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This Round Table examines the design and location of interchange facilities and feeder services. The development of mathematical models to predict the effects of such schemes is described and some more general problems of integrating the evaluation of interchange schemes in an urban planning context are discussed.
The first report outlines the reasons why international tax avoidance and evasion through the use of tax havens is a concern to the tax authorities of OECD Member countries and examines measures introduced to combat such use. The second report sets out the problems posed for tax administrations by the fact that their resident taxpayers make use of base companies (generally subsidiary companies) in tax havens to shelter there income derived from source countries (which may in some cases be the residence country itself) and in that way to escape tax normally payable to the country of residence. The third report deals with the problems created for tax authorities in source countries by the mechanism of "treaty shopping". The final report deals with taxation and the abuse of bank secrecy.
The perspective of pan-European integration places interurban freight and passenger transport alike in key positions in our economies. However related factors -- accidents, the many disamenities, wasted energy, etc. -- make the overall cost of such transport extremely high. Because the international division of labour necessarily leads to heavier traffic flows, detailed analyses of the cost of long-distance transport are essential. Examining the economic and policy issues involved a must. {Round Table 98} gives a clearer picture of the whole range of interurban transport problems. It provides both theoretical analyses and specific case studies, and explores such fundamental matters as the actual social utility of transport.
In the context of major public sector reform efforts in many OECD countries, increasing attention is being focused on the people-side of the reform equation -- the human resource management policies and practices available to public sector managers to shape and direct the workforce to achieve new organisational goals. The experiences of OECD countries show, however, that improving individual policies and practices is only part of the reform equation. The key factor lies in integrating human resource management with the core business of the public service -- the outcome and output goals of individual departments and agencies -- and in doing so, ensuring that effective management of people is recognised as an indispensable ingredient for accomplishing the business of government. Using surveys and selected country case studies, this monograph identifies the factors driving human resource management reforms in the national public administrations of OECD countries. In offering the lessons drawn from these wide-ranging experiences to the attention of policy makers and practitioners, it identifies promising reform strategies for ensuring that human resource management policies evolve in ways consistent with broader public management reforms aimed at building more productive, performance-oriented and responsive public services.
This specialised Directory provides information on over 1 700 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) active in the field of habitat and urban development. NGO profiles include their aims, education work and activities in developing contries. Cross-referenced indexes facilitate access to information on "who is doing what and where" in this field.
The Directory is a unique and comprehensive guide for development practitioners and planners, as well as for those interested in habitat issues. This Directory is the latest in a series of OECD Development Centre directories on the development activities of NGOs based in OECD Member countries. It is published in the wake of the June 1996 United Nations Conference on Human Settlements- Habitat II.
This publication is the fruit of collaboration between four partners: in Nairobi, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements-Habitat (UNCHS-Habitat), in Geneva, the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS), and in Paris, the Research and Technology Exchange Group (GRET) and the OECD Development Centre. The Habitat International Coalition (HIC), based in Mexico, was also associated with the project.
This annual publication provides statistical tables showing steel production, consumption and trade data, as well as other indicators of activity such as employment levels, annual investment expenditures by sector and by country, export prices, domestic prices and indices for certain iron and steel products. Information is included for OECD countries, certain Central and Eastern European countries, and certain New Independent States.
Substantial amounts of money continue to be spent in OECD Member countries on measures to support agricultural, energy, transportation and industrial activities. Many of these support measures encourage the emission of environmentally-harmful pollutants, the generation of waste, and the excessive use of natural resources, and constitute a large drain on government budgets. In addition, much of the money spent on support may not reach the intended recipients as it can leak away to other sectors of the economy instead. As such, it is likely that the reform or removal of these subsidies could lead to "win-win" benefits through increased economic efficiency, reduced government spending and improved environmental quality.
Building on the vast literature on the subject as well as on the available statistical data on subsidies, this publication summarises the results of an OECD study on how economic support measures actually affect the economy and, as a result, the environment. Although the effects of a given support measure on the environment will be determined by a number of different factors, this study finds that releasing market forces through support removal and increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of regulations can lead to significant environmental benefits.
The report develops an analytical framework which enables policy makers to identify those support measures whose removal is most likely to lead to "win-win" benefits. It also offers recommendations to implementing reductions in environmentally-harmful subsidies -- especially those that run counter to environmental objectives that are shared by OECD Member countries -- and to overcome the often exaggerated fear of a loss in competitiveness.
Distressed urban areas threaten social cohesion in urban regions, the very centre of our economies. This problem can be traced to no single cause; rather it represents a combination of environmental, economic, social and cultural circumstances that take spatial form in different parts of inner cities and suburbs.
Traditional policies have not succeeded in halting the downward spiral that effects these areas because they were unable to address the complex and area-based nature of the problem at the local level. The aim of this study is to describe this phenomenon and analyse policies implemented in OECD countries, so as to come up with multisectoral policies that are better suited to the problems they have to address.
Policy objectives include attracting investment, creating jobs, rebuilding sound economic and social foundations and, more generally, combatting the isolation from which distressed urban areas suffer. Different levels of government, civic society and the private sector all have roles to play. There is an urgent need for integrative policies based on reinforcement of the local dimension and on partnerships that bring all the actors together.
Since 1991, the Latvian Government has conscientiously instituted a number of reforms which led to an increase in the level of foreign investment. Over 1996, foreign investment rose by 60 per cent, and foreign direct investment stocks amounted to US$ 269 per capita at the start of 1997. This places Latvia among the region's leaders in terms of its ability to attract foreign investment. The Government must, however, continue to improve the business environment. The Investment Guide for Latvia has been prepared with three objectives in mind : firstly, to identify those areas of economic activity which present opportunities for foreign investors; secondly, to provide the investor with comprehