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Substantial amounts of money continue to be spent in OECD Member countries on measures to support agricultural, energy, transportation and industrial activities. Many of these support measures encourage the emission of environmentally-harmful pollutants, the generation of waste, and the excessive use of natural resources, and constitute a large drain on government budgets. In addition, much of the money spent on support may not reach the intended recipients as it can leak away to other sectors of the economy instead. As such, it is likely that the reform or removal of these subsidies could lead to "win-win" benefits through increased economic efficiency, reduced government spending and improved environmental quality.

Building on the vast literature on the subject as well as on the available statistical data on subsidies, this publication summarises the results of an OECD study on how economic support measures actually affect the economy and, as a result, the environment. Although the effects of a given support measure on the environment will be determined by a number of different factors, this study finds that releasing market forces through support removal and increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of regulations can lead to significant environmental benefits.

The report develops an analytical framework which enables policy makers to identify those support measures whose removal is most likely to lead to "win-win" benefits. It also offers recommendations to implementing reductions in environmentally-harmful subsidies -- especially those that run counter to environmental objectives that are shared by OECD Member countries -- and to overcome the often exaggerated fear of a loss in competitiveness.

This annual publication provides statistical tables showing steel production, consumption and trade data, as well as other indicators of activity such as employment levels, annual investment expenditures by sector and by country, export prices, domestic prices and indices for certain iron and steel products. Information is included for OECD countries, certain Central and Eastern European countries, and certain New Independent States.

This specialised Directory provides information on over 1 700 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) active in the field of habitat and urban development. NGO profiles include their aims, education work and activities in developing contries. Cross-referenced indexes facilitate access to information on "who is doing what and where" in this field.

The Directory is a unique and comprehensive guide for development practitioners and planners, as well as for those interested in habitat issues. This Directory is the latest in a series of OECD Development Centre directories on the development activities of NGOs based in OECD Member countries. It is published in the wake of the June 1996 United Nations Conference on Human Settlements- Habitat II.

This publication is the fruit of collaboration between four partners: in Nairobi, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements-Habitat (UNCHS-Habitat), in Geneva, the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS), and in Paris, the Research and Technology Exchange Group (GRET) and the OECD Development Centre. The Habitat International Coalition (HIC), based in Mexico, was also associated with the project.

In the context of major public sector reform efforts in many OECD countries, increasing attention is being focused on the people-side of the reform equation -- the human resource management policies and practices available to public sector managers to shape and direct the workforce to achieve new organisational goals. The experiences of OECD countries show, however, that improving individual policies and practices is only part of the reform equation. The key factor lies in integrating human resource management with the core business of the public service -- the outcome and output goals of individual departments and agencies -- and in doing so, ensuring that effective management of people is recognised as an indispensable ingredient for accomplishing the business of government. Using surveys and selected country case studies, this monograph identifies the factors driving human resource management reforms in the national public administrations of OECD countries. In offering the lessons drawn from these wide-ranging experiences to the attention of policy makers and practitioners, it identifies promising reform strategies for ensuring that human resource management policies evolve in ways consistent with broader public management reforms aimed at building more productive, performance-oriented and responsive public services.

The perspective of pan-European integration places interurban freight and passenger transport alike in key positions in our economies. However related factors -- accidents, the many disamenities, wasted energy, etc. -- make the overall cost of such transport extremely high. Because the international division of labour necessarily leads to heavier traffic flows, detailed analyses of the cost of long-distance transport are essential. Examining the economic and policy issues involved a must. {Round Table 98} gives a clearer picture of the whole range of interurban transport problems. It provides both theoretical analyses and specific case studies, and explores such fundamental matters as the actual social utility of transport.

This Round Table features three reports on international coach service: one from italy, one from the Netherlands and one from Sweden.

The first report outlines the reasons why international tax avoidance and evasion through the use of tax havens is a concern to the tax authorities of OECD Member countries and examines measures introduced to combat such use. The second report sets out the problems posed for tax administrations by the fact that their resident taxpayers make use of base companies (generally subsidiary companies) in tax havens to shelter there income derived from source countries (which may in some cases be the residence country itself) and in that way to escape tax normally payable to the country of residence. The third report deals with the problems created for tax authorities in source countries by the mechanism of "treaty shopping". The final report deals with taxation and the abuse of bank secrecy.

This Round table examines taxation systems related to international road haulage.

This Round Table addresses two problems related to international transit across countries: infrastructure and pricing. After of general survey of issues, case studies are presented from three countries: Austria, Denmark and Germany.

This Round Table examined measures designed to restrict the use of certain transport modes, including parking controls, zones and collar control of traffic, flexible hours, and inter-urban traffic constraints.

This Round Tables examines various aspects of indicators for evaluating transport output. It examines the needs of policy makers and planners, the design of indicators, integration of indicators, the possible indicators available, and the use of indicators.

This round tables examines how the structure and extent of urban development affects the choice of modes of transport. and related transport investment planning, pricing and subsidies, and policy making.

This Round Table uses a planning approach to examine the impact of urban development on transport choices in medium-size conurbations.

This Round Table examines the design and location of interchange facilities and feeder services. The development of mathematical models to predict the effects of such schemes is described and some more general problems of integrating the evaluation of interchange schemes in an urban planning context are discussed.

This Round Table takes a look at the existing transport scene and the cost of potential change as well as at choices and options for transportation planning before making a series of recommendations.

This Round Table examines some of the factors which determine the demand for high-speed transport, in particular standards of living and land-use planning.