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In 2020, the agriculture and food sector experienced significant supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 crisis and associated lockdown measures. Yet relatively limited economic impacts were observed on the sector due to the agility of producers, supply chain actors and retailers, but also to the rapid and broad response by governments. Close to 800 measures were undertaken by governments in 54 developed and emerging countries, aimed to avoid aggravating disruptions, absorb supply and demand shocks, provide relief to affected producers and consumers, or to bolster the recovery of affected production activities. At least USD 157 billion was earmarked to the agriculture sector to support these measures, with a large part going to food assistance. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this sector subsides, policy makers will need to pivot and shift spending to investments that can enhance sector-wide resilience.

This paper examines various aspects of fiscal policy in Slovenia, in particular fiscal consolidation, pension reform, efficiency of government spending and the tax system. It finds that Slovenia belongs to the group of new EU member countries, which have given in the past a high priority to fiscal prudence. This both stabilised the economy and paved the way for entry to the EU in 2004 and adoption of the euro in 2007. It also created room to counteract the current weakening of the economy. But fiscal policy has to cope with four main challenges: i) ensuring a return to fiscal consolidation after the current economic downturn; ii) achieving longer-term fiscal sustainability by continuing pension reform; iii) limiting growth of public spending and improving its quality; and iv) making the tax system less distorting for job creation and growth. This Working Paper relates to the 2009 OECD Economic Survey of the Slovenia (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/slovenia).

This paper examines environmental and institutional implications of the use of tradable GHG units under different international accounting scenarios in the post-2012 international climate change policy framework. A range of possible scenarios is presented based on analysis on various building blocks for emissions accounting. On one side continuation of a Kyoto Protocol type accounting approach is considered with allocation of centrally-administered emissions allowances for Annex I countries. On the other side, a less centralised system is presented based on emission reduction pledges by countries.

Aspects of these two scenarios are then combined to identify common elements in a middle ground scenario. The middle ground scenario presented would not use centrally-allocated emissions allowances but would retain some level of commonly-agreed accounting rules to ensure shared understanding of the content and scope of pledges, and to provide a stable platform for international use of offset units. The middle-ground scenario also envisages a role for UNFCCC bodies to set standards for new credit-based market mechanisms, and suggests that the existing International Transaction Log might be modified to track new unit types in addition to existing Kyoto Protocol units. Transparent tracking of units would help to minimize the risk of “double counting” of emissions reductions towards the emissions objective of more than one country.

Regional inequality is low in Sweden compared to most other OECD countries, but has been rising over the past decades, fuelling discontent in parts of the country, whose inhabitants feel left behind. The younger population is increasingly concentrated in the largest cities, which also enjoy the highest productivity growth. Demographic trends exacerbate the difficulty in providing equal public services across the country. Healthy public finances are allowing the government to increase its support to municipalities and regions to adjust to demographic developments and local operating conditions. Beyond this effort, keeping regional inequality in check will require upgrading the sub-national government fiscal framework, enhancing public service efficiency, especially through digitalisation, and promoting regional convergence further, especially by strengthening the role of universities in regional knowledge and innovation networks.

OECD countries as a whole have experienced modest annual output growth of some 2 1/2 per cent over the past four years. But unemployment remains unacceptably high -- having fallen only slightly from its peak of 38 million in 1993 to the current 35 million or 7 per cent of the workforce -- and wage and income disparities have widened in many countries, posing potential risks to social cohesion. These trends have prompted much debate on their causes, consequences and remedies.

These are among the issues that the OECD has analyzed and discussed with Member countries since 1992 in the context of its Jobs Strategy work. OECD Ministers have endorsed the Jobs Strategy recommendations and called last May for greater reform efforts. More recently the meeting of OECD Labour Ministers last October emphasised the need for policies for low-paid and unskilled job seekers, enhancing the effectiveness of active labour market policies and lifelong learning to maintain employability, issues ...

This paper provides an in-depth review of experiences and insights from mainstreaming biodiversity and development in South Africa. More specifically, it describes how biodiversity considerations have been mainstreamed in five key sectors/areas, namely: land use planning, mining, water, infrastructure, and the agricultural sector. It discusses the types of barriers and challenges that have been encountered, the key ingredients and lessons learned to help ensure more effective biodiversity mainstreaming, and the role of development co-operation in supporting in mainstreaming in South Africa. Examples of the key elements of success include good science, the ability to harness windows of opportunity, and ensuring genuine links to development objectives.

The existing modal share in Indian cities is in favor of Non-motorized transport (NMT) and public transport. However given the hostile conditions for public transport and increasing risk to pedestrians and cyclists, the use of personal motorized vehicle is increasing. This trend is accompanied with the rise in traffic crashes and deteriorating air quality in cities. Emission levels vary with travel behavior which is dependent on city size, structure and mode choice available.

