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The heterogeneity and highly diverse nature of the SMEs population represent a core challenge for SME policy frameworks. This paper discusses if and how typologies can help policy makers to better understand the wide diversity of SMEs and entrepreneurs. It proposes a policy perspective for analysing typologies, and reviews 169 typologies to assess their relevance for policy making. The paper presents a number of actionable typologies, as examples of how policy relevant SME and entrepreneurship typologies could be developed. The paper was developed in the context of the OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Strategy.
Reporting and review requirements under the Paris Agreement include provisions under Article 13 relating to the implementation and achievement of Parties’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Draft texts relating to Article 6.2 relating to Parties’ use of cooperative approaches also include provisions on reporting and review. This document identifies and analyses issues related to the interplay of relevant reporting and review requirements under both Article 13 and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, as it is important to improve complementarity and ensure consistency between the two sets of reporting and review provisions, as well as to meet the already-agreed principles governing transparency. Regarding reporting, the document highlights options for improving the clarity of the provisions concerning the timing, content, and frequency of the three required types of information under Article 6.2 guidance (i.e., the initial report, annual information, and regular information). Regarding Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs), this document highlights several issues relating to timing and vintages that would need to be addressed to facilitate ITMO reporting and review implementation. Regarding review provisions, this document finds that draft A6.2 guidance could usefully provide further detail on some substantive aspects of the Article 6 review process, such as, e.g., clarifying roles of the Party, the TER team, and the secretariat in the review process.
This paper analyses net-zero emissions targets adopted in law, proposed in legislation, or reflected in policy documents in 51 countries and the EU to better understand their characteristics, similarities and differences. It examines countries’ experiences with translating net-zero targets into near-term plans and analyses four case studies to show how countries develop and implement different pathways to net-zero. This paper also explores the potential role and associated risks, both for individual countries and globally, of using international carbon markets to help achieve countries’ net-zero targets. The paper concludes that countries are adopting diverse approaches to their net-zero targets and many details are currently unclear, including the balance between emission reductions, removals and the use of international carbon markets in reaching countries’ net-zero targets, and how this may change over the next few decades. The paper concludes that greater clarity on the scope, coverage and detail, in particular how countries plan to meet their net-zero commitments, is important to improve understanding of countries’ net-zero targets, how they interact with each other, and their overall implications for achieving the global temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
This paper explores the use of market studies with the specific objective of addressing emerging competition issues. It was prepared as background for the discussion "Using Market Studies to Tackle Emerging Competition Issues" held at the 2020 OECD Global Forum on Competition.
Asset tokenisation can generally be described as the digital representation of physical assets on distributed ledgers (also referred to as digital twins) or the issuance of native tokens on the blockchain. Although initially associated with mostly non-compliant initial coin offerings over the period 2017-18, currently tokenisation represents one of the most prominent cases of distributed ledger technologies in financial markets. This Going Digital Toolkit note identifies the different approaches that policy makers have adopted around tokenised assets and the markets for such instruments, and provides examples of these approaches. These approaches are not mutually exclusive and policy makers may differ in the way they address asset tokenisation, participants of tokenised markets, and risks arising in these markets. This Toolkit note does not classify approaches into categories, but rather describes elements and characteristics of different jurisdictional approaches to asset tokenisation, some of which can co-exist.
This brief presents a factual and retrospective analysis of the relationships between urbanisation and demography in North Africa and West Africa. It shows that the process of demographic transition is now fully underway in this region. North of the Sahara the new demographic equilibrium features a birth rate higher than expected, according to theoretical model predictions, resulting in continuous population growth. Over 70% of the population now lives in cities, a number that is expected to continue to rise in the coming decades. South of the Sahara all countries have seen death rates plummet, followed by a decrease in birth rates. The gap between the change in the two variables has contributed to spectacular natural growth in the space of a few decades. This growth is occurring in parallel with a redistribution of populations to urban areas, which are now home to close to one of every two inhabitants. West African urbanisation is likely to accelerate the social, economic and political changes that favour the demographic transition. One of the main challenges facing the region is the question of how to reduce the regional variations seen in fertility rates between the continent’s urban and rural areas.
In light of the need for detailed and timely internationally comparable trade price indices, this paper describes a multi-tiered methodology to mitigate many of the empirical challenges associated with using customs data, to provide more robust estimates of unit value indices (UVIs) by country and product. UVIs are available for both exports and imports, by reporting country and the CPA 2-digit level of classification. Although the approach cannot capture changes in the quality of products nor compositional changes happening at a lower than HS 6-digit classification, the results indicate that at higher levels of aggregation (SITC 1-digit level), estimated UVIs closely follow price changes obtained from other sources. This is observed both for products with significant and rapid quality changes, such as hi-tech products, and for products with a low rate of quality changes, such as commodities, other primary and low-tech goods. Furthermore, products where little quality change occurs over time show similarity between UVIs and price changes from other sources at lower levels of disaggregation. The methodology is used to produce the Merchandise Trade Price Index and the data is made publically available on .Stat under the International Trade and Balance of Payments heading.
