This paper explores tax arbitrage incentives and behaviours in OECD countries, and their implications for tax systems more broadly. It focuses on how OECD tax systems might encourage business owners, in particular owners of unincorporated businesses and owner-managers of closely held incorporated businesses, to minimise their tax burdens through tax arbitrage. The paper finds that tax incentives to incorporate and earn capital income through corporations have increased in the last two decades. It shows that there has been an increase in incorporated businesses in many OECD countries, which has been partly driven by tax factors. The paper also finds that, in many countries, a combination of tax system features – related to corporate, dividend, capital gains, gift and inheritance taxation – provide particularly strong incentives to retain earnings inside corporations.

The resilience of farms in a world of increasing climate uncertainties is a growing policy concern on a global scale. Resilience means finding a balance between ensuring adequate preparation to confront shocks, the ability to absorb its immediate impact, and, as part of the recovery phase, adapting and transforming farm practices to a new environment. A dynamic framework developed by OECD to measure these resilience capacities is applied to three case studies: crop farms affected by drought in Australia, and livestock farms impacted by disease outbreaks in France and Estonia. It was found that most farms performed well in only two of the four resilience capacities. Productivity, investment, and technical change are found to be key drivers of most resilience capacities in Australia, while in Estonia marketing contracts facilitated the successful adaptation and transformation of pig farms during the recovery phase. Future research should focus on finding how to better balance the four resilience capacities, prioritising the analysis of policy drivers.

Las autoridades de defensa de la competencia han desarrollado varias herramientas para detectar cárteles y motivar la apertura de investigaciones. Las investigaciones ex officio, esto es, iniciadas por las propias autoridades de competencia, se derivan de la aplicación de herramientas de detección que exigen un mayor grado de proactividad de las autoridades de competencia, tales como la supervisión de la industria y el cribado o screening de cárteles. Las nuevas tecnologías, como la inteligencia artificial, también proporcionan a las autoridades de competencia mayores oportunidades de mejorar sus esfuerzos de detección. Este documento presenta las herramientas de detección que permiten iniciar investigaciones de cárteles ex officio y, en particular, las tendencias y experiencias actuales de América Latina y el Caribe. Concluye subrayando la necesidad de que las autoridades de competencia pongan en práctica distintos enfoques que se complementen entre sí y que propicien la detección de cárteles.

Este documento analiza la reciente evolución de la competencia en el sector de los servicios financieros en los países de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC), con especial atención al auge de las fintech, la aparición de un marco regulador favorable a la competencia y el papel del open banking. A efectos del presente documento, se entiende por fintech las empresas centradas en la intersección entre la tecnología y los servicios financieros, desde servicios administrativos hasta la tecnología de cadena de bloques. El sector financiero de ALC ha experimentado una profunda transformación en la última década, que incluye la irrupción de agentes nuevos, la aparición de nuevos productos y la reconfiguración de los límites del mercado. Estos avances han dado lugar a ventajas competitivas y a la prestación de servicios financieros mejores, más accesibles, adaptados e inclusivos. Los avances regulatorios han desempeñado un papel fundamental en varias etapas de este proceso: en algunas ocasiones allanando el camino, en otras adoptando y protegiendo nuevas tecnologías y modelos impulsados por la digitalización financiera y, más recientemente, incluso liderando y fomentando innovaciones disruptivas.

Las medidas cautelares son herramientas de aplicación de la ley que pueden adoptar las autoridades de competencia mientras investigan posibles infracciones de las leyes de competencia, sobre todo en casos de abuso de posición dominante. En los países de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC), la mayoría de las autoridades de competencia disponen de medidas cautelares en sus marcos jurídicos, y muchas las han utilizado en los últimos años (por ejemplo, Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Perú y República Dominicana). El presente documento ofrece una visión general de la situación de las medidas cautelares en la región que abarca los marcos jurídicos, las experiencias de aplicación recientes, así como los retos y particularidades de los países de ALC. El documento destaca que las medidas cautelares constituyen una herramienta efectiva para las autoridades de competencia y deben utilizarse cuidadosamente para mitigar los errores en su aplicación y los riesgos reputacionales relacionados.

