Browse by: "2022"

This guidebook outlines and discusses the steps involved in selecting, implementing and evaluating policy actions and interventions to improve public health. The guidebook is applicable to all types of public health interventions such as those addressing alcohol and tobacco consumption, obesity, physical inactivity, multimorbidity and mental health as well as infectious diseases. Although designed primarily for policy makers, the guidebook is also a useful reference for other stakeholders such as those responsible for delivering an intervention.

Under the BEPS Action 5 minimum standard, members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) have committed to counter harmful tax practices with a focus on improving transparency. One part of the Action 5 minimum standard is the transparency framework for compulsory spontaneous exchange of information on certain tax rulings. The exchange on tax rulings is a critical tool in improving access of tax administrations to information relevant to assess the corporate tax affairs of their taxpayers and to efficiently tackle tax avoidance and other BEPS risks. Over 135 countries and jurisdictions participate in the Inclusive Framework on BEPS and take part in the peer review process to assess their compliance with the transparency framework. Specific terms of reference and a methodology have been agreed for the peer reviews, focusing the assessment on five key elements: information gathering process, exchange of information, confidentiality of the information received, statistics on the exchanges on rulings, and transparency on certain aspects of intellectual property regimes. This report reflects the outcome of the sixth annual peer review of the implementation of the Action 5 minimum standard.

The purpose of this document was to produce a harmonised list of pollutants that could improve the comparability of PRTR data on a global scale. Providing a list of core pollutants common to most PRTRs enhances comparability for existing PRTRs and provides a basis for a pollutant list for PRTRs under development. Incorporating the harmonised pollutants into more PRTRs will increase the utility of PRTR data globally by improving analyses in support of assessing questions of global sustainability. Since it was initially published, the harmonised list of pollutants has been widely used by established and developing PRTRs. The purpose of this revised version of the document is to update the harmonised list to: 1) include updated information, namely on the most recent pollutant lists from PRTRs in the original analysis and on the more recently developed PRTRs; and 2) provide the harmonised list in a more readily useable Excel format.

Health data are essential to modern health care delivery, health system management and research and innovation, and must be well governed to foster their use while protecting privacy and data security. The 2016 OECD Recommendation on Health Data Governance provides a roadmap towards more harmonised approaches to health data governance across countries. It recommends implementing national health data governance frameworks and sets out the key principles to follow when doing so, while promoting trans-border co-operation in data governance and interoperability. This report provides an overview of the implementation of the Recommendation from 2016-2021 and finds that while there are examples of good progress, overall many Adherents are still working towards implementation in areas including data sharing, accessibility, quality, interoperability and security and privacy protections. Efforts to support the implementation and dissemination of the Recommendation will continue for the next reporting cycle (2022-27) with a focus on cybersecurity, harmonising health data governance to allow for multi-country projects and improving global health data interoperability.

This seventh edition of Health at a Glance Asia/Pacific presents a set of key indicators of health status, the determinants of health, health-care resources and utilisation, health-care expenditure and financing, and quality of care across 27 Asia-Pacific countries and territories. It also provides a series of dashboards to compare performance across countries and territories, and a thematic analysis on the health impact of COVID-19. Drawing on a wide range of data sources, it builds on the format used in previous editions of Health at a Glance, and gives readers a better understanding of the factors that affect the health of populations and the performance of health systems in these countries and territories. Each of the indicators is presented in a user-friendly format, consisting of charts illustrating variations across countries and territories, and over time, brief descriptive analyses highlighting the major findings conveyed by the data, and a methodological box on the definition of the indicators and any limitations in data comparability. An annex provides additional information on the demographic and economic context in which health systems operate.

The 2022 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe examines the key challenges European countries must address to develop stronger, more resilient health systems following the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes a special focus on how the pandemic has affected young people’s mental and physical health. The report emphasises the need for additional measures to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from scarring a generation of young people. This edition of Health at a Glance: Europe also assesses the pandemic’s disruption of a wide range of health services for non-COVID patients, as well as the policy responses European countries deployed to minimise the adverse consequences of these disruptions. It also addresses a number of important behavioural and environmental risk factors that have a major impact on people’s health and mortality, highlighting the need to put a greater focus on the prevention of both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Overweight and obesity affects over half of all men and women in OECD countries. This has significant health and economic consequences. As part of OECD’s work on promoting best practices in public health, this report outlines policy recommendations on how to address two leading overweight risk factors: poor diet and lack of physical activity. Policy recommendations are drawn from a review of high-priority interventions implemented in OECD and EU27 countries.

Reducing industrial carbon emissions is one of the most difficult challenges on the path to net zero by 2050 due to the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector and technical requirements for heat in addition to power. High-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) are a promising Generation IV nuclear technology that can supply process heat for a variety of industrial applications. The Nuclear Energy Agency investigated the potential and limitations of HTGRs for industrial heat applications. This study reviews the technical features and development status of HTGRs as a low-carbon heat source and explores how this technology could meet the process heat requirements of different industrial processes. It revealed the potential industrial applications of HTGR heat in the near term as well as further opportunities in the medium to long term while identifying the remaining challenges for the industrial deployment of this technology.

Housing Taxation in OECD Countries provides a comparative assessment of housing tax policies in OECD countries and identifies options for reform. The study starts with an overview of recent housing market trends and challenges and an analysis of the distribution of housing assets. It then examines the different types of taxes that are levied on housing in OECD countries, assessing their efficiency, equity and revenue effects. It also evaluates the role of specific tax policy instruments in addressing current housing challenges. Based on the assessment, the study outlines a number of reform options that governments could consider to enhance the design and functioning of their housing tax policies.

