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Most OECD countries use choice and competition within their education system. They give students and their families a choice of school and university, and ensure that funding follows these choices. The same is often true of pre-school and adult learning and skills services. They increasingly give state owned schools and universities operational autonomy to compete to be chosen, sometimes against rival not-for-profit providers. This creates incentives for schools and universities to become more efficient so that they can invest those savings in improving the quality of the education they provide. In this context, and given the huge importance of the sector, both in terms of productivity and inclusive growth, competition agencies may increasingly see education markets as a priority area in which to advocate for more effective competition. They may, for instance conduct market studies, provide opinions or advise education departments (in addition to taking enforcement action). This paper identifies that excessive deregulation risks incentivising competition on wasteful aspects of the service, and can generate outcomes that directly contradict important policy goals which can make policymakers reluctant to use competition to improve efficiency. Competition agencies will therefore need to instead advocate for markets that complement, and not contradict those policy goals, if they are to be successful. This paper was prepared as a background note for a discussion held at the OECD in June 2019 on publicly-funded education markets.
Conventional income distribution statistics subtract taxes from household income but do not take into account the distributional effects of the services financed through these taxes. As many of the functions of government are available to the population free of charge or at a subsidised rate, this means that income distribution figures exaggerate the degree of inequality in the distribution of resources. This article examines the extent to which this is the case, and assesses whether statements about the relative inequality prevailing in different countries are reliable. Estimates of the impact of government services on the static distribution of household income, based on two different approaches, show that publicly-provided goods and services significantly narrow the dispersion of income inequality across countries with only small changes in the ranking of individual countries, and that the effects are larger when looking at the extremes of the distributions.
This paper was prepared as a background note for discussions on “Purchasing Power and Buyers' Cartels” taking place at the June 2022 session of the OECD Competition Committee.
This paper extends a previous study of profit trends to consider valuation ratios (Tobin's q) in nine countries. Tobin's q embodies market expectations and is an indicator of expected pure profit rates on the existing capital stock. Since 1982, equity markets have recovered substantially. By end-1985, values of Tobin's q were close to their 1974 levels and close to the symbolic figure of unity. The theoretical and conceptual relevance of q is considered, as well as data and measurement limitations. Real debt and equity costs of finance are considered in the light of buoyant stock markets. The implications of the strong recent recovery in q for investment are also noted ...
Governments in many countries are pursuing higher environmental goals for agriculture. However, in an interconnected world, the unilateral adoption of environmental policies for agriculture can reduce the producers’ competitiveness and induce pollution leakage. This report analyses these challenges and discusses policy solutions, focusing on two examples: climate change mitigation policies and policies limiting the environmental impacts of pesticides. The extent of competitiveness and leakage effects is found to depend on market conditions, differences in pollution intensity, and the type of environmental policy adopted. Two policy routes are identified to improve agriculture’s environmental performance while maintaining the benefits of global markets. The first route relies on “direct” environmental policies, such as market-based instruments or regulations, which are rapidly effective in limiting environmental impacts but may require additional complementary policies to limit their potential competitiveness and leakage impacts. The second route involves alternative policies acting on agricultural supply, demand, or through private sector engagement, which limit competitiveness and leakage impacts but may require time to be environmentally effective.
Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are laying the groundwork for extensive and rapid transformations in society. Understanding the relationship between AI capabilities and human skills is essential to ensure policy responsiveness to ongoing and incoming changes. The OECD has tracked how well AI systems fare on tasks from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), comparing AI performance to that of 15-year-old students in the test’s core domains of reading, mathematics and science. Tests were conducted using the Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) family of large language models (LLMs), the AI behind ChatGPT, which took the world by storm after its public release in late 2022.
Results show that both GPT versions outperform average student performance in reading and science. In addition, we observe rapid advances in mathematics where AI capabilities are quickly catching up with those of students. In November 2022, GPT-3.5 could answer 35% of a set of PISA mathematics tasks, a level of performance significantly below that of humans, who answer 51% of the tasks successfully on average. However, by March 2023, GPT-4 answered 40% of the tasks successfully. Policy implications of these results are discussed in this paper.
The 2030 Agenda aims for a world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed. Without gender equality and women’s empowerment, the Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved. Yet investments into gender equality and women’s empowerment are lagging behind investments for most other goals.
Implementing commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment requires a range of tools and efforts, all underpinned by financial investments. While ODA remains an essential source of financing for gender equality and women’s empowerment, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development commits development actors to a new way of thinking about financing for sustainable development, and official flows beyond ODA are becoming an increasingly important feature. This paper sets out an overview of what we know about the financing landscape for gender equality and women’s empowerment, a way forward in order to ensure more and better financing for gender equality, and some draft principles to guide future efforts.
Digital transformation affects every aspect of our lives, providing new spaces and tools for us to connect, work, consume, and enjoy our rights. It offers a multitude of social and economic opportunities, but also brings new and complex risks. An empowering and safe digital environment that puts people first is therefore a core policy goal of the digital age. Through the lens of a fictional family navigating these opportunities and risks, this paper looks at how digital transformation impacts us as individuals, be it as citizens, consumers, or workers. It outlines the policy landscape, and describes the international, multi-stakeholder, and nuanced efforts needed to strike a balance between different rights, interests, and values. A background paper for the 2022 Digital Economy Ministerial meeting, this paper supports senior policy makers in designing and achieving a human-centric digital transformation.