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the costs of job displacement in energy-intensive industries in selected OECD countries. Based on harmonised linked employer-employee data from 14 OECD countries, we estimate the effect of job displacement in three energy-intensive industries, namely energy supply, heavy manufacturing and transport, compared to other industries. We find that workers displaced from the energy supply and heavy manufacturing, experience larger earnings losses compared with workers in non-energy-intensive and transport sectors. Larger earnings losses mainly result from weaker re-employment outcomes in terms of wages and job instability but also challenges with finding another job. They reflect significant differences in the composition of workers and firms in energy supply and heavy manufacturing and the rest of the economy. Displaced workers in these sectors tend to be older, are less skilled and more likely to be previously employed in high-wage firms.

This paper examines the recent evolution of competition in the financial services sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), focusing on the rise of Fintechs and the emergence of a pro-competitive regulatory framework. This evolution results from a symbiosis of positive feedback between technology and regulation, which reinforce and balance each other in shaping a new era for the sector in the LAC region. Over the last decade, the financial sector in LAC has undergone profound changes, including the entry of new players, the emergence of new products and the reconfiguration of market boundaries. These developments have led to competitive gains and the provision of better, more accessible, customised and inclusive financial services. Regulatory advances have played a crucial role at various stages of this process, sometimes laying the groundwork, sometimes welcoming and protecting new technologies and models driven by financial digitalisation, and more recently, even leading and fostering disruptive innovations. Open Banking currently stands as a key element of this shared agenda, both regionally and globally, aimed at deepening market transformation towards greater competition, innovation and inclusion.

Concentration – the share of an industry’s output accounted for by its largest firms and a frequently used proxy of competition – has increased in European countries. This paper provides evidence about this development by introducing several methodological refinements in the cross-country measurement of concentration: it defines industries at a disaggregated level, mostly 3-digit; it takes into account the geographic level at which competition takes place - domestic, European or global; and it accounts for linkages between firms within the same domestic and multinational business group in the relevant geographic region of competition. It then applies these improvements to representative data for fifteen European countries, showing that average concentration increased by about 5 percentage points over the period 2000-2019, from 26% to more than 31%. Third, the paper investigates how each of the methodological improvements affects the levels and trends of concentration.

This paper develops a taxonomy of 151 industries, mainly defined at the 3-digit level, indicating at which geographical level competition takes place. It classifies 40 industries as competing at the domestic level, 85 at the European level, and 26 at the global level. First, this paper creates a novel dataset that combines production and international trade data for both goods and services industries, defined at a detailed level of industry aggregation for 15 European countries (based on data availability). Then, by comparing domestic sales with international trade flows, and their source/destination, it identifies the geographic level of competition of each industry. The proposed classification can be used in numerous applications, from the design of trade policies to the assessment of competition by antitrust authorities. The paper shows that the taxonomy is broadly consistent with external data sources that provide alternative ways of inferring the degree of internationalisation of each industry.

This paper looks at green budgeting practices in the Government of Canada relative to the OECD Green Budgeting Framework and best practices by OECD Members. It focuses on Canada’s efforts to enhance its reporting of incremental expenditure in the federal budget that is attributable to climate and environmental goals, as well as to enhance the use of green budgeting alongside other strategic budget initiatives in the federal government. The OECD had specific regard for the objectives of the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, the Quality of Life Framework, the Gender Results Framework, including the Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) tool, and the 2024 Cabinet Directive on Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment and its supporting tool, the Climate, Nature and Economy Lens.

Ce document examine les pratiques du gouvernement du Canada en matière de budgétisation verte par rapport au Cadre de budgétisation verte de l'OCDE et les meilleures pratiques des pays membres de l'OCDE. Il met l’accent sur les efforts déployés par le Canada visant à améliorer ses rapports sur les dépenses supplémentaires dans le budget fédéral liées aux objectifs climatiques et environnementaux, et à renforcer le recours à la budgétisation verte parallèlement à d’autres initiatives budgétaires stratégiques au sein du gouvernement fédéral. L'OCDE a accordé une attention particulière aux objectifs de la Loi canadienne sur la responsabilité en matière de carboneutralité, du Cadre pour la qualité de vie, du Cadre des résultats relatifs aux genres, y compris l'outil d'analyse comparative entre les sexes Plus (ACS Plus), et de la Directive du Cabinet de 2024 sur l'évaluation environnementale et économique stratégique et de son outil d'appui, l’Optique de climat, de nature et d'économie.

