Browse by: "2021"
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Reliable and high-quality connectivity is fundamental for the digital transformation. Furthermore, the COVID-19 health emergency has shown that access to high-quality broadband services at affordable prices, across different territories is essential to ensure that economic and social activities can continue in an increasingly remote manner. However, important disparities in terms of connectivity persist in G20 countries and especially within countries between different types of regions. Overcoming the territorial divide is essential to ensure that no region and its inhabitants are left behind, regardless of where they live. This report offers a roadmap to policy makers to reduce the digital divides experienced by people living in different places within countries. While this is a key policy goal, the reduction of regional disparities needs to be accompanied with sufficiently high levels of broadband speeds across regions for people to be able to fully benefit from the economic opportunities and services brought about by digitalization.
Despite years of growth in the number of women in paid work, gender roles in unpaid housework have remained remarkably rigid. Unpaid housework can be outsourced to non-care household service providers, such as cleaners or housekeepers, however, high prices, a substantial tax burden and a lack of easy access impose barriers to greater formalisation of the household service sector. With the aim of increasing work-life balance for households, in particular for women in employment, and reducing the wide-ranging practice of undeclared employment, a number of OECD countries have implemented policies to formalise and boost the provision of non-care household services. This report illustrates the importance of the non-care household service sector and reviews international approaches in formalising the non-care household service market, ranging from providing tax incentives or granting social vouchers, to identify good practice. To highlight the potential economic gains that could follow from easing the housework burden, the report also estimates the economic value of unpaid housework provided by men and women.
Natural hazard-induced disasters (NHID), such as floods, droughts, severe storms, and animal pests and diseases have significant, widespread and long-lasting impacts on agricultural sectors around the world. With climate change set to amplify many of these impacts, a “business-as-usual” approach to disaster risk management in agriculture cannot continue if we are to meet the challenges of agricultural productivity and sustainability growth, and sustainable development. Drawing from seven case studies – Chile, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, Turkey and the United States – this joint OECD-FAO report argues for a new approach to building resilience to NHID in agriculture. It explores the policy measures, governance arrangements, on-farm strategies and other initiatives that countries are using to increase agricultural resilience to NHID, highlighting emerging good practices. It offers concrete recommendations on what more needs to be done to shift from coping with the impacts of disasters, to an ex ante approach that focuses on preventing and mitigating the impacts of disasters, helping the sector be better prepared to respond to disasters, and to adapt and transform in order to be better positioned for future disasters.
Widespread voluntary tax compliance plays a significant role in countries’ efforts to raise the revenues necessary to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. As part of this process, governments are increasingly reaching out to taxpayers – current and future – to teach, communicate and assist them in order to foster a “culture of compliance” based on rights and responsibilities, in which citizens see paying taxes as an integral aspect of their relationship with their government. The emphasis placed by governments on taxpayer education and assistance helps bridge the gap between tax administrations and citizens, playing a key role – when properly implemented – in transforming tax culture.
Building on previous OECD analysis, this report aims to help tax revenue authorities in designing and implementing taxpayer education initiatives. It examines 140 initiatives under implementation in 59 developed and developing countries, offering a classification of different approaches to taxpayer education, and identifying common challenges and solutions. More generally, this report contributes to the OECD’s broader work on tax morale and seeks to encourage further research, debates and initiatives, particularly in developing countries, to better understand and ultimately strengthen tax morale and the tax compliance of taxpayers.
This profile provides a concise and policy-relevant overview of health and the health system in Bulgaria as part of the broader series of the State of Health in the EU country profiles. It provides a short synthesis of: the health status in the country; the determinants of health, focussing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the health system; and the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system. This edition has a special focus on the impact of COVID‑19.
This profile is the joint work of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.
The 2021 edition of Business Insights on Emerging Markets provides a private sector perspective on opportunities and challenges for the private sector in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The publication brings together analysis and insights from the business meetings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Centre’s Emerging Markets Network (EMnet), interactions with the private sector and desk research, organised in four chapters. A chapter by Cornell University’s Emerging Markets Institute at Cornell’s Samuel Curtis Johnson College of Business complements this publication.
Based on responses to two surveys from selected OECD countries, this report offers an update to an earlier review first published in 2020 (OECD, 2020). It covers various forms of government financing support programmes for businesses, and explores how they have been applied during the COVID-19 pandemic, to understand where government intervention has been beneficial and where challenges have arisen, to possibly provide a clear overview of how the crisis was managed. The report also outlines the particular challenges for certain businesses, such as non-investment grade corporates and SMEs amid scarce financing, where government programmes have restricted or hindered access. It then presents conceptual considerations on how best to facilitate sufficient financing to ensure that viable businesses continue to remain solvent.
