Browse by: "E"

Housing markets, which are large and subject to sharp swings, shape to a great extent countries’ exposure to economic crises and their capacity to recover from them. This paper analyses the transmission of housing-related shocks to the real economy: it investigates the role that policy plays in (a) mitigating or amplifying shocks and (b) facilitating or hampering a recovery. It considers macroprudential measures, rental regulation, taxation and land use restrictions. The aim is to investigate, which housing policy-related reforms can foster greater economic resilience. Among other results, it finds that a tighter macroprudential stance is generally linked to a lower likelihood of economic crisis and that higher effective rates of housing taxation are associated with smoother housing cycles.

Education is a crucial determinant of labour market success. We investigate whether education is an appropriate means to cushion the negative consequences of job loss and study the role of age as a second major labour market factor. Using German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data for the years 2000 to 2016, we analyse unemployment durations and unemployment-induced wage penalties for prime-age men. We show that individuals without formal qualifications face a significantly lower probability of finding a new job than workers with some kind of formal qualification, and hence face a higher risk of long-term unemployment. Furthermore, the duration of unemployment prior to finding a new job rises with age. This pattern is particularly pronounced for individuals with upper secondary education or no formal qualifications. Moreover, we find a negative relationship between unemployment and an individual’s subsequent wage. This depressing impact is significant only for unqualified workers and workers with intermediate vocational education. Yet, differences between educational groups are not statistically significant. Across all education groups, unemployment depresses subsequent wages more strongly at a higher age. However, the results suggest that this is due to longer unemployment spells of older workers, not age per se.

Antimicrobial drugs are used in food animal production for several purposes: to treat a disease outbreak, to prevent disease, and to enhance feed efficiency and animal growth. While the technical benefits of antimicrobial use in animal production are well documented, there is a major lack of information on the economic impact on farmers’ incomes. This report reviews evidence on the economic benefits and costs of antimicrobials for the major animal producing species across several OECD countries as well as in Brazil and China. The findings indicate that the economic benefits are modest in modern farming systems where good production facilities, biosecurity measures, and management practices are in place. In large food animal producing countries such as Brazil, the use of antimicrobials is an important input to enhance the competitiveness of the industry. In China, the largest producer and user of antibiotics in animal production, antibiotics are often used as a substitute for less sanitary animal production facilities and the lack of appropriate biosecurity on the farm. This report concludes with several key policy options and practices, in particular those that induce farmers to place a greater emphasis on the economic benefits and costs of antimicrobials and alternative interventions in production in order to stem the rise in antimicrobial resistance.

Climate change and outdoor air pollution are two of the most challenging environmental issues that modern society faces. These challenges are strongly linked through their emission sources, the sectors they affect and the policies that can be implemented to reduce emissions. They also interact in the way they affect economic growth in the coming decades, although this aspect has been neglected in the literature. This paper presents the first global analysis of the joint economic consequences of climate change and outdoor air pollution to 2060, in the absence of new policies to address these challenges. A common methodology and a consistent modelling framework is used to specify the main economic interaction effects. While this paper provides a useful framework to analyse the interactions between two environmental issues in the economic system, the results need to be interpreted carefully, because of limited data availability.

As digitalization reshapes urban landscapes, the concept of "smart cities" evolves from a supply-side, sector-driven approach to one focused on boosting citizen well-being. This paper redefines smart cities as initiatives leveraging digitalization for efficient, sustainable, and inclusive urban services. It delves into a decade of global smart city initiatives, analyzing successes, failures, and policy implications. Exploring diverse definitions and measurement frameworks, it assesses opportunities and challenges of digitalization, highlighting policy implications for OECD governments. Ultimately, the paper advocates harnessing digitalization's benefits to drive inclusive and sustainable urban growth. It proposes pathways for the OECD to address critical policy questions and steer smart city development towards citizen-centric outcomes.

Based on an extensive review of the academic and policy literature, this paper focuses on the role of managerial skills, workforce skills and business linkages in enhancing SME productivity. The paper is structured as follows. First, it presents estimates on productivity gaps by firm size to show that, while SMEs are on average less productive than large companies, productivity gaps change significantly depending on the specific size and sector of the firm. Second, it provides an overview on the main firm-level drivers of SME productivity, i.e. factors internal to the firm that directly affect SME performance, such as managerial and workforce skills, the use of ICT, R&D investments, etc. Third, it delves into the relation between SME productivity, on the one hand, and managerial skills, workforce skills and business linkages, on the other, which has been investigated through three thematic workshops organised by the OECD in collaboration with the Government of Mexico over the period 2016-2018..

Roma account for almost one-tenth of the population in the Slovak Republic. They live mostly excluded from the general population in concentrated settlements, separated neighbourhoods or ghettos. The majority live in poverty and face social exclusion in almost all aspects of everyday life. Only a small share of Roma work, and a majority suffer from long spells of unemployment, their educational attainment is low, and a large number are illiterate. Social exclusion is further exacerbated by rising general animosity and mistrust between Roma and non-Roma groups. This calls for immediate policy action. The government should ensure easy access to all public services and provide additional support for the disadvantaged Roma communities. Individual policies should be effectively coordinated, because the problems that the Roma are facing are interconnected. A necessary precondition for successful Roma integration is the support of the general population. Policy interventions towards Roma integration should be accompanied by measures to eliminate the prejudices among parts of the majority population against their fellow citizens.

