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This report provides an assessment of how governments can generate inclusive economic growth in the short term, while making progress towards climate goals to secure sustainable long-term growth. It describes the development pathways required to meet the Paris Agreement objectives and underlines the value of well-aligned policy packages in mobilising investment and social support for the transition while enhancing growth. The report also sets out the structural, financial and political changes needed to enable the transition.

The 32nd issue of the International Productivity Monitor is a special issue produced in collaboration with the OECD. All articles published in this issue were selected from papers presented at the First Annual Conference of the OECD Global Forum on Productivity held in Lisbon, Portugal, July 7-8, 2016.
The Forum was established by a large group of OECD member countries in 2015 to provide a platform for the mutual exchange of information and international cooperation between public bodies with a responsibility for promoting productivity-enhancing policies. The primary purpose of the Forum is to shed light on the structural and policy drivers of productivity, especially in the context of the generalized slowdown in productivity growth affecting OECD countries. It helps generate synergies in policy-oriented research; share data, results and insights; and facilitate the diffusion of best policy practices leveraging on both cross-country analysis and country-specific experiences. To this end, the Forum organizes conferences and workshops connecting policy-makers, academics and other stakeholders and proposes and coordinates research programs in areas related to productivity, notably by encouraging collaboration with national experts, to extend and support work done at the OECD.

This report, undertaken within the framework of the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth initiative, assesses inclusive growth trends and challenges in the Seoul metropolitan area. The analysis goes beyond income to assess the barriers faced by specific groups - non-regular workers, youth, women, the elderly and migrants - across four dimensions: education, labour market, housing and the urban environment, and infrastructure and public services. The study then takes a closer look at two major policy efforts by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to advance inclusive growth. The study analyses the city’s efforts to ensure that strategies to address climate change also protect and benefit the most vulnerable populations, notably through the Promise of Seoul, which puts citizen welfare and social inclusion at the heart of the city’s efforts to tackle climate change. The study also assesses the efforts of city authorities to level the playing field for small firms and entrepreneurs through its Economic Democratisation Agenda.

Belgium has a high level of productivity. However, growth of productivity has declined quite strongly over the past two decades, and more so than in other advanced economies. This is a worrying development, as fewer productivity gains mean less wage growth and a slowdown in improvements to pensions, health care and well-being. This In-Depth Productivity Review of Belgium assesses in detail the drivers of productivity and recommends a 7-Point Action Plan to reignite productivity growth in Belgium. Reviving productivity growth requires action in many areas cutting across governments and ministerial competences. Measures are needed to instil more dynamism in Belgium’s economy, both among businesses and in the labour market, and to make the public finances more growth-oriented. In addition to recommending detailed policy measures to revive productivity growth, the Review contains three analytical chapters that lay out the evidence base: Chapter 1 on economy-wide and sectoral trends in productivity; Chapter 2 on the role of firms for productivity, with a focus on the dispersion of performance among businesses; and Chapter 3 on the worker dimension of productivity, with a focus on the role of wage bargaining and skills.

COVID-19 has accelerated the digitalisation of working and social interactions. Global lockdowns to contain the pandemic have forced firms and workers to perform a wide range of daily functions through virtual means. This has led to greater uptake and acceptance of remote working, which will likely remain in the post-pandemic scenario. Governments and policy responses at the local and regional level can play a decisive role in supporting workers and firms in this transition. This report proposes a number of policy takeaways to guide short and long-term policy making to better prepare regions for what may be a ‘new normal’. The report relies on real-time subnational data to analyse changes in people’s mobility patterns and the determinants of remote working adoption across types of workers and regions. The report identifies different scenarios of settlement patterns that could emerge post-COVID-19, highlighting how changing patterns of work could impact on regional development and a range of policy areas, including infrastructure, healthcare and the environment.

This report represents the second outcome of the collaboration between the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to improve the measurement and analysis of productivity developments across APO and OECD member economies. The report discusses the potential impact of COVID-19 on productivity and examines the role of Multifactor Productivity (MFP) as a major driver of economic growth and changes in living standards. It then identifies the most important factors influencing MFP growth and describes the most important challenges affecting the measurement of each of these factors as well as the estimation of their impact on MFP. The report provides key recommendations to improve the reliability and interpretation of the empirical evidence for economic analysis.