COVID-19 and Well-being: Life in the Pandemic explores the immediate implications of the pandemic for people’s lives and livelihoods in OECD countries. The report charts the course of well-being – from jobs and incomes through to social connections, health, work-life balance, safety and more – using data collected during the first 12-15 months of the pandemic. It also takes stock of what has happened to human, economic, social and natural capital that, beyond their effects on people’s lives today, shape living conditions for years to come. It shows how COVID-19 has had far-reaching consequences for how we live, work and connect with one another, and how experiences of the pandemic varied widely, depending on whether and where people work, their gender, age, race and ethnicity, education and income levels. The report also examines the role that well-being evidence can play in supporting governments’ pandemic recovery efforts. It argues that a well-being lens can prompt policy-makers to refocus on the outcomes that matter the most to people, to redesign policy content from a more multidimensional perspective, to realign policy practice across government silos, and to reconnect people with the public institutions that serve them.
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies are set to play an important role in supporting clean energy transitions in Southeast Asia. CCUS can address emissions from the region’s existing power and industrial assets while underpinning new economic opportunities associated with the production of lowcarbon hydrogen and ammonia. Regional co-operation on the development of CO2 transport and storage infrastructure can enable faster and more efficient deployment of CCUS. However, heightened efforts are needed to identify and develop the region’s CO2 storage resources, both on- and offshore. Future investment in CCUS in Southeast Asia will depend on the establishment of legal and regulatory frameworks and policy incentives, with an important role for international finance.
Career guidance for adults is a fundamental lever to help adults successfully navigate constantly evolving labour markets. As labour markets in Latin America are hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and mega trends such as globalisation and digitalisation continue to impact labour demand, support is urgently needed. Millions of adults have lost their jobs and need to identify new career options. However, career guidance for adults is still rare in Latin America. More common are vocational guidance programmes for young people, or labour intermediation services for adults. This report analyses career guidance initiatives for adults in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico). It emphasises the need to establish career guidance higher up on the policy agenda of the region. Lessons are drawn on how to strengthen the coverage and inclusiveness of career guidance, provision and service delivery, quality and impact, as well as governance and funding. The findings build on information collected through the 2020 Survey of Career Guidance for Adults (SCGA), an online survey of adults’ experience with career guidance.
Career guidance is a fundamental policy lever to help adults successfully navigate a constantly evolving labour market through advice and information on job and training opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of career guidance services. Many adults have lost their jobs and require assistance navigating their career options in a changing labour market, where firms are likely to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies in the name of pandemic-proofing. But compared to career guidance services for youth, services for adults receive relatively little policy attention, and little is known of how often existing services are used. This report scopes out initiatives in the area of career guidance for adults in OECD countries, drawing lessons on how to strengthen adult career guidance systems in terms of coverage and inclusiveness, provision and service delivery, quality and impact, and governance and funding. The findings of the report build on the information collected through the 2020 Survey of Career Guidance for Adults (SCGA), an online survey of adults’ experience with career guidance.
The pace and scope of innovation are challenging the way governments regulate. Existing regulatory frameworks might not be agile enough to accommodate the fast pace of technological development and, as a consequence, rules might become outdated. Beyond this pacing problem, technological innovation also blurs the traditional definition of markets, challenges enforcement and transcends administrative boundaries domestically and internationally.
This report, which results from a joint project between the OECD and the Korea Development Institute, presents a set of case studies illustrating the different regulatory challenges raised by emerging technologies and the diversity of regulatory responses used to address them. The case studies cover data-driven business models, digital innovation in finance, smart contracts relying on distributed ledger technologies, digital technologies for smart logistics, and the sharing economy.
Public communication is an essential part of government policy and an important contributor to transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation. This Citizens’ Voice in Jordan Report provides an analysis of internal and external communications processes, examining progress achieved to date and remaining challenges. It provides recommendations for the Government of Jordan for making a strategic use of public communication and strengthening the media ecosystem in the interest of promoting a more open government.
Public communication is an essential element of government policy and crucial for transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation. This OECD Review analyses public communication in Lebanon, by reviewing the relevant governance structures and procedures across the public administration, along with the prevailing use of core competencies for this function and their application to support transparency and stakeholder participation in public life. The recommendations in this report highlight important opportunities to shift towards a more strategic approach to public communication that can better serve policy goals and help respond to citizens’ needs and expectations.
