The prolonged period of stagnating living standards that has affected a large share of the population in many countries is undermining confidence in governments’ reform agenda and raising stiff political resistance to continued efforts. Many reforms take time to bear fruit, in particular in an environment of persistently weak demand and uncertain growth prospects, and they often create winners and losers. Growing political headwinds is clearly one factor contributing to the steady slowdown in the pace of reforms observed since the post-crisis peak of 2011-12. Yet, governments in most countries need reforms of structural and macro policies both to escape the low-growth trap and prepare for rapid technological changes. So, to let down on the pace of reforms is not the appropriate response as this carries a bigger risk to both short and medium-term growth prospects.

The codes for country names and currencies used in this volume are those attributed to them by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Governments cannot afford to let up on reform if they want to escape the low-growth trap many of them are facing and to ensure that the gains of economic growth benefit the vast majority of citizens. Over the past two years, global growth has remained flat at around 3%, well below the average growth rate of nearly 4% over the previous 10 years. The slowdown in the People’s Republic of China and other emerging-market economies accounts for much of the difference, but growth rates of 2% or less have been the norm on average across OECD countries during post-crisis years, with the prospect of persistently weak demand and investment dragging down potential growth.

This chapter assesses the progress in structural reforms that countries have achieved in areas related to Going for Growth policy recommendations over the period 2015-16. Against this background, it identifies OECD and selected non-OECD countries’ new priority areas where structural reforms are needed to lift growth and make it more inclusive.

This chapter discusses how the Going for Growth framework is extended to fully take into consideration inclusiveness as a policy objective, alongside employment and productivity growth. It first provides a broad picture of inclusiveness trends across OECD and selected non-OECD countries, focusing on income distribution and inequality outcomes. The chapter then offers a comprehensive assessment of policy challenges related to inclusiveness and potential remedies reflected in the formulation of Going for Growth reform priorities.

This chapter contains a comprehensive set of quantitative indicators that allow for a comparison of policy settings across countries (both OECD and selected non-OECD as per data availability). The indicators cover areas of tax and transfer systems and how they affect work incentives, as well as product and labour market regulations, education and training, trade and investment rules and innovation policies. The indicators are presented in the form of figures showing for all countries the most recent available observation and the change relative to the previous observation. In addition to individual country scores, most figures show the average result across all countries (horizontal line), as well as across OECD countries and the European Union countries.