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Despite the increasingly protracted nature of situations of forced displacement, development policy makers and practitioners have tended to overlook the longevity of displacement. Forced displacement has long been viewed primarily as an emergency humanitarian issue by providers of development co-operation and the focus of the international community has predominantly been on addressing the immediate protection and short-term humanitarian needs of forcibly displaced persons. However, with increasing levels of new and protracted displacement, and key commitments such as the 2030 Agenda, donors are looking at the role of development actors and financing in supporting sustainable and comprehensive solutions to forced displacement. This Guidance, therefore, provides a clear and practical introduction to the challenges faced in working in situations of forced displacement, and provides guidance to donor staff seeking to mainstream responses to forced displacement into development planning and co-operation. While recognising that donor policies and responses are constantly evolving, this guidance proposes that donors responding to these situations prioritise three broad areas of work, where they can best contribute to existing capacities at the national, regional and global levels. It also identifies twelve actions, grouped under four key principles, outlining what donors can do to reinforce the capacities of key actors to respond to refugees and Internally Displaced Persons at the national, regional and global levels, and to advance comprehensive solutions.

Kazakhstan has recorded impressive economic growth rates since its independence, driven mainly by export of commodities and high rate of energy use. These rates are not sustainable and are generating significant air pollution, in particular from industrial stationary sources. This is putting at risk the country’s development ambitions to become one of the top global economies by 2050 and converge towards OECD living standards. Building on OECD previous analysis, this publication shows that Kazakhstan’s environmental payments (environmentally related taxes, non-compliance penalties and compensation for damage regulation) for industrial air pollutants, as currently applied, impede energy efficiency and pollution abatement with heavy-handed non-compliance responses and focus on rising revenues. They also add to the cost of doing businesses in the country with limited environmental benefit. In the spirit of the Polluter-Pays Principle, much more reforms of regulation of environmental payments are needed. This report provides guidelines for reform drawing from air pollution regulations in OECD member countries and the results of the analysis of the system in Kazakhstan carried out by the OECD in close co-operation with the Government of Kazakhstan.

In many countries, public expenditure, including transfers, plays a major role in reducing income inequality. The report reviews the various ways that budgeting can be used to this end. A first includes taking a broad approach to results-based budgeting, taking social and distributional goals into consideration. A second relies on integrating distributional impact analysis directly into the budget process. The report discusses the concrete experience of eight OECD countries in this area, analysing how they are integrating distributional impact assessment in spending and budgeting decisions. Finally, it discusses the tools, frameworks and data that are needed to take distributional considerations into account as part of evidence-informed policy making.

Over the past few years, Canada and the United States have been experiencing an opioid crisis as a result of problematic opioid use fueled by the emergence of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and carfentanil. Problematic opioid use is also spreading in other OECD countries, due to the upward trend of prescription opioid use and the complexities of the illegal drug supply. This report presents evidence on the magnitude of problematic opioid use across OECD countries, describes the main drivers, and identifies a set of policy actions to address them. The report highlights the opioid crisis as a complex public health issue that requires a comprehensive approach across all sectors, including health, social services, and law enforcement. Strong health information systems are also needed, particularly data and research. Preventing problematic opioid use requires a combination of policies that ensure more information is provided to patients and health care practitioners, while providing access to appropriate pain management treatment for patients. A public health approach to problematic opioid use must incorporate socio-economic considerations (e.g. employment and housing), which also need to be addressed to prevent problematic substance use in general.

The financial and economic crisis had a devastating impact on bank profits, with loss-making banks reporting global commercial losses of around USD 400 billion in 2008.  This comprehensive report sets the market context for bank losses and provides an overview of the tax treatment of such losses in 17 OECD countries; describes the tax risks that arise in relation to bank losses from the perspective of both banks and revenue bodies; outlines the incentives that give rise to those risks; and describes the tools revenue bodies have to manage these potential compliance risks. It concludes with recommendations for revenue bodies and for banks on how risks involving bank losses can best be managed and reduced.

The cost estimation process of decommissioning nuclear facilities has continued to evolve in recent years, with a general trend towards demonstrating greater levels of detail in the estimate and more explicit consideration of uncertainties, the latter of which may have an impact on decommissioning project costs. The 2012 report on the International Structure for Decommissioning Costing (ISDC) of Nuclear Installations, a joint recommendation by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Commission, proposes a standardised structure of cost items for decommissioning projects that can be used either directly for the production of cost estimates or for mapping of cost items for benchmarking purposes. The ISDC, however, provides only limited guidance on the treatment of uncertainty when preparing cost estimates. Addressing Uncertainties in Cost Estimates for Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities, prepared jointly by the NEA and IAEA, is intended to complement the ISDC, assisting cost estimators and reviewers in systematically addressing uncertainties in decommissioning cost estimates. Based on experiences gained in participating countries and projects, the report describes how uncertainty and risks can be analysed and incorporated in decommissioning cost estimates, while presenting the outcomes in a transparent manner.

This policy paper sheds light on the type of investments that can maximise social returns and help bridge territorial gaps in access to services. It starts by explaining why it is challenging to balance proximity and cost-efficiency in service provision while maintaining quality across territories, highlighting the key role of subnational governments in providing education and health services. It then assesses the extent of territorial inequalities in access to basic education and health care services in G20 countries based on a comprehensive review of the evidence available. Finally, the report reflects on future needs based on demographic projections and offers two main implications for the future of infrastructure investment: 1) the need to tailor strategic and flexible investments to different demographic realities; and 2) the need to support quality infrastructure investment by subnational governments.

Drawing on the OECD’s expertise in comparing country experiences and identifying best practices, this book tailors the OECD’s policy advice to the specific and timely priorities of Germany and the Euro Area, focusing on how their governments can make reform happen.
 

The Workshop held by OECD in October 2003, in Paris, France, brought together leading experts to take stock of “the state of the art" on the economics of waste and to help select topics on which the OECD could usefully do additional work. The book comprises the Workshop papers by leading experts.

The spread of the digital economy poses challenges for international taxation. This report sets out an analysis of these tax challenges. It notes that because the digital economy is increasingly becoming the economy itself, it would not be feasible to ring-fence the digital economy from the rest of the economy for tax purposes. The report notes, however, that certain business models and key features of the digital economy may exacerbate BEPS risks. These BEPS risks will be addressed by the work on the other Actions in the BEPS Action Plan, which will take the relevant features of the digital economy into account. The report also analyses a number of broader tax challenges raised by the digital economy, and discusses potential options to address them, noting the need for further work during 2015 to evaluate these broader challenges and potential options.

The spread of the digital economy poses challenges for international taxation. This report sets out an analysis of these tax challenges.  It notes that because the digital economy is increasingly becoming the economy itself, it would not be feasible to ring-fence the digital economy from the rest of the economy for tax purposes. The report notes, however, that certain business models and key features of the digital economy may exacerbate BEPS risks, and shows the expected impact of measures developed across the BEPS Project on these risks.  The report also describes rules and implementation mechanisms to enable efficient collection of value-added tax (VAT) in the country of the consumer in cross-border business-to-consumer transactions, which will help level the playing field between foreign and domestic suppliers. The report also discusses and analyses options to deal with the broader tax challenges raised by the digital economy, noting the need for monitoring developments in the digital economy over time.

This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD)  provides information on the sources, use patterns, and potential release pathways of chemicals used in the adhesive formulation industry. The document presents standard approaches for estimating the environmental releases of and occupational exposures to additives and components used in adhesive formulations. These approaches are intended to provide conservative, screening-level
estimates resulting in release and exposure amounts that are likely to be higher, or at least higher than average, than amounts that might actually occur in the real world setting.
 

This book brings together two studies both related to the very important issue of land: it examines the way in which agricultural and other policies affect how it changes hands, its value and use patterns. The first study looks at policies affecting farmland mobility and calls for an easing of regulations to allow the agricultural sector to be more responsive to market forces. The second study shows that agricultural support is often capitalised into land and other asset values. As a result there is strong resistance to policy reform, entry into the agricultural sector is difficult and the recipients of benefits are not always those intended when the policies were put in place.

This report assesses the impact on citizens and businesses of the administrative simplification measures carried out by the Mexican Social Security Institute. Administrative burdens are measured in the time it takes citizens and businesses to complete forms and wait in line to request or deliver information to the government. Using an adaptation of the Standard Cost Model, this report finds that such burdens for users have decreased by at least 25% thanks to the simplification and digitalisation of administrative formalities. It also suggests how the Institute could reduce burdens even further. By promoting the use of online formalities, IMSS could reduce administrative burdens by an additional 11%.

Cutting red tape and improving business conditions have become a priority in OECD countries. This study of the Netherlands, one of the front runners in the field, is the first OECD review of a national programme for administrative simplification. The report describes the key features of the Dutch programme including the measurement of burdens, the use of incentives and targets, and whole-of-government co-ordination. The OECD assessment of the success of the Dutch programme is based on comparisons with other countries, and on evidence of the economic impact of reforms. The report explores options for future work on administrative simplification relevant to OECD countries, highlighting the need to communicate better with stakeholders, cover compliance costs for business more broadly, and look at burdens on citizens and administrations.

About one in ten young people in Australia are neither in employment, education or training (NEET), a factor that may lower their long-term economic prospects and threaten their well-being. Individuals who did not graduate from upper secondary education, who have health limitations, or who are Indigenous are over-represented in this group. Preventative policies and interventions targeted at adolescents in their early- to mid-teens can reduce the share of young people out of employment, education and training. This report explores what is known about the potential preventative impact of educational and pre-employment interventions on later NEET status and presents a range of policies and initiatives from across the OECD that can reduce the NEET probability among key at-risk populations. The report covers interventions to prevent early school leaving and to promote student engagement and motivation; to strengthen career education, career guidance and employer engagement; and to improve the perception of the vocational education and training (VET) system and the learning of VET students. The report also provides recommendations on improving the monitoring and evaluation of youth policies in general and policies to keep young people in employment, education and training in particular.

Food insecurity and malnutrition are major international concerns, especially in rural areas. At the global scale, they have received considerable attention and investment, but the results achieved so far have been mixed. Some countries have made progress at the national level, but still have many citizens who are food insecure, often concentrated in specific geographic areas. Food insecurity and poverty are highly interlinked and have a strong territorial dimension. To provide effective long-term solutions, policy responses must therefore be tailored to the specific challenges of each territory, taking into account a multidimensional response that includes food availability, access, utilisation and stability. This report highlights five case studies and the OECD New Rural Paradigm, presenting an effective framework for addressing food insecurity and malnutrition.