Infrastructure has been essential in supporting the Philippines’ rapidly growing economy. Yet, infrastructure assets and operations are significantly exposed to climate-related risks. Building climate resilience into infrastructure planning and financing is therefore a strategic priority for the country. This policy paper presents the findings from an OECD policy dialogue carried out in the Philippines on mainstreaming climate resilience in infrastructure planning and development. It provides an overview of current policies and practices as well as policy recommendations for the government to further strengthen the resilience of infrastructure to climate change and raise future ambitions.

This paper explores the geography of “green innovation hubs” and the relationship between green patents and local labour markets. The analysis considers the spatial distribution and evolution of patenting activity for green inventions and identifies green innovation hubs, i.e., regions demonstrating notable strength in green patenting. It also explores the relationship between the regional level of green patenting, economic activity, education, and local labour dynamics across OECD regions. Greater Copenhagen (a cross-border area including parts of Denmark and Southern Sweden) is used as an example to illustrate one region's green innovation ecosystem, assessing its progress, unique opportunities, and challenges.

The home learning environment for 15-year-old students has changed in meaningful ways over the last decade, especially after 2018, according to PISA data. The rise of digital technology has meant books – traditionally the leading pedagogical resource – are increasingly competing with digital devices and Internet access. Since 2015, the overall number of books available at home decreased moderately, while the availability of educational software has surged. Certain types of books, such as dictionaries, have decreased the most, probably replaced by digital equivalents (online dictionaries). In contrast, paper copies of classic literature are more widely available at home than before. While there is potential for digital technologies to enhance education, this largely remains untapped, and the risks for adolescents’ well-being are clearer today. Education policy should explore ways to support families and students to navigate these complex changes in the family learning environment, balancing traditional and digital resources effectively.

An extensive literature explains recession risks using a variety of financial and business cycle variables. The problem of selecting a parsimonious set of explanatory variables, which can differ between countries and prediction horizons, is naturally suited to machine-learning methods. The current paper compares models selected by conventional machine-learning methods with a customised algorithm, ‘Doombot’, which uses ‘brute force’ to test combinations of variables and imposes restrictions so that predictions are consistent with a coherent economic narrative. The same algorithms are applied to 20 OECD countries with an emphasis on out-of-sample testing using a rolling origin, including a window for the Global Financial Crisis. Despite the imposition of additional restrictions, Doombot is found to the best performing algorithm. Further testing confirms the imposition of judgmental constraints tends to improve rather than hinder out-of-sample performance. Moreover, these constraints provide a more coherent economic narrative and so mitigate the common ‘black box’ criticism of machine-learning methods.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the OECD Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme, this paper examines determinants and consequences of employment resilience, or lack of, in European NUTS3/TL3/TL3 regions over the last 40 years. Descriptive evidence shows that the least resilient regions (those with the largest percentage drop in employment during a recession) slip to persistently lower post-recession employment-to-population ratio trajectories. On the other hand, regions with higher productivity pre-recession lost proportionally fewer jobs during a recession and were more likely to recover to the pre-recession employment levels (except for the recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic). Overall, the findings point to the ability of productivity to serve as a shield against negative employment impacts of economic crises.

Competition authorities have developed various tools to detect cartels and substantiate the basis for opening investigations. Ex officio investigations, meaning investigations initiated by the authorities themselves, are derived from detection tools that require a higher level of proactivity from the agency, for instance, industry monitoring and cartel screenings. New technologies such as artificial intelligence also provide competition authorities with greater opportunities to improve their detection tools. This paper provides an overview of detection tools to launch ex officio cartel investigations, including recent trends and experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean. It concludes by highlighting the need for competition authorities to implement a variety of approaches to complement one another and enhance cartel detection.

Interim measures are enforcement tools available to competition authorities to prevent harm to competition that may occur before a final decision on the existence of an infringement. Most often these decisions are related to an ongoing business practice that may potentially constitute an abuse of dominance infringement, when a dominant market player illegally engages in practices limiting competition. In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries, most competition authorities dispose of interim measures in their legal frameworks and many have used them in past years (e.g. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Peru). This paper provides an overview of the state of play of interim measures in the region covering legal frameworks, recent enforcement experiences, as well as challenges and particularities of LAC countries. The paper highlights that interim measures represent a powerful tool for competition authorities and should be carefully used to mitigate enforcement errors and related reputation risks.