Browse by: "2007"

As the world interconnects, science, technology and innovation policies cannot be seen as standing alone. There is a growing interest from central banks and ministries of finance in improving the understanding of how science, technology and innovation create value in the form of increased productivity and profits, and contribute to the valuation of enterprises, and ultimately stimulate the growth and competitiveness of economies. This conference proceedings of the OECD Blue Sky II Forum describes some of the policy needs, measurement issues, and challenges in describing cross-cutting and emerging topics in science, technology and innovation (STI). It also presents ideas to exploit existing data and develop new frameworks of measurement in order to guide future development of STI indicators at the OECD and beyond.

Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico make up most of  the firms in the formal economy, they are hampered by a lack of financing and skilled workers. This book assesses the comprehensive SME policies introduced by the Federal Government during the past six years.  While lauding the improvements achieved by the new policy measures, including better access to financing, reduced lead times for firm creation, and higher survival rates, the review cautions that the capacity of states and local authorities to absorb federal policy programmes needs to be enhanced and tailor-made initiatives in favour of micro firms need to be expanded. In addition, the review makes practical recommendations on how to improve policy co-ordination, create an efficiency evaluation culture at all levels of government, and strengthen the entrepreneurial business environment.

In the context of sustainable development policies, decision making in the energy sector should be based on carefully designed trade-offs which take into account, insofar as feasible, all of the alternative options’ advantages and drawbacks from the economic, environmental and social viewpoints. This report examines various aspects of nuclear and other energy chains for generating electricity, and provides illustrative examples of quantitative and qualitative indicators for those chains with regard to economic competitiveness, environmental burdens (such as air emissions and solid waste streams) and social aspects (including employment and health impacts). It offers authoritative data and references to published literature on energy chain analysis which can be used in support of decision making.

Portugal’s tertiary education sector has expanded significantly over the last 20 years, but participation and overall educational attainment levels remain below European standards and enrolment rates have begun to decline. The OECD review recommends that Portugal’s national government should focus on strategic direction and leave higher education institutions wider latitude for accomplishing public priorities consistent with their mission. Among its proposals for reform, the review calls for the creation of a National Council on Higher Education to oversee Portugal’s higher education strategy. The review also calls for major changes in the governance and management of higher education institutions to bring them into line with national goals, encourage their responsiveness and efficiency, and improve their quality.  Improving research and innovation is a key strategic objective of the Portuguese government, and the OECD review suggests a number of qualitative changes in Portugal’s tertiary education system to enhance performance in this area.

Reform of education, training and human resource development is an integral part of the transition to a democratic society and a market economy. This book gives a brief overview of regional issues and the history of post-secondary education in Kazakhstan and describes the development of higher and tertiary education in the country since the transition began. It presents an analysis of the education system, identifying key directions for the reinforcement of the reforms in light of the challenges encountered by officials, communities, enterprises, educators, parents and students under very dynamic conditions. It concludes with a set of key recommendations concerning the structure of the system and its labour market relevance; access and equity; financing; governance and management; internationalisation; and research, development and innovation.

This review of education policies in Turkey takes place at a critical point in the nation’s history. An improving economy, greater governmental continuity and a more stable social environment, coupled with the extraordinary challenge of Turkey’s candidacy for EU accession, provide an unprecedented opportunity for a new phase of education reform. Over the past decade, Turkey has pursued a striking education reform agenda focused on implementing eight-year basic and compulsory education and increasing the participation of girls at the primary education level. The nation must now complement the drive for increasing enrolments and participation with efforts to improve quality. To reach the levels of education attainment and performance of the most advanced countries in Europe and OECD, Turkey must undertake sustained, multi-year, systemic reforms of its education system.

This publication contains statistics on fisheries and aquaculture in OECD countries for 2002, 2003 and 2004. Information is provided on government financial transfers, total allowable catches, landings, employment, fleet capacity, trade and aquaculture production.  Countries covered include  Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and Argentina (observer).

Data on government sector receipts, and on taxes in particular, are basic inputs to most structural economic descriptions and economic analyses and are increasingly used in international comparisons. This annual publication presents a unique set of detailed and internationally comparable tax data in a common format for all OECD countries from 1965 onwards. It also gives a conceptual framework to define which government receipts should be regarded as taxes and to classify different types of taxes. This book includes StatLinks, URLs linking statistical tables via the internet to Excel® spreadsheets showing the underlying data.

In this workshop proceedings, Spanish stakeholders and delegates from 14 countries discuss current co-ordination of radioactive waste management decision making in Spain. Findings were shared from Cowam-Spain, a co-operative research project on the involvement of local stakeholders, the relationship between national and local levels of decision making, and the long-term sustainability of decisions regarding the siting of a centralised interim storage facility for high-level waste. These proceedings include the workshop presentations and discussions, as well as the rapporteurs' reflections on what was learned about policy making and participative decision making.

In the quest for more and better lifelong learning, there is a growing awareness that qualifications systems must play a part. Some countries have started to realise that isolated developments in qualifications standards lead to uncoordinated, piecemeal systems. After reviewing the policies and practice in fifteen countries, the authors present nine broad policy responses to the lifelong learning agenda that countries have adopted and that relate directly to their national qualifications system. They also identify twenty mechanisms, or concrete linkages, between national qualifications systems and lifelong learning goals. The overall aim of this book is to provide these mechanisms as a tool for governments to use in reviewing their policy responses to lifelong learning. Evidence suggests that some mechanisms, such as those linked to credit transfer, recognition of prior learning, qualifications frameworks and stakeholder involvement, are especially powerful in promoting lifelong learning.

This report aims to answer two major questions: (1) How beneficial are the trade preferences provided to developing countries; and (2) what are the implications of possible erosion of these benefits under multilateral trade liberalisation? The report focuses on trade preferences provided by the so-called Quad countries (Canada, the European Union, Japan and the United States) because they have some of the world’s highest tariffs on agricultural commodities. Findings from this study suggest that although preferential margins will be eroded with multilateral liberalisation, this may be a problem only for certain countries and within specific sectors, and that factors not related to preferential trade schemes may be limiting the exports of the least-developed countries (LDC).

This edition of the Development Centre's annual report on policy coherence focuses on migration. The book examines the costs and benefits of migration for developing countries and how these flows can be better organised to yield greater benefits for all parties concerned -- migrant-sending countries, migrant-receiving countries, and the migrants themselves. It takes stock of what we know about the effects of migration on development, and distills from that knowledge a set of policy recommendations for sending and receiving countries alike. It draws on a large number of country and regional case studies co-ordinated by the OECD Development Centre to illustrate the mechanisms that link migration and development: labour-market effects, brain drain, remittances, diaspora networks and return migration.