Since the last update in April 2021, recovery measures with positive impacts on the environment have increased significantly, both in terms of number and budget. However spending on environmentally positive measures still represents only 21% of total COVID-19 recovery spending (up from 17%) with environmentally negative and mixed measures accounting for 10%. Furthermore, ongoing annual support to fossil fuels will likely surpass all the one-off green recovery spending in the next couple of years and undermine efforts to meet the Paris climate goals. Skills development and innovation are still insufficiently addressed in green recovery plans, even though they are essential for achieving a rapid and just transition to net-zero emissions.

This policy paper sheds light on current trends in development co-operation for data and statistical systems in developing countries. It analyses trends in funding through official development assistance as well as strategic priorities and modalities for providing support. It identifies different approaches to capacity development and discusses their strengths, opportunities and risks. The objectives of the research published in this paper are twofold: first, to understand key challenges to ensuring support is effective, owned by partners, aligned with their priorities and needs, and conducive to producing capacity and results that outlive specific projects and; second, with a view to identifying good practices, to provide insights on how Development Assistance Committee members support statistics and statistical capacity development in developing countries.

Many existing works using firm-level data sets have examined whether or not knowledge spills over from MNEs to domestically owned firms in a less developed country, but the literature has not come to a general consensus on the presence of spillovers. A possible reason for the mixed results is that they do not adequately address domestic and foreign efforts for active diffusion. The present paper thus incorporates R&D activities and human resource development conducted by MNEs and domestic firms to investigate whether these activities enhance knowledge diffusion from MNEs, using establishment-level panel data for the Indonesian manufacturing sector. We find that R&D activities and human resource development conducted by MNEs stimulate knowledge diffusion from MNEs to domestic firms, while knowledge diffusion from MNEs without such activities is absent. Moreover, R&D activities by a domestic firm are also found to promote knowledge diffusion from MNEs to the firm, although this ...

This report aims to shed light on the role of markets and networks for knowledge-based assets. Knowledge Networks and Markets (KNMs) comprise the wide array of mechanisms and institutions facilitating the creation, exchange, dissemination and utilisation of knowledge in its multiple forms. This document provides new evidence on the knowledge-sourcing strategies of firms and their role in shaping innovation activities, according to different characteristics, and their impact on performance. It proposes a conceptual framework for understanding how KNMs support knowledge flows and the transfer of intellectual property (IP) rights, supported by a number of novel examples. It considers more specifically some developments in the market for IP rights, looking in the first instance at the evidence on the size of the market and the role of intermediaries. The role of public policies in the IP marketplace is also considered, with particular emphasis on some new forms of policy interventions such as government-sponsored patent funds. This document briefly reviews some key features of the markets and networks for knowledge originating in public research organisations, as well as the role of intermediaries such as technology transfer offices, whose role has been changing rapidly in recent years. Finally, the analysis of knowledge markets is extended to the market for knowledge embodied in highly skilled employees. The mixed impact of mobility on innovation is noted, considering in particular the use of agreements to restrict the movement of human capital and the potential implications of their enforcement. Some proposals for inclusion in a future measurement agenda are outlined.

New and small firms can be important engines of job creation and local development when they identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. We live in an economy more and more characterised by open innovation methods, where new companies and SMEs are benefitting from innovations, technological and non technological available on the market or from other companies and organisations part of their networks. Knowledge networks, understood as a three-component construction of (i) knowledge generation, (ii) knowledge transfer, and (iii) knowledge application, can play a crucial role in boosting companies performance. As many OECD researches shows, there is often a major networking gap, however, between knowledge sources in universities and research organisations and industry exploitation in new spin-off enterprises and SMEs. The analysis of the actors of the knowledge networks and the way they behave and interact with other component inside and outside the networks is a fundamental support to local policy making in entrepreneurship and innovation.

The OECD LEED Programme in cooperation with the University of Trento has prepared this paper to analyse in deep the behaviour of knowledge networks in two specific local contexts: the Autonomous Province of Trento in Italy and the Magdeburg Province in Germany.

The aim of this research project is to analyse the relevance of knowledge networks to entrepreneurship and the growth of young and small firms, the role of the different components and their interplay for network effectiveness, impeding and favouring factors, and the role of public policy.

The importance of knowledge co-creation – the joint production of innovation between industry, research and possibly other stakeholders, such as civil society – has been increasingly acknowledged. This paper builds on 13 cross-country case studies and co-creation experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic to characterise the diversity of knowledge co-creation initiatives and identify lessons for policy. The paper identifies a strong rationale for policy to support knowledge co-creation because the benefits of successful co-creation initiatives outweigh the initial co-ordination costs. Moreover, knowledge co-creation initiatives can contribute to democratising innovation. Successful initiatives engage all stakeholders and have effective governance and management structures. They also have clearly defined ownership and use rights of the collaborations’ outcomes and benefit from favourable conditions to operate, including temporary staff mobility and institutional set-ups that facilitate collaboration and effective communication among participants.