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International competition, accelerating technological change and shifting societal concerns are important drivers of structural change, both within and across firms, industries and regions. As well as bringing undoubted opportunities, structural adjustment raises acute challenges. This must be acknowledged in making the case for open markets. This brochure aims to identify, for both developed and developing countries, the requirements for successful trade-related structural adjustment via the reallocation of labour and capital to more efficient uses, while limiting adjustment costs for individuals, communities and society as a whole. It draws on a longer study incorporating detailed sectoral case studies...
Under President Enrique Peña Nieto’s leadership, Mexico has put together the most ambitious reform package of any OECD country in recent times, forged the political consensus necessary to approve it through the unprecedented Pacto por México, promoted these and other reforms in Congress and has started implementing them. The battery of reforms has addressed challenges in policy areas that had been waiting for deep changes for decades, including education, labour, tax, health, telecommunication, and energy and justice, among many others. Mexico still faces important challenges which is why it is crucial for Mexico to continue its reform agenda. It is imperative to strengthen some of the recent reforms, and to keep updating and promoting them to ensure their effective implementation. The OECD stands ready to further accompany Mexico on this path.
People in many countries, especially advanced countries, are expressing growing discontent about globalisation. They feel that its benefits have accrued mostly to a small and already well-off segment of the population. In addition, many citizens are dissatisfied with the way economic integration has been advanced. They complain about too little transparency and too many conflicts of interests between policy makers and firms. Several of the negative effects feeding the discontent have more to do with technological change than with globalisation per se, but the two are closely intertwined. Moreover, the policies put in place to alleviate negative impacts of economic openness on some groups, industries and regions have not always worked as intended, and global rule-making has not kept up with reality. Given its many benefits, reversing economic integration is not a solution. Rather, we need to find ways to make it work for all. This report sets out what needs to be done to advance a fairer and more inclusive globalisation – at the global level, at the European level and within Germany.
This report, published in the 60th anniversary of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is the first outcome of their collaboration to develop improved and more comparable productivity statistics across APO and OECD member economies.
It explores current practices and challenges in productivity measurement and provides recommendations to National Productivity Organisations (NPOs), National Statistics Offices (NSOs), and other agencies involved in the compilation and analysis of productivity statistics in APO member economies to improve measurement and cross-country comparability.
The purpose of a Tourism Satellite Account is to analyse in detail all the aspects of demand for goods and services associated with the activity of visitors; to observe the operational interface with the supply of such goods and services within the economy; and to describe how this supply interacts with other economic activities. The present volume, Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008, provides an updated framework for constructing a Tourism Satellite Account. It should permit greater internal consistency of tourism statistics with the rest of the statistical system of a country, as well as increased international comparability of these data.
Presents recommendations for the design of the tourism satellite account that was established by an inter-secretariat working group that included the United Nations Statistics Division, with the participation of the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Tourism Organisation. These three bodies will promote the implementation of the recommendations in their member countries. The recommendations were approved by the Statistical Commission at its thirty-first session in 2000.
The World Economy brings together two reference works by Angus Maddison: The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, first published in 2001 and The World Economy: Historical Statistics, published in 2003. This new edition contains Statlinks, a service providing access to the underlying data in Excel® format. These two volumes bring together estimates of world GDP for the past 2000 years and provide a unique perspective on the rise and fall of economies historically.
"One controversial clash of theories fueled by Maddison's data concerns the relative status of (growth in) the West versus the rest. The figures (in this book) are enriching economists' understanding of what make economies grow, and may even make it possible to reject some of the most prominent historical explanations." Diane Coyle, author of The Soulful Science, former economics editor of The Independent newspaper.
"A tour de force. What a wonderful gift for the new century." Robert Mundell, Nobel Prize winner and Professor of Economics, Columbia University .
"An essential reference for anyone interested in global development for many years to come." Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics, Princeton University .
"Quite simply a dazzling essay." Nicholas Eberstadt, American Enterprise Institute.
"Highly recommended . . . refreshing and full of historical information. An important book." Kisanhani F. Emizet, Kanzas University, writing in International Politics.