Corruption at the border distorts resource allocation, undermines the level playing field for businesses, hampers the attractiveness of affected markets, and may result in significant revenue losses for developing countries. Trade facilitation policies could potentially reduce the incentives and the opportunities for corruption. This paper explores potential determinants of border-related corruption and trade facilitation policies most likely to address it. Countries with higher integrity at the border are found to also have more efficient border processes. Measures that appear to particularly support integrity at the border include transparency and predictability, streamlining of formalities – through simplification of documents, more automation of processes at different levels of complexity, or improved procedures along the border transaction chain – and coordinated border management.

This report assesses freight connectivity in Central Asia, focusing on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It provides recommendations for improving connectivity and the policy processes required to achieve this. The report also offers advice on how regional co-ordination can improve freight efficiency and connectivity. The analysis, both qualitative and quantitative, covers questions related to hard infrastructure, policies and regulatory frameworks.

The relationship between agricultural support policies (adapted from the OECD Producer Support Estimate (PSE) classification) and a selection of environmental impacts are analysed in a range of country settings, using a farm-level and a market-level model. Based on the methods and environmental indicators used, market price support and payments based on unconstrained variable input use were the most environmentally harmful among the various PSE measures. Decoupled support payments based on non-current crop area were the least harmful, even when considering their impacts on the behaviour of risk averse farmers. The impacts of support policies that clearly change the competitiveness of one production activity in relation to another, such as payments based on current crop area or on animal numbers, were more equivocal. Support payments subject to environmental constraints can improve environmental outcomes compared to coupled support without restrictions, however, they can also have unintended environmental impacts.

Two of the most important health risk factors for children and young adults are obesity and alcohol use. These risk factors are known to affect health and wellbeing, but may also have an impact on educational outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess a potential causal relationship between obesity or alcohol use, and educational outcomes, in Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Longitudinal data from cohort studies was used to establish temporal precedence. To ensure the absence of alternative explanations, regression models were adjusted for known confounders; instrumental variables were used to address endogeneity caused by reverse causality and potential unobserved confounders; and fixed effects analyses were used to correct for unobserved time-invariant confounders. The results suggest that the presence of obesity during childhood, as well as alcohol consumption during childhood, can have a negative impact on educational performance and future educational attainment.

How can policy makers successfully implement the policy changes needed to achieve greater economic, social, and environmental sustainability and resilience? This report combines lessons from the available literature, discussions with experts and stakeholders, as well as information on past policy change processes. Results suggest that, over the last decade, changes to fisheries policy have largely been triggered by the performance of the sector itself and how it is perceived, particularly with respect to resource management and to socio-economic outcomes. Other important factors stand out, in particular initiatives by people in charge of fisheries management and legal commitments to adopt changes. Macroeconomic and macro-political factors, however, appear to have had less impact on fisheries policy than on other policy domains. Key recommendations are proposed to facilitate policy change in the future through better use of data, commitment mechanisms, non-sectoral policies, and consultation processes.

Gender inequality, conflict and fragility are key challenges to sustainable development. They are inextricably linked: unequal gender relations can drive conflict and violence, while women’s active participation in decision-making contributes to peace and resilience. This policy paper provides practical recommendations for donors and practitioners on how to integrate gender equality into programming in fragile and conflict-affected settings. It focuses on engaging men and boys and addressing masculinities in a transformative manner to change gendered power dynamics and achieve more equitable gender norms and peaceful outcomes.

Agricultural sectors are increasingly integrated into international markets as global value chains (GVCs) expand. This integration is helping to drive value added growth in the sector, including the returns that flow to labour. This report explores the impact that trade and agro-food GVC participation has on labour returns and thereby employment not only within the agricultural sectors, but across other sectors of the economy. At the global level, trade and agro-food GVCs generated an average of between 20-26% of total agricultural workforce returns between 2004 and 2014, and labour returns were generated from both direct participation in trade and from indirect participation through other downstream sectors. This report finds that the impact on economy-wide labour returns is on average greater for countries specialising in direct exports of primary products as compared to those specialising in indirect agricultural exports. Evidence also shows that agricultural subsidies have a negative impact both on labour returns from primary sector exports and the returns generated indirectly from processing-sector exports.

In the nuclear field, security and safety are not completely distinct concepts. Both share the “common … aim of protecting persons, property, society and the environment”,1 but do so in different ways. As explained by the IAEA, nuclear security addresses “the prevention and detection of, and response to, theft, sabotage, unauthorized access, illegal transfer or other malicious acts involving nuclear material, other radioactive substances or their associated facilities”.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of congestion pricing on the demand for clean transport modes. To this end, it draws on an empirical analysis of the effect of Milan’s congestion charge on the use of bike sharing. The analysis indicates that congestion pricing increases daily bike-sharing use by at least 5% in the short term. Extending the schedule of the congestion charge in the early evening increases bike-sharing use in the affected time window by 12%. The impact of the policy on bike-sharing use mainly occurs through the reduction of road traffic congestion, which makes cycling safer and more pleasant. The findings of the study indicate that policies aiming to reduce car use also have positive repercussions on the uptake of green mobility options. Relying solely on direct incentives for cycling, which often involve infrastructure projects, is likely insufficient to remove barriers to bike use.