Resolving stark differences between rich and poor countries in vaccine coverage against COVID is a global policy priority for 2022. However, even among OECD countries, there currently remain surprisingly large differences in vaccine coverage and this paper attempts to explain these differences, including the role that policy has played. The main findings are: vaccination has had massive health and economic benefits; vaccine hesitancy can be overcome, although there remains a link with historical flu and MMR vaccination rates; well-designed vaccine passes can boost coverage; trust in government and other public institutions matter, although the link to vaccine coverage is not straight-forward; demographic structure and policy stances towards vaccinating children play a role in explaining differences in overall population vaccination rates; mandatory vaccination has been implemented or is being considered in a few OECD countries, although it is too early to assess the effects. Finally, case studies of the most successful vaccination campaigns provide additional illumination, which cannot easily be captured in multi-country correlations.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses are likely to alter the global economy in a way that affects its ability to adjust to future shocks and changes. This paper develops a point of reference for thinking about developments which could be deemed long-term and which could in turn be incorporated into what we call a “post-COVID-19 baseline”. Using the OECD’s CGE model METRO, the paper finds that output declines observed in 2020 were driven primarily by reductions in labour productivity due to varying abilities to telework across countries. Negative economic impacts were largely mitigated by government support to firms and households. Border measures to control the spread of the virus also had less of an impact on total output, reflecting important government efforts to facilitate cross border flows of goods and services whilst managing cross border movements of people. Demand shifts had the smallest impact on global GDP, but had significant and heterogeneous impacts on consumption, output and trade changes across countries and sectors. This in turn contributed to pressures on some global supply chains.
This paper assesses what it would take for the OECD-UNDP Impact Standards for Financing Sustainable Development to be actively implemented by 2030. It draws from interviews conducted between November 2021 and March 2022 with representatives of donor governments, development finance institutions (DFIs), multilateral development banks (MDBs), private investors, partner governments, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are changing workplaces. AI systems have the potential to improve workplaces, but ensuring trustworthy use of AI in the workplace means addressing the ethical risks it can raise. This paper reviews possible risks in terms of human rights (privacy, fairness, agency and dignity); transparency and explainability; robustness, safety and security; and accountability. The paper also reviews ongoing policy action to promote trustworthy use of AI in the workplace. Existing legislation to ensure ethical workplaces must be enforced effectively, and serve as the foundation for new policy. Economy- and society-wide initiatives on AI, such as the EU AI Act and standard-setting, can also play a role. New workplace-specific measures and collective agreements can help fill remaining gaps.
This article summarises the Israeli experience with utilising behavioural insights in the work of budget officials and aims to assist budget officials in other OECD countries with integrating behavioural economics tools and evidence-based policy-making methods in their work. Behavioural economics has grown in recent years to become increasingly integrated in the work of public institutions, particularly those in the forefront of policy making. In the context of public budgeting, behavioural insights tools had initially focused on improving tax compliance. In this article we widen the scope of budget officials’ perspective, and responsibility, to develop behaviourally informed policies that are primarily citizen-focused. This approach harmonises and aligns the work of ministries of finance with public policy objectives more generally, and provides actionable “know how” based on the experience of the budget department in the Israeli Ministry of Finance.
Understanding adults’ attitudes towards the environment is necessary to gauge the opportunities and challenges of creating effective and politically-feasible climate policies. Using data from the Wellcome Global Monitor 2020, the European Social Survey (Round 8), World Values Survey and EM-DAT, this paper examines how adults’ environmental attitudes vary within and across countries and details how environmental attitudes are associated with adults’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviours and support for environmentally-friendly policies. The paper explores whether the extent to which individuals prioritise the environment over the state of the economy or vice versa depends on individuals’ exposure to natural disasters or negative labour market conditions. Results indicate that people’s economic vulnerability and the sectors they work in impact their attitudes towards their environment and support for public policy. Furthermore, the findings suggest that increases in unemployment and exposure to natural disasters influence the extent to which individuals prioritise the environment.
Young people increasingly prioritise pursuing careers with positive social and environmental impacts. Social enterprises can help them fulfil this ambition. Youth-led social enterprises can address pressing social and environmental issues while providing young people with opportunities in the labour market. Despite these benefits, these entities often struggle due to the age of their founders and the specificities of their businesses. This paper analyses the drivers and potential benefits of youth-led social enterprises (section 1), assesses the challenges they face (section 2) and provides policy guidance to address them through tailored support programmes based on best practice examples and experiences from OECD countries and beyond (section 3).