Following his The World Economy: a Millennial Perspective, Angus Maddison here offers a rare insight into the history and political influence of national accounts and national accounting. He demonstrates that such statistical data can shed light on the analysis of economic phenomena such as growth, market formation and income distribution. This approach is particularly interesting for developing countries often lacking the expertise or data to produce good national accounts. It also serves as a reminder for OECD countries that effective policy making depends on verifiable economic data.
This book includes tables showing Maddison’s estimates for the world and its major regions from as early as the year 1000. It is intended as a research guide for future comparisons of economic performance in space and time. It is for scholars and students of economics and economic history as well as for statisticians.
Angus Maddison provides a comprehensive view of the growth and levels of world population since the year 1000 when rich countries of today were poorer than Asia and Africa. The gap between the world leader, the US and the poorest region, Africa, is now 20:1. The book has several objectives. The first is a pioneering effort to quantify the economic performance of nations over the very long term. The second is to identify forces which explain the success of the rich countries, and explore the obstacles which hindered advance in regions which lagged behind. The third is to scrutinise the interaction between the rich and the rest to assess the degree to which this relationship was exploitative. The book is a monumental work of reference and a sequel to the author's Monitoring the World Economy: 1820-1992, published in 1995 and his 1998 Chinese Economic Performance in the Long Run. It is a "must" for all scholars and students of economics and economic history, as well as a mine of fascinating facts for everyone else.
For most countries in the OECD, 2015 is the seventh or eighth year of dealing with the budgetary consequences of the economic and financial crisis. These years have been marked by challenges of fiscal retrenchment of a scale and nature unprecedented in modern times. Previous OECD publications have tracked the fiscal policy responses adopted by OECD governments during the early years of the crisis (2007-2012). This book takes stock of how these responses have evolved and in recent years, up to 2014/15. Two points are apparent from the outset: the response to the crisis has had repercussions for virtually every aspect of budgetary governance; and there are clear lessons for governments about the conduct of fiscal policy – including in its institutional aspects – that should inform future decisions and the agenda of budgetary reform.
Space applications have become an important part of everyday life. Weather forecasting, air traffic control, global communications and broadcasting, disaster management -- these and many other key activities would be almost unthinkable today without satellite technology. The space industry itself is relatively small compared to other manufacturing sectors, but its technological dynamism and strategic significance mean that it plays an ever more critical role in modern society.
This book assembles information on the space economy from a wide range of official and non-official sources. Together these paint a richly detailed picture of the space industry, its downstream services activities, and its wider economic and social impacts. Who are the main space-faring nations? How large are revenues and how much employment is there in the sector? How much R&D goes on, and where? What is the value of spin-offs from space spending? Answers to these and other questions are provided in this second OECD statistical overview of the emerging space economy.
A dynamic link (StatLink) is provided for graphs, which directs the user to a web page where the corresponding data are available in Excel® format.
Space applications are becoming an increasingly important part of everyday life. Weather forecasting, air traffic control, global communications and broadcasting, disaster management -- these and many other key activities would be almost unthinkable today without satellite technology. The space industry itself is relatively small compared to other manufacturing sectors, but its technological dynamism and strategic significance mean that it plays an ever more critical role in modern society.
Paradoxically, it also figures among the sectors which are the least developed in terms of robust, internationally comparable statistics and data. This book attempts to rectify that situation by assembling information from a wide range of official and non-official sources. Together these paint a richly detailed picture of the space industry, its downstream services activities, and its wider economic and social impacts. Who are the main space-faring nations? How large are revenues and how much employment is there in the sector? How much R&D goes on, and where? What is the value of spin-offs from space spending? Answers to these and other questions are provided in this first-ever OECD statistical overview of the emerging space economy.
A dynamic link (StatLink) is provided for graphs, which directs the user to a web page where the corresponding data are available in Excel® format.
Understand growth disparities between OECD countries over the past twenty years through identification and analysis of underlying factors.
Growth patterns through the 1990s and into this decade have turned received wisdom on its head. For most of the post-war period, OECD countries with relatively low GDP per capita grew faster than richer countries. Since the late 1990s, however, that pattern has broken down with the United States notably drawing further ahead of the field. This publication provides a comprehensive overview of growth drivers across the OECD and the extent to which disparities are attributable to factors like new technology and R&D, macroeconomic policy, education and training, labour market flexibility, product market competition, and barriers to business start-up and closure.
