Browse by: "2023"

Global education systems face an array of huge challenges, including question marks over how to remain relevant in a fast-changing world. This report Teaching for the Future: Global Engagement, Sustainability and Digital Skills outlines the challenges and key trends for teaching and schools, and sets out ambitious proposals to improve education standards to ensure learning caters to the needs of all students regardless of background. The report was used as the basis to launch discussions about the state of global education at the International Summit on the Teaching Profession held in Washington D.C., April 2023. The summit brought together education ministers, union leaders and other representatives from the teaching profession from high-performing and improving education systems to review the quality of teaching and learning across the world. Topics discussed included the future of learning and ways to radically reimagine how education systems function in the decades to come; analysis of how to attract and support the development of high-quality teachers and teaching practices in the age of digitalisation; and ways to support the teaching of global competencies in schools, and how to promote equitable and inclusive learning environments for all.

This annual publication provides details of taxes paid on wages in OECD countries. This year’s edition focuses on the impact of recent inflation on labour taxation in the OECD and how countries adjust their tax systems in response. For the year 2022, the report also examines personal income taxes and social security contributions paid by employees, social security contributions and payroll taxes paid by employers, and cash benefits received by workers. It illustrates how these taxes and benefits are calculated in each member country and examines how they impact household incomes. The results also enable quantitative cross-country comparisons of labour cost levels and the overall tax and benefit position of single persons and families on different levels of earnings. The publication shows average and marginal effective tax rates on labour costs for eight different household types, which vary by income level and household composition (single persons, single parents, one or two earner couples with or without children). The average tax rates measure the part of gross wage earnings or labour costs taken in tax and social security contributions, both before and after cash benefits, and the marginal tax rates the part of a small increase of gross earnings or labour costs that is paid in these levies.

This is the eighth edition of Tax Policy Reforms: OECD and Selected Partner Economies, an annual publication that provides comparative information on tax reforms across countries and tracks tax policy developments over time. The report covers the tax policy reforms introduced or announced in 2022 in 75 member jurisdictions of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, including all OECD countries. The publication provides an overview of the macroeconomic environment and tax revenue context in which these tax reforms were made, highlighting how governments used tax policy to respond to elevated inflation levels, as well as to address long-run structural challenges.

A key part of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project is addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. In October 2021, over 135 jurisdictions joined a ground-breaking plan – the Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy – to update key elements of the international tax system which is no longer fit for purpose in a globalised and digitalised economy. The Global anti-Base Erosion Rules and the Subject to Tax Rule (STTR) are key components of Pillar Two of this plan and ensure multinational enterprises pay a minimum level of tax on the income arising in each of the jurisdictions where they operate. More specifically, the STTR is a treaty-based rule that protects the right of developing Inclusive Framework members to tax certain intra-group payments, where these are subject to a nominal corporate income tax that is below the minimum rate. This report contains the model treaty provision to give effect to the STTR, together with an accompanying commentary explaining the purpose and operation of the STTR.

This report is the eleventh edition of the OECD's Tax Administration Series. It provides internationally comparative data on aspects of tax systems and their administration in 58 advanced and emerging economies. The report is intended to inform and inspire tax administrations as they consider their future operations, as well as to provide information on global tax administration trends and performance for stakeholders and policy makers. The report is structured around nine chapters that examine the performance of tax administration systems, using an extensive data set and a variety of examples to highlight recent innovations and successful practices. This edition also contains an additional chapter that explores progress on the digital transformation of tax administrations. The underlying data for this report comes from the International Survey on Revenue Administration and the Inventory of Tax Technology Initiatives.

This report provides a global assessment and outlook on wildfire risk in the context of climate change. It discusses the drivers behind the growing incidence of extreme wildfires and the attribution effect of climate change. It outlines the environmental, social and economic impacts of wildfires by illustrating the losses and costs observed during recent extreme wildfire events. Building on this, the report presents the findings of a cross-country comparative analysis of how countries’ policies and practices have evolved in recent years in light of observed and projected changes in wildfire risk. The analysis draws on in-depth case studies conducted in Australia, Costa Rica, Greece, Portugal and the United States. The report underlines the urgent need for governments to scale up climate change adaptation efforts to limit future wildfire costs.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a large and dynamic regional economic community (REC) with the second highest level of regional integration among all African RECs. It has also been at the forefront of regional investment policymaking in Africa, with the Finance and Investment Protocol, the Investment Policy Framework, and the SADC Model Bilateral Investment Treaty. However, like much of Africa, SADC faces difficulties in attracting foreign direct investment which can contribute to sustainable development in the region. This report introduces newly developed OECD tools and analysis to the SADC region, including both FDI Qualities and a database on investment incentives. It is designed as a baseline diagnostic to explore ways to reinvigorate the reform of the SADC investment climate in order to prepare the region for the African Continental Free Trade Area, while also focusing on how to improve sustainable outcomes from investment. The report explores the national regulatory framework encapsulated in national investment laws and how this compares with initiatives at a regional level, investment promotion and facilitation in SADC, investment incentives, investment for green growth and responsible business conduct.

