Browse by: "2021"

In recent years Korea has stepped up efforts to reduce inequalities in recognition that a fairer economic model is also the most sustainable one. In order to support this new policy direction, the OECD has carried out novel analysis of inclusive growth building on its Framework for Policy Action, developed by the OECD to improve the prospects of the groups left behind. The Inclusive Growth Review of Korea applies, for the first time, the Framework at the national level. Using a dashboard of indicators, the Framework presents policy recommendations to sustain and more equitably share the gains of economic growth by investing in people left behind, supporting business dynamism and inclusive labour markets, and building efficient and responsive governments. In addition, the Inclusive Growth Review of Korea finds that digitalisation risks to compound the disparities of Korean labour markets, and calls for renewed efforts to reduce the lack of opportunities for up- and re-skilling of the working-age population (Chapter 2). To improve the business environment, Korea should address the unbalanced growth across sectors and firm size and unequal distribution of productivity gains across population groups (Chapter 3).

COVID-19 has put renewed focus on the importance of addressing longstanding challenges that OECD governments face in delivering public services, especially in regions with people spread over a wider area where economies of scale are more difficult to achieve. The physical infrastructure needed to provide good quality education and health services can be more complex and expensive in rural and remote regions that also struggle to attract and retain education and health care professionals. Acute ageing trends in many rural regions and, in some cases, a shrinking population will require sustainable policy responses that will need to be coherent with pressure to drive efficiencies in public spending. This report examines the nuances specific to the delivery of education and health care to people everywhere, offering recommendations on how to better adapt provision to the realities of today and the emerging realities of tomorrow to face the challenges of distance, demographic change and fiscal belt-tightening. The report also examines digital connectivity issues in rural and remote regions, recognising the significant scope for digital delivery of services to mitigate challenges related to distance. Finally, the report looks at governance issues, including fiscal issues, through which the delivery of these critical services is administered and paid for.

Masculinities can either support or hinder women’s empowerment and greater gender equality. However, a lack of consistent and comparable data hinders efforts to understand and assess harmful, restrictive masculinities. This report identifies and describes ten norms of restrictive masculinities to be urgently addressed within the political, economic and private spheres. Alongside these norms the report highlights gender-equitable alternatives, which support women’s empowerment in practice. By mapping available and ideal indicators, the report provides a roadmap for efforts to measure changing norms of masculinities. In doing so, this report aims to support policies to transform masculinities by facilitating the creation of more and better data on masculine norms.

The OECD series Making Integration Work summarises, in a non-technical way, the main issues surrounding the integration of immigrants and their children into their host countries. Each volume presents concrete policy lessons for its theme, along with supporting examples of good practices and comparisons of the migrant integration policy frameworks in different OECD countries. This fourth volume explores the integration of young people with migrant parents, a diverse and growing cohort of youth in the OECD area.

Dass LGBTI, d. h. Lesben, Schwule, Bisexuelle, Transgender und Intersexuelle, ihre Identität ausleben können, ohne diskriminiert oder angegriffen zu werden, ist weltweit ein Anliegen. Diskriminierung von LGBTI ist weiterhin allgegenwärtig und verursacht massive Kosten: Über Mobbing in der Schule verringert sie beispielsweise die Investitionen in die Kompetenzentwicklung. Außerdem reduziert sie die Wirt­schaftsleistung, da dadurch talentierte und qualifizierte Kräfte vom Arbeitsmarkt ausgeschlossen werden. Zudem beeinträchtigt sie die psychische und physische Gesundheit der Betroffenen und damit auch ihre Produktivität. Dieser Bericht bietet einen umfassenden Überblick darüber, inwieweit die Gleichstellung von Lesben, Schwulen, Bisexuellen, Transgender und Intersexuellen im OECD-Raum gesetzlich gesichert ist und mit welchen ergänzenden Maßnahmen ihre Rechte und Chancen gestärkt werden können. Dazu umreißt er zunächst den für die Gleichstellung sexueller und geschlechtlicher Minderheiten wesentlichen Rechtsrahmen in den Bereichen Bürgerrechte, Schutz vor Diskriminierung und Gewalt sowie Gesundheits­versorgung. Anschließend untersucht er, ob die entsprechenden Rechts­vorschriften in den OECD-Ländern in Kraft sind und wo noch Verbesserungsbedarf besteht. Das letzte Kapitel befasst sich schließlich mit allgemeineren Maßnahmen, die die gesetzlichen Bestimmungen zur Sicherung der Rechte und Chancen von LGBTI flankieren sollten.

Achieving gender equality and tackling discriminatory laws, social norms and practices set a direct path toward a more inclusive economy and society. The SIGI 2021 Regional Report for Southeast Asia provides new evidence-based analysis on the setbacks and progress in achieving gender equality between 2014 and 2019 in 11 countries. The report uncovers the discrimination women face within social institutions in various dimensions; in the family and household context, in relation to physical integrity and access to productive and financial resources, as well within the political and civil spheres. The SIGI 2021 Regional Report for Southeast Asia explores the interaction between women’s empowerment and discriminatory social institutions by looking specifically at four core areas – health, education, the economic dimension and decision making. It also unveils the cost of discriminatory social institutions for Southeast Asian countries and the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for women and girls. Building on the regional analysis of how discriminatory social institutions continue to hinder efforts toward SDG 5, the report provides a set of policy recommendations to enhance governments’ efforts to deliver on their gender equality commitments by 2030.