Services are transforming OECD economies on a massive scale, but are still impeded by regulations and policies that stifle innovation and competition. Comprehensive reforms need to be pursued internationally as well as in individual OECD countries. These are the principal conclusions reached by participants in a Business and Industry Policy Forum organised by the OECD on 28 September 1999. The Forum was organised by the Industry Committee, partly to address the mandate of the OECD Ministerial to explain the differences which have emerged in growth performance among OECD countries. It brought together senior government officials, experts, and business and trade union leaders from 30 countries to address issues related to “Realising the Potential of the Service Economy: Facilitating Growth, Innovation and Competition”.
With the market for security goods and services having expanded rapidly since 9/11, this study examines the potential costs of major disruptions, the trade-offs between tighter security and economic efficiency, and the implications of tighter security for privacy and other democratic liberties.
Even though firms play a key role in shaping wages, wage inequality and the gender wage gap, firms have so far only featured to a limited extent in the policy debates around these issues. The evidence in this volume shows that around one third of overall wage inequality can be explained by gaps in pay between firms rather than differences in the level and returns to workers’ skills. Gaps in firm pay reflect differences in productivity and wage setting power. To address high wage inequality while fostering high and sustainable growth, worker-centred policies (e.g. education, adult learning) need to be complemented with firm-oriented policies. This involves notably: (1) policies that promote the productivity catch-up of lagging firms, which would not only raise aggregate productivity and wages but also reduce wage inequality; (2) policies that reduce wage gaps at given productivity gaps without limiting efficiency-enhancing reallocation, especially the promotion of worker mobility; and (3) policies that reduce the wage setting power of firms with dominant positions in local labour markets, which would raise wages and reduce wage inequality without adverse effects on employment and output.
Historically low productivity gains and record high inequality are major challenges for policy makers around the world. Both concerns have been exacerbated by the global financial crisis but took roots well before and reflect fundamental challenges with the way our economies function.
This report proposes a new comprehensive approach to promote better productivity performance and reduce inequalities. It not only gathers the most recent empirical evidence on the main factors behind slowing productivity gains and rising or persisting inequalities but also suggests possible common foundations and linkages between these two trends. It stresses the risk of a vicious cycle setting in, where individuals with fewer skills and poorer access to opportunities are confined to unproductive and often precarious jobs. This reduces aggregate productivity and widens inequality. The report focuses on how to expand the productive assets of an economy by investing in the skills of its people and providing an environment where all firms have a fair chance to succeed, including in lagging regions. It draws preliminary conclusions on the type of policy packages that are needed and on their implications for policy making. It also sets an agenda for future research to deepen empirical evidence and make concrete country-specific policy recommendations.
The Productivity-Inclusiveness Nexus proposes a new approach to boost productivity growth while, at the same time, reducing inequalities of income and opportunities. The report begins by examining the trend slowdown of productivity growth, which has been observed in many OECD countries over recent years, and the longer-standing rise - and persistence - of inequalities of income, wealth, well-being and opportunities. It then gathers the most recent empirical evidence on some of the common foundations behind these trends and considers possible linkages. The analysis aims to shed light on policy insights to address both issues together, creating room for synergies and win-win policies.
This report examines why some policy reforms get implemented and others languish by examining 20 structural reform efforts in 10 OECD countries over the past two decades. The case studies cover a wide variety of reform attempts in three key areas: pensions, labour- and product-market regulation. Key factors in the political, economic and reform-specific arenas are identified as helping or hindering reform, and these findings are cross-checked using a relatively simple set of Spearman rank correlations. The report’s two-pronged analytical approach – quantitative and qualitative – results in unique insights for policy makers designing, adopting and implementing structural policy reforms.
This book provides an overview of the key challenges currently faced in China and OECD's main policy recommendations to address them. Drawing on the OECD’s expertise in comparing country experiences and identifying best practices, the book tailors the OECD’s policy advice to the specific and timely priorities of China, focusing on how its government can make reform happen.