Die Ansichten von Patient*innen und Bürger*innen und ihr aktives Engagement sind entscheidend, um die Sicherheit und Personenzentriertheit der Gesundheitssysteme zu steigern. Auch im Hinblick auf die gemeinsame Konzeption der Gesundheitsdienstleistungen und Realisierung guter Gesundheitsergebnisse sowie den Aufbau von Vertrauen in die Gesundheitssysteme sind sie ein wesentlicher Faktor. Patient*innen, Familien, Versorgende und Bürger*innen können zur Verbesserung der Patientensicherheit auf allen Ebenen der Gesundheitssysteme beitragen: von der klinischen, lokalen, institutionellen Ebene (z. B. Krankenhaus, Pflegeheim) über die Gemeinschaftsebene (z. B. Primärversorgung, häusliche Pflege) bis zur nationalen Ebene. Der vorliegende Bericht, der sechste in der Reihe zur Ökonomie der Patientensicherheit, erfasst 1. die wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der Patienteneinbeziehung zur Förderung der Patientensicherheit, 2. die Ergebnisse einer Pilot-Datensammlung zur Messung von Sicherheitserfahrungen aus Patientensicht und 3. den Status der diesbezüglichen Initiativen in 21 Ländern, die an einer Snapshot-Umfrage teilgenommen haben. Darüber hinaus enthält er Empfehlungen zur Förderung einer stärkeren Patienteneinbeziehung in die Patientensicherheit.
El abandono escolar temprano (AET) puede dar lugar a crecientes desafíos individuales y ocasionar elevados costes económicos para los sistemas educativos y las sociedades en general. España ha logrado avances significativos en la reducción del AET en los últimos años; en 2022, la tasa de AET era de 13,9%, casi la mitad de lo observado hace una década. Sin embargo, la tasa media de España sigue siendo de las más elevadas de los países miembros de la OCDE y de la Unión Europea, con notables disparidades regionales. Basándose en la evidencia de la investigación y en las buenas prácticas nacionales e internacionales, y gracias a la contribución de los actores clave del sistema educativo, este informe identifica las fortalezas y los principales desafíos para abordar el AET en España. Determina así cinco áreas de acción y propone una serie de recomendaciones con un enfoque coordinado para reducir el AET en todas las comunidades autónomas y en las ciudades autónomas de Ceuta y Melilla.
Si bien la pandemia de COVID-19 ha afectado a los diferentes países en distinta intensidad, responder a la crisis se ha presentado como un desafío sin precedentes para la mayoría de los gobiernos. Bajo este contexto, las evaluaciones proveen de herramientas fundamentales para apoyar el intercambio de lecciones en tiempo real sobre lo que funciona, lo que no, lo que podría funcionar y para quién. El presente trabajo extrae lecciones de las evaluaciones que los gobiernos han llevado a cabo ellos mismos sobre sus respuestas al COVID-19. Proporciona una síntesis de la evidencia de 67 evaluaciones de este tipo producidas en los países de la OCDE durante los primeros 15 meses de la pandemia. Estas primeras evaluaciones muestran que muchos gobiernos llegaron a conclusiones similares, y nos permiten identificar ideas importantes que pueden contribuir a las respuestas de políticas que están en curso ante la crisis –así como aumentar la resiliencia en el futuro.
Essa nota foi desenvolvida pelo Centro de Empreendedorismo, PME’s, Regiões e Cidades da OCDE (CFE) em colaboração com o Grupo de Trabalho da OCDE para Política Urbana e a Iniciativa da OCDE de prefeitos (as) campeões (ães) para o crescimento inclusivo. É uma versão atualizada da publicada em 27 de março, a qual amplia os exemplos das medidas adotadas por cidades para responder a COVID-19 e fornece análises sobre problemas relacionados a impacto econômico, densidade, resiliência e colaboração com governos nacionais. As respostas de curto e médio prazo das cidades estão organizadas em seis categorias i) distanciamento social; ii) locais de trabalho e deslocamentos; iii) grupos vulneráveis; iv) prestação de serviços locais; v) apoio às empresas; e vi) comunicação, sensibilização e ferramentas digitais. A nota também inclui novas informações sobre como as cidades estão progressivamente saindo do confinamento e sobre as lições aprendidas em termos de densidade, mobilidade e digitalização. Esta nota conclui com orientações de ações direcionadas à reconstrução de cidades melhores, se apoiando nos trabalhos prévios de resiliência urbana. O anexo A fornece informações mais detalhadas sobre as iniciativas das cidades inventariadas. O anexo B mapeia esforços de organizações e redes locais selecionadas para coletar respostas das cidades e fomentar o conhecimento e o compartilhamento de experiências. Esse é um documento em evolução que terá sua próxima versão liberada ao fim de junho.
En emergencias mundiales como la pandemia del coronavirus (COVID-19), las políticas de ciencia abierta pueden eliminar obstáculos para la libre circulación de datos e ideas de investigación y así acelerar el ritmo de la investigación científica que resulta fundamental para combatir la enfermedad.