This report highlights recent initiatives to inspire policy action at a time when innovation leadership by the public and private sectors is critical to meeting the net zero challenge. Countries around the world strive to become home to the next major company emerging from a start-up with a disruptive clean energy invention, and with good reason. Whilst aiding innovation in support of climate and energy goals, nurturing innovative start-ups to maturity can also create local economic prosperity because clean energy transitions will be a major market opportunity for all countries, all century long. Already, the number of government policy measures to help start-ups get new clean energy technologies to market has risen sharply since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. This is extremely encouraging given that energy technology start-ups continue to face challenges attracting patient capital and governments possess some unique resources to speed them through the phases to reach technical maturity while staying in business. Based on 14 detailed case studies and in-depth interviews, this report presents a range of impressive policy measures from a variety of different country contexts, and identifies eight key insights for effective policy to support clean energy start-ups.

This report brings together 45 of the education continuity stories that were jointly documented by the OECD, the World Bank, Harvard’s Global Education Innovation Initiative and HundrED during the first wave of school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers a variety of different examples on how governments and non-governmental organisations quickly responded to school closures to implement a strategy for learners around the world to continue to study. While often based on the use of digital solutions, those solutions target specific solutions aimed at academic learning, socio-emotional support, teacher professional development, etc. The book covers examples from low, middle and high income countries on all continents and draws some lessons of these fast-paced responses to reimagine a post-pandemic education across the world.

This report from the NEA Working Group on Human and Organisational Performance establishes a common understanding around the terms human performance (HP), organisational performance (OP), and human and organisational factors (HOF) through a simple model. The model presented illustrates the strong inter-relationship between the terms. It shows that HP includes both human activities and the results of these activities. HOF are the factors which have influence on HP in a positive or adverse manner in a given situation. They can be categorised as human-, technology- and organisation-related factors which are themselves under continuous interaction with each other. The report highlights the need for all managers to develop an understanding that the continuous application of a systemic approach is required to establish and sustain an effective management system and to foster safety culture.

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.

To contribute to the existing pool of evidence on the dynamic interplay between illicit trade and armed conflicts, this report looks at illicit trade flows in four separate conflict-affected countries in the MENA region: Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. For the case of Yemen, the report also presents a deep-dive analysis of illicit trade flows and the relevant governance environment. The findings highlight that illicit trade networks in these countries are dynamic, complex, and heavily integrated into regional and global networks.

Trade in illicit alcohol products is an attractive target for organised crime, as both the market and potential profits are large, in some cases requiring little investment. The illicit alcohol trade not only fuels criminal networks, but also poses significant risks to public health and safety. This report structures and enhances existing evidence on illicit alcohol trade. It examines the nature and scope of illicit trade in the sector, assesses the impacts of illicit trade on socio-economic development, and identifies the factors driving illicit trade in the sector.

This report on Lithuania is the tenth country study published in a series of reports looking into how policies connect people with jobs. This report is produced in the framework of a project of the OECD with the European Commission which aims to raise the quality of the data collected and their use in the evaluation of the effectiveness of active labour market policies (ALMPs). The report uses rich administrative data from different registers in Lithuania to evaluate the impact of two types of ALMPs: employment subsidies and vocational training for unemployed people. The analysis examines the outcomes of the selected ALMPs beyond just the probability of employment and how different population groups are affected. Finally, the report makes recommendations for improving the effectiveness of Lithuania’s ALMPs and strengthening the capacity of the Lithuanian authorities in conducting ALMP impact evaluations.

El impacto económico de la pandemia del COVID-19 no tiene precedentes recientes, tanto por su naturaleza como por su magnitud. La incertidumbre sobre la intensidad y la duración de la crisis es aún alta, pero las proyecciones de los principales organismos internacionales ya prevén una contracción de la economía global de un 4.9%, o una reducción de alrededor de dos puntos porcentuales del crecimiento económico anual por cada mes de confinamiento en los países donde este se ha aplicado de manera más fuerte. En términos generales, se trata de una contracción de la economía de mayores dimensiones que la sufrida en la crisis financiera global iniciada en 2008. Desde el punto de vista de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC), las perspectivas también son altamente negativas, con proyecciones que estiman que el PIB regional podría reducirse en un 9.4% en 2020, y con temores de que el impacto pueda ser aún mayor si la pandemia se prolonga más de lo inicialmente esperado. En este contexto, Ecuador está sufriendo el impacto de la crisis de manera particularmente intensa, tanto por algunas debilidades estructurales del país, que lo dejan más expuesto y en situación de vulnerabilidad ante las turbulencias económicas actuales, como por circunstancias coyunturales que hacen aún más compleja la salida.

This report assesses the immediate impact of Russia’s war against the people of Ukraine on global financial markets, and the continuing potential for spillovers into those markets. While the war has not yet caused a number of existing vulnerabilities to fully crystallise, high levels of uncertainty remain, driven by heightened geopolitical tensions. The report reviews a range of interrelated channels which could transmit shocks from Russia’s war to global financial markets, from direct exposures across sectors, to the effects of higher commodity prices, and impacts on investor sentiment. In doing so, it underlines areas within the financial system where enhanced scrutiny from supervisors and policy makers may be necessary to manage the elevated risks arising from the war going forward.