Over the last decade, a large variety of geospatial data sources, such as GPS trajectories, geotagged photos, and social media have become available for research and statistical applications. These new data sources are often generated, voluntarily or non-voluntarily, by private sector organisations and can provide highly granular and timely information to policymakers. Drawing on experiences of several OECD countries, this paper highlights the potential of combining traditional and unconventional data from both public and private sources, and makes the case for facilitating co-operation between data providers and organisations responsible for public policy. In addition, the paper provides a series of best practices on leveraging private data for the public good and identifies opportunities, challenges, and ways forward for public and private sector partnerships on data sharing.
This Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) describes the linkage between uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and growth inhibition via decreased cell proliferation. The mitochondrial OXPHOS machinery is a key physiological process responsible for producing the primary cellular energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Uncoupling of OXPHOS is a well-known mechanism of action of many chemicals and can affect many ATP-dependent biological functions. Cell proliferation in particular, as a major process to achieve organismal growth, is positively correlated with the cellular ATP level and highly susceptible to energy depletion. This AOP causally links uncoupling of OXPHOS to growth inhibition, through ATP depletion and reduced cell proliferation with strong weight of evidence support. This AOP is of high regulatory relevance, as it is considered applicable to both human health and ecological risk assessments. The AOP also forms the core of a larger AOP network addressing uncoupling of OXPHOS mediated growth inhibition. This AOP is referred to as AOP 263 in the Collaborative Adverse Outcome Pathway Wiki (AOP-Wiki).
The 2021 OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions provides a cross-country assessment of what influences people’s trust in government and public institutions, understanding people’s perception of the functioning of democratic institutions. Most of the drivers in the Trust Survey refer to government competences and values that help countries take concrete steps to rebuild trust. Both at the individual and country-level trust may vary due to cultural, economic and social factors. This paper analyses the open-ended survey responses in 16 OECD countries to understand two questions. First can the answers provide insights into cultural differences and extreme attitudes of distrust? Second, what dimensions influence trust that are not considered in the theoretical OECD Trust Framework underpinning the Trust Survey? The results of the topic model resemble closely the drivers in the Trust Framework, but respondents name not just government inputs, outputs, and processes, but also socioeconomic vulnerabilities, intergenerational and global challenges. While many respondents write that ''corruption'', ''money'' and ''power'' drives their trust in public institutions, these feelings are not associated with government transparency and accountability. These findings show the advantage of qualitative measurements (open-ended survey questions) to understand the complex relationship between trust and public governance.
Lithuania is digitalising its economy with visible success, but much scope remains for the integration of advanced technologies. The COVID-19 crisis confirmed the importance of digitalisation to sustain activity. Increased private investment in innovation is essential to speed up digitalisation. The take-up of R&D tax incentives is low, however, despite relatively generous provisions, and many smaller firms have not been inclined to innovate. More effective public support for business R&D and stronger research-business collaboration on innovation are important. There is also a need to promote digital uptake, especially among smaller firms that lag behind. Improving access to equity finance for young innovative firms, reducing remaining gaps in digital infrastructure, along with better information on digital tools and how to use them, can help smaller firms digitalise. The public sector too has to become more digitalised. Addressing weaknesses in foundational skills through education reforms and responding more effectively to labour market needs for digital skills would enable a wider adoption of advanced technologies and higher productivity growth, while ensuring that the digitalisation dividends are distributed fairly. Increased participation in adult learning, especially among the less educated, is the way forward to adapt to increased job automation in the digital era.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant shift in the way people work, with an increasing number of individuals opting to work from home. Fewer commutes allow people to live further away from the city centre, where jobs typically concentrate. Against this background, this paper tests the hypothesis of a shift in housing demand away from the city centre towards the suburbs using a novel granular house price data set covering 16 OECD countries. The results indicate a flattening of the house price gradients in most large urban areas with profound consequences for housing policies and the city of the future.
Increasingly more emphasis is placed on damages and risks that people, companies and governments face in the way they affect their well-being as well as material conditions or financial fundamentals. There is, however, still quite a bit of heterogeneity in how countries and companies frame and implement their endeavours, sometimes with no harmonised or unified goals as well as a lack of consistent metrics for assessing their impacts on the environment and society. Common semantics on just transition concepts and a solid understanding of just transition activities by governments and businesses would help assess the scale of the problem.
This Policy Insights provides a glimpse at some of the positive practices to encourage others to make the shift and provide a benchmark against which future action could be measured.