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Women in Business 2014 summarises the progress made by the OECD-MENA Women Business Forum (WBF) since the publication of its first Women in Business report in 2012. In 2012, five groups of actions had been identified as priorities to be carried out by governments, international stakeholders, financial and business support organisations, as well as statistical agencies. In two years, the WBF has developed inputs for three of these areas of priority actions. The WBF’s contributions are growing along with its increased recognition as a hub which spurs concrete improvements in the business climate for women entrepreneurs in the MENA region.
Today, women’s entrepreneurship is all the more important as governments in the region are facing the colossal challenge of rebooting job creation to improve the well-being of a growing workforce and confidence in the economy. The economic prospects of MENA economies that are going through a political transition have improved but unemployment has increased, inflation is rising and public finances have deteriorated. In these countries, political uncertainties add to long term structural difficulties. In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the challenges still lie in the diversification of their economies.
This publication provides an overview of approaches and measures in MENA-OECD Investment Programme economies to promote, support and advance women's entrepreneurship development in the Middle East and North Africa. It covers such issues as access to credit and business development services and information and information on data collection and research on women entrepreneurs in the MENA area.
Women at Work in G20 countries: Policy action since 2020. Paper prepared for the 2nd Meeting of the G20 Employment Working Group under Italy’s Presidency 2021
Women make a significant contribution to West Africa's food economy, perpetuating a long tradition of commerce and participating in cross-border trade and regional outreach. Their activities face numerous obstacles but also present important opportunities, highlighted in this report through an unprecedented relational and spatial analysis of social networks. The study focuses on the rice sector in the Dendi region (Benin, Niger and Nigeria) and on the regional governance networks that support women's entrepreneurship. It confirms that Nigeria occupies a privileged position due to its demographics and growing urbanisation. The report proposes the development of innovative public policies based on the reinforcement of the social capital of women and policy approaches that promote better integration of the initiatives undertaken by governments, international and non-governmental organisations to empower women and strengthen their resilience.
Gender equality in terms of economic and financial opportunities is becoming increasingly relevant at both national and international level. The need to address the financial literacy of women and girls as a way to improve their financial empowerment, opportunities, and well-being has been acknowledged by the G20 Leader’s Declaration in June 2012, as well as part of a wider horizontal OECD project on gender equality. The OECD International Network on Financial Education (INFE) established a dedicated workstream in 2010 to address the needs of women for financial education under the support of the Russia/World Bank/OECD Trust Fund for financial literacy and education.
This book collects the work carried out within this workstream, including policy guidance to help policy makers address women's and girls' needs for financial education, and a comprehensive analysis of the current status of knowledge on gender differences in financial literacy and policy responses in terms of financial education for women and girls.
In the current era of globalisation, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are recognised as major players in innovation and job creation. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is no longer a male preserve: although few women can be found at the head of large companies, an increasing number are taking up the challenge of creating and managing their own businesses.
This conference proceedings explores the phenomenon of women entrepreneurs in small and medium entreprises, examining such issues as governmental support, networks, doing business overseas, starting businesses, and financing.
The first OECD Conference on Women Entrepreneurs in SMEs in 1997 highlighted their contribution to innovation and job creation. Since that time, women’s entrepreneurship has been burgeoning. Women entrepreneurs constitute a growing share of SME owners, with higher than average start-up rates in several OECD Member and non-member countries. Eliminating obstacles to the creation and development of firms by women and creating a level playing field for women business owners is vital for a thriving entrepreneurial sector and important for national growth strategies. Women business owners are creating new niches for entrepreneurial activity and have the potential to become key players in the new, knowledge-based economy. However, they must adapt to profound changes in the way small enterprises do business, both locally and at the global level. The 2000 Conference aimed at finding ways to help women-owned SMEs seize the opportunities offered by globalisation, ICTs, changes in firm organisation, the increasing importance of the service sector, and other current developments. Cette publication est tirée de la conférence de l'OCDE sur « Les femmes entrepreneurs à la tête de PME : pour une participation dynamique à la mondialisation et à l'économie fondée sur le savoir ». Les lecteurs de langue française y trouveront une synthèse en français des présentations, discussions et conclusions de la conférence.
This brochure is published within the framework of the activities of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables set up by OECD in 1962. It comprises comments and illustrations to facilitate the common interpretation of standards in force and is therefore a valuable tool for both the Inspection Authorities and professional bodies responsible for the application of standards or interested in the international trade in these products.
This information note has been prepared by the Forum on Tax Administration to assist revenue bodies advance their thinking on the use of legislated withholding and information reporting regimes for obtaining improved compliance in respect of business income derived by SME/ self-employed taxpayers.
The IEA Wind Power Technology Roadmap 2013 Edition recognises the very significant progress made since the first edition was published in 2009. The technology continues to improve rapidly, and costs of generation from land-based wind installations continue to fall. Wind power is now being deployed in countries with good resources without any dedicated financial incentives.
The 2013 Edition targets an increased share (15% to 18%) of global electricity to be provided by wind power in 2050, compared to 12% in the original roadmap of 2009. However, increasing levels of low-cost wind still require predictable, supportive regulatory environments and appropriate market designs. The challenges of integrating higher levels of variable wind power into the grid need to be addressed. For offshore wind, much remains to be done to develop appropriate large-scale systems and to reduce costs.
The 2013 Wind Power Roadmap also provides updated analysis on the barriers that exist for the technology and suggests ways to address them, including legal and regulatory recommendations.
Wind energy is perhaps the most advanced of the “new” renewable energy technologies, but there is still much work to be done. This energy technology roadmap identifies the key tasks that must be undertaken in order to achieve a vision of over 2 000 GW of wind energy capacity by 2050. Governments, industry, research institutions and the wider energy sector will need to work together to achieve this goal.
“Too much ‘red tape’!” is one of the most common complaints from businesses and citizens in OECD countries. Administrative simplification is a regulatory quality tool to review and reduce administrative and regulatory procedures. It has remained high on the agenda in most OECD countries over the last decade and continues to be so. Countries’ efforts to strengthen their competitiveness, productivity and entrepreneurship during the current recession have made simplification efforts even more urgent.
Until now, efforts to reduce administrative burdens have primarily been driven by ambitions to improve the cost efficiency of administrative regulations, as these impose direct and indirect costs on regulated subjects. Many countries will finish their current projects over the next few years and must decide how to continue their efforts and how to make them more efficient.
This report looks beyond 2010 and presents policy options for administrative simplification that are in line with current trends and developments. It provides policy makers with guidance on the available tools and explains common mistakes to be avoided when designing, undertaking and evaluating administrative simplification programmes.
Why Fish Piracy Persists: The Economics of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing focuses on the economic, environmental and social aspects of fish piracy and identifies the forces that drive this activity. Based on data from a workshop of around 120 experts, as well as analytical documents developed for this study, this book presents the most systematic and consolidated information to date in order to assess measures already in place and to propose new solutions.
This report looks at the demand for counterfeit goods and identifies its key drivers. It discusses the specificity of the demand for counterfeit goods, including both deliberate and unintentional demand. Indeed, some consumers will deliberately buy counterfeit and pirated goods while others will be deceived into buying illicit products, thinking they are genuine. The report also examines the profiles of destination economies in the global trade of counterfeit and pirated goods. It uses quantitative analysis to study the economic characteristics of various economies, including the quantitative relationship between counterfeit intensity and certain observable socioeconomic factors. The identification of socio-economic factors, in particular, influencing the demand for counterfeit and pirated goods is crucial to help policymakers develop appropriate policies, including better targeting of consumer awareness campaigns.
This study provides an in-depth exploration of a series of factors that can explain a country’s propensity to export fake goods. The analysis explores the role and interplay of macroeconomic factors, governance variables, and the presence of Free Trade Zones, logistics facilities and trade facilitation. In addition, it analyses the role corrruption and enforcement of IP play in facilitating trade in counterfeit products, and provides data on these links.
This report provides an explanation of DeFi and its applications and then describes the evolution of DeFi markets to date. It explores the benefits and risks of DeFi and the DeFi/CeFi intersection and puts forward policy considerations.
In today's dynamic and rapidly evolving world, evidence-informed decision-making has emerged as a cornerstone in guiding effective education policy and practice. In particular, creating a culture of research engagement is often highlighted as a key ingredient to strengthening the impact of research. However, it is not always clear how that works in practice.
The publication provides analyses of data collected from more than 30 education systems. It delves into how systemic and organisational capacity for thoughtful engagement with research can be built into policy and practice. It also contains concrete examples of building a culture of research engagement by presenting diverse case studies, analyses, tools and processes. It is intended as a practical resource for policy makers, educational leaders, teachers and the research community to stimulate reflection and guide their efforts to developing a culture of research engagement in education.
This report presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive cross-country assessment of long-term care (LTC) workers, the tasks they perform and the policies to address shortages in OECD countries. It highlights the importance of improving working conditions in the sector and making care work more attractive and shows that there is space to increase productivity by enhancing the use of technology, providing a better use of skills and investing in prevention.
Population ageing has outpaced the growth of workers in the long-term care (LTC) sector and the sector struggles with attracting and retaining enough workers to care for those dependent on others for care. Non-standard work is widespread, pay levels tend to be lower than similar-qualification jobs in other health sectors, and LTC workers experience more health problems than other health workers. Further, educational requirements tend to be insufficient to perform more demanding and growing tasks of LTC. With growing demand for care at home, better co-ordination between the health and long-term care sectors and between formal and informal careers is needed.
Across the OECD, enormous effort and investment has been made to reinforce the quality, production and use of education research in policy and practice. Despite this, using research in education remains a challenge for many countries and systems. The OECD launched the Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project to respond to this challenge.
This publication reports on the first phase of the project. It maps the various structures, processes, actors and relationships that reinforce the quality, production and use of education research in policy and practice. The publication brings together leading experts who provide insights into recent research and international experience gathered from both policy and practice, including from other sectors such as health, agriculture and environment.
The publication provides a first set of analyses of data collected from over 30 systems through an OECD survey. It describes the mechanisms used to facilitate research use in education policy and practice, and the levels of engagement of various actors in these processes. By mapping the drivers of, and barriers to, using research systematically and at scale, the publication sets out an agenda for future inquiry. It can be a resource for policy makers, educational leaders, teachers and the research community.