In recent years, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has evolved to become a leading approach for investors seeking to pursue forms of sustainable finance. This report takes stock of the major trends and current state of the ESG and climate-aligned investing in Asia and provides policy considerations to strengthen ESG investing and to help finance the climate transition.

This report serves to support the development of Latin America’s legal and regulatory frameworks for sustainability disclosure, the responsibilities of company boards and shareholder rights. The report presents the results of two OECD surveys on sustainability practices of listed companies and asset managers in the region. It also draws upon an OECD dataset on the current trends and features of corporate sustainability at the global level.

This report provides an overview of the current sustainability disclosure policies and practices, the responsibilities of company boards and shareholder rights in Asia. The report also presents current trends in corporate sustainability globally and in Asia based on the OECD Corporate Sustainability dataset. Importantly, climate change is one of the most critical sustainability matters currently facing companies in most Asian jurisdictions where companies that account for two-thirds of total market capitalisation are experiencing climate change related financial risks.

Many OECD governments regularly identify violence against women as the top gender equality issue their country faces. Yet in all countries, addressing this multifaceted issue presents serious governance and implementation challenges as victims/survivors have complex needs both during and after experiences of violence. Different service delivery providers such as health, justice, housing and social protection must work together seamlessly – across governmental and non-governmental providers – to provide an effective response. This report presents a stocktaking of OECD governments’ efforts to integrate service delivery to address the most prevalent form of gender-based violence against women: intimate partner violence. It presents an overview of different strategies for coordinating key services commonly offered in OECD countries: healthcare, justice, housing, child services, income support, and preventative programmes to stop the reoccurrence of violence. Based on extensive feedback from 35 out of 38 OECD countries and a consultation with non-governmental service providers, this report identifies best practices and investigates the barriers to resolving one of the most pressing human rights issues in OECD countries today.

The assessment report explores the innovative capacity of the Latvian public sector to understand how innovation can be better supported and leveraged to improve the public sector's effectiveness and impact. It provides an evidence base for the development of a public sector innovation strategy and action plan.

This report examines the innovative capacity of the public sector of Romania, exploring opportunities for the public sector to work in new and novel ways to improve outcomes. It assesses the current innovative capacity and suggests paths forward to enhance capacity. The report provides foundational evidence for the creation of an action plan to enhance the public sector’s capacity to innovate for impact.

Upper secondary education in Lithuania stands out internationally with one of the highest attainment rates across OECD countries. Yet the country and its young people receive relatively modest returns in terms of learning outcomes for the country's high rates of upper secondary completion. To address this issue, Lithuania is currently undertaking a series of reforms at the upper secondary education level. This report explores how Lithuania, and its young people can achieve higher returns on its investment in upper secondary education and provides Lithuania with policy recommendations to help improve it by strengthening vocational education pathways and by consolidating upper secondary certification.

This report assesses Romania’s efforts to strengthen its integrity and anti-corruption system. It looks at the achievements of the 2021-2025 National Anticorruption Strategy (NAS) as well as the challenges that remain, including addressing structural issues such as political engagement, the role and placement of ethics offices and the design and review of integrity plans. The report provides recommendations for mainstreaming central government integrity policies into practical and concrete actions at the sectoral level, with a view to improving implementation of the 2021-2025 NAS as well as future strategies.

The behaviours of both top- and middle-level managers matter for promoting open organisational cultures, mitigating integrity risks and fostering ethical behaviour by their staff. This report examines key issues around integrity leadership in Brazil’s federal public administration, based on an extensive survey of senior public officials. Informed and inspired by behavioural insights, it provides concrete recommendations for strengthening integrity leadership in Brazil.