statisticians on selected issues within the broader agenda on defining and measuring well-being.

This report synthesises key findings on biodiversity and ecosystem services from the Environmental Performance Reviews completed for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru between 2013 and 2017. The report aims to provide a sense of the common challenges facing these Latin American countries, the strategies being used to tackle them, the gaps that remain and how these can be addressed. Focusing on Latin America is particularly pertinent given the great wealth of biodiversity in the region and the growing pressures on its conservation and sustainable use.

CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion provides a full analysis of emissions stemming from energy use. The data in this book cover the emissions of CO2 for 150 countries and regions by sector and by fuel. The publication contains estimates of CO2 emissions, selected indicators such as CO2/GDP, CO2/capita and CO2/TPES and a decomposition of CO2 emissions into driving factors for more than 150 countries and regions.
Emissions are calculated using IEA energy databases and the default methods and emission factors from the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The IEA CO2 emissions estimates are complemented by the EDGAR greenhouse gas data.

Across the OECD, nearly 19 million people are living with dementia. Millions of family members and friends provide care and support to loved ones with dementia throughout their lives. Globally, dementia costs over USD 1 trillion per year and represents one of the leading causes of disability for elderly adults. These numbers will continue to rise as populations age. Until a cure or disease-modifying treatment for dementia is developed, the progress of the disease cannot be stopped. This report presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive cross-country assessment of the state of dementia care in OECD countries. In recent years, OECD countries have enhanced their efforts to provide high-quality dementia care during diagnosis, early and advanced dementia, but improving measurement is necessary for enhancements in care quality and outcomes for people with dementia. The report advises a set of policies that can help countries to improve diagnosis, strengthen access to care services, improve the quality of care, and support the families and carers of people living with dementia. Measuring and comparing the services that are delivered to people with dementia and the outcomes they achieve is a crucial part of improving dementia care. Most health systems have very poor data on dementia care and  countries should work to strengthen the measurement of quality and outcomes of dementia care.

Previous OECD and EU work has shown that even native-born children with immigrant parents face persistent disadvantage in the education system, the school-to-work transition and the labour market. To which degree are these linked with their immigration background, i.e. with the issues faced by their parents? Complementing the report Catching Up? Intergenerational Mobility and Children of Immigrants (OECD 2017), this publication presents seven in-depth country case studies. The countries and regions covered in this publication are Austria, the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands, North America and Sweden.

This Guide provides a comprehensive overview of the competition laws and practices of 22 selected jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Recent mergers in the seed industry have led to concerns about market concentration and its potential effects on prices, product choice, and innovation. This study provides new and detailed empirical evidence on the degree of market concentration in seed and GM technology across a broad range of crops and countries, and analyses the causes and potential effects of concentration. It also explains how competition authorities have responded to mergers, and suggests policy options to help safeguard and stimulate competition and innovation in plant breeding by avoiding unnecessary regulatory barriers, by facilitating access to genetic resources and intellectual property, as well as by stimulating public and private R&D. As this study shows, policy makers have several levers besides competition policy to ensure an innovative and competitive seed industry.

This thematic study, Confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of corruption crimes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, analyses the state of play in relevant areas to identify best practices and common problems and to develop regional recommendations for strengthening anti-corruption policies and practices

This report presents international experience and lessons learned from integrated transport development in large-scale urban regions and city clusters. It serves as an input to discussions around city cluster development in China and other emerging economies. First, it assesses how regional urbanisation delivers socio-economic benefits via both agglomeration and network externalities. It then examines differences in how these benefits are delivered in single versus clustered city networks. The role of governance structures and how they might best be adapted to ensure positive outcomes is also discussed. Finally, the report addresses the potential for reforming local government financing mechanisms in China in order to guide urban growth in a sustainable manner.

The report outlines the technical aspects of the various approaches and methodologies available with respect to the assessment of risks from combined exposures to multiple chemicals. The document draws from approaches applied and experience gained in the regulatory context and will therefore be most relevant to the regulatory authorities addressing chemicals, the regulated community and other interested stakeholders. The considerations are not presented as strict guidance but rather elements to recognise in assessing combined exposures to multiple chemicals.

Consumption Tax Trends provides information on Value Added Tax/Goods and Services Tax (VAT/GST) and excise duty rates in OECD member countries. It also contains information about international aspects of VAT/GST developments and the efficiency of this tax. It describes a range of other consumption taxation provisions on tobacco, alcoholic beverages and motor vehicles.

This report examines how ports can accommodate changes in maritime transport (such as the arrival of mega-ships) while adapting to developments in the hinterland (notably in their host cities). It presents considerations and recommendations for policy-makers to help find a mutually beneficial balance between port and city, with a special section dedicated to Buenos Aires and its container port. The publication summarises the results of a Roundtable held in Buenos Aires in 2017.