At the global level, civic space is narrowing and thus efforts to protect and promote it are more important than ever. The OECD defines Civic Space as the set of legal, policy, institutional, and practical conditions necessary for non-governmental actors to access information, express themselves, associate, organise, and participate in public life. This document presents the Civic Space Scan of Finland, which was undertaken at the request of the Finnish government and is the first OECD report of its kind. OECD Civic Space Scans in particular assess how governments protect and promote civic space in each national context and propose ways to strengthen existing frameworks and practices. The Scan assesses four key dimensions of civic space: civic freedoms and rights, media freedoms and digital rights, the enabling environment for civil society organisations, and civic participation in policy and decision making. Each respective chapter of the report contains actionable recommendations for the Government of Finland. As part of the scan process, a citizens’ panel – also overseen by the OECD – was held in February 2021 and generated a wide range of recommendations for the government from a representative microcosm of Finnish society.
Thanks to tremendous renewable energy and energy efficiency potential and a stable, dynamic economy, Indonesia has become a coveted destination for investors in the clean energy sector. Clean energy investment, however, remains far below the level needed to realise Indonesia’s ambitious clean energy and sustainable finance goals. Instead, investment in fossil fuels continues to dominate.
This first Clean Energy Finance and Investment Policy Review of Indonesia supports efforts to reverse these trends and achieve a clean energy transition. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the current policy framework, highlighting progress and identifying untapped opportunities for strengthening policy interventions that can help scale up clean energy finance and investment. It also provides a number of tailored recommendations for the Government of Indonesia and development partners. The Review was undertaken within the OECD Clean Energy Finance and Investment Mobilisation (CEFIM) Programme, which supports governments in emerging economies to unlock finance and investment in clean energy.
Viet Nam has become a leading regional market for renewable energy in a short space of time led by private sector investment facilitated by favourable support mechanisms. Maintaining market growth sustainably while integrating higher shares of variable generation will be a key challenge for Viet Nam’s policy makers over the next decade as the post-pandemic economic recovery builds momentum. Viet Nam's economy also remains highly energy intensive and energy efficiency improvement has the potential to unlock multiple economic benefits with further market interventions.
The Clean Energy Finance and Investment Policy Review of Viet Nam provides a comprehensive overview of the current policy framework, highlighting progress and identifying untapped opportunities for strengthening policy interventions that can help scale up clean energy finance and investment. It also provides a number of tailored recommendations for the Government of Viet Nam and development partners. The Review was undertaken within the OECD Clean Energy Finance and Investment Mobilisation (CEFIM) Programme, which supports governments in emerging economies to unlock finance and investment in clean energy.
Since the launch of the Clean Energy Transitions Programme (CETP) in late 2017, the IEA has significantly expanded its work to help accelerate energy transitions in major emerging economies. The CETP is playing a critical role in supporting clean energy transitions, putting sustainable development at the heart of economic recovery measures and further strengthening the IEA family.
The CETP Annual Report 2020 highlights the programme’s main activities, presenting major outcomes and areas for further work as well as planned activities for 2021. It also summarises IEA activities related to clean energy transitions at a global level, and introduces new and innovative analyses and resources produced throughout the year.
The report initially provides an overview of the CETP’s objectives, then presents highlights of activities and achievements for each priority country (Brazil, the People’s Republic of China. India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa), each priority region (Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia), and globally.
Africa’s energy future matters to the world. That is why the International Energy Agency (IEA) is substantially expanding its engagement in African countries and with African regional partners. Since 2019, the IEA has initiated a programme of work in the form of enhanced institutional engagement, as well as an increase in technical activities in support of the energy strategies and objectives of African countries.
The IEA aims to support African countries with their transformative energy sector priorities and the implementation of clean energy transitions in the region by sharing expertise to enhance data, inform decision-making and guide policy implementation. This engagement takes place in coordination with local, regional and other international entities. The aim is to support a sustainable and an accelerated regional energy system transformation using a varied mix of technologies, in order to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), promote increased energy security and affordability, and accelerate the development of clean energy systems across Africa. As the Covid-19 crisis continues to affect economies and energy systems across the world, the IEA aims to support African countries in their efforts to stimulate economic recovery from the crisis in which the energy sector transformation plays a catalytic role.
Climate change will create specific risks and challenges for nuclear power plants and the electricity system as a whole. Extreme weather events caused by climate change – such as floods, storms, heat waves and droughts – have already affected the operation of nuclear power plants. Any increase in the temperature of the water used to cool nuclear power plants can also lead to reductions in their power output due to decreasing thermal efficiency.
This report sets out the adaptation strategies that can be effectively implemented to improve the resilience of existing plants as well as any new installations. The costs of adaptation to climate change can vary significantly depending on the type of reactor, the climate change issues affecting them, as well as the applicable regulations and standards. However, while these adaptation costs can, in some cases, be significant, the costs of inaction – both directly at the plant level and indirectly for the electricity system – are likely to be even higher.