The first objective of this study is to provide open, reliable and comparable data and analysis on the scope, scale and diversity of domestic philanthropic flows in South Africa. South Africa is estimated to receive close to USD 138 million annually from international foundations. This makes the country the sixth largest recipient in developing countries for which data are available. However, current estimates do not consider funding from domestic foundations because information on domestic philanthropic giving is scarce (OECD, 2018[2]). The second objective is to provide an in-depth focus on domestic philanthropy’s support to gender equality. South Africa has made important advances towards gender equality in recent years, including a solid legal framework to work against structural obstacles to gender equality. However, persistent challenges remain in the unpaid care burden women face, gender-based violence and access to justice.

The focus of this study is two-fold; the first objective is to provide open, reliable and comparable data and analysis on the scope, scale and diversity of domestic philanthropic flows in Colombia. Colombia is estimated to receive close to USD 34.5 million annually from international foundations, but these figures do not consider funding from domestic foundations. Yet Colombia has a long-standing tradition of private philanthropy, which has become more organised over the past decade. The second objective is to provide an in-depth focus on domestic philanthropy’s support to gender equality, given that only a small proportion (less than 1%) of global philanthropic flows in developing countries directly addressed women’s needs like preventing violence or supporting women’s rights organisations (OECD, 2018[2]). Colombia has made important advances towards gender equality in recent years, and yet persistent challenges remain for women. These include the burden of providing unpaid care, gender-based violence and access to justice – all of which are experienced more severely by women in rural areas than by those in urban areas.

The OECD series Making Integration Work summarises, in a non-technical way, the main issues surrounding the integration of immigrants and their children into their host countries. Each volume presents concrete policy lessons for its theme, along with supporting examples of good practices and comparisons of the migrant integration policy frameworks in different OECD countries. This fifth volume explores the issue of language learning for adult migrants, addressing methods to ensure such training is provided in an efficient and effective way, taking into account migrants’ different starting points and circumstances.

The Arctic is a vital region that helps preserve the balance of the global climate. The Arctic environment is particularly sensitive to short-lived climate pollutants, including black carbon, due to their strong warming effect. With ambitious policy action to reduce air pollutants, Arctic Council countries would obtain a positive effect on health and the environment throughout their territory, while also helping to slow down climate change by reducing emissions of black carbon. This report calls for ambitious policy action to reduce air pollution in Arctic Council countries, highlighting the environmental, health, and economic benefits from policy action.

This joint study carried out by the OECD and UNHCR presents an overview of safe admission pathways used by persons of concern to UNHCR across specific population groups over the decade prior to the Covid crisis (2010-2019). The report shows an encouraging trend: over 1.5 million individuals arrived in OECD countries in the period, and the targets set in the Three-year Strategy for 2019 were met.

The report explores the role that inheritance taxation could play in raising revenues, addressing inequalities and improving efficiency in OECD countries. It provides background on the distribution and evolution of household wealth and inheritances, assesses the case for and against inheritance taxation drawing on existing theoretical and empirical literature, and examines the design of inheritance, estate and gift taxes in OECD countries. The report concludes with a number of reform options that governments could consider to improve the design and functioning of wealth transfer taxes.

One in three adults has engaged in binge drinking at least once in the previous month, and one in five teenagers has experienced drunkenness by age 15. Harmful patterns of alcohol consumption have far-reaching consequences for individuals, society and the economy. Using microsimulation modelling, this book analyses the cost of alcohol consumption in 52 countries (including OECD, European Union and G20 countries), showing how alcohol-related diseases reduce life expectancy, increase health care costs, decrease workers’ productivity and lower GDP. While recognising the importance of the alcohol industry in many countries, the report makes a strong economic case for enhancing policies to tackle harmful alcohol consumption.

Lobbying, as a way to influence and inform governments, has been part of democracy for at least two centuries, and remains a legitimate tool for influencing public policies. However, it carries risks of undue influence. Lobbying in the 21^st century has also become increasingly complex, including new tools for influencing government, such as social media, and a wide range of actors, such as NGOs, think tanks and foreign governments. This report takes stock of the progress that countries have made in implementing the OECD Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying. It reflects on new challenges and risks related to the many ways special interest groups attempt to influence public policies, and reviews tools adopted by governments to effectively safeguard impartiality and fairness in the public decision-making process.

Regional Integration in the Union for the Mediterranean: Progress Report monitors major trends and evolutions of integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Report examines five domains of regional integration, namely trade integration, financial integration, infrastructure integration, movement of people, as well as research and higher education. It presents an original analysis of the patterns and challenges of integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region, which highlights the interdependence of the areas examined – e.g. how to increase regional trade without affordable transport connectivity? The Report offers new insights, based on specific quantitative and qualitative performance indicators that are monitored over time. Almost 100 graphs and tables in the report cover data for the 42 member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean and, when relevant, for partners of the region. The Report includes key takeaways and policy recommendations on how to foster regional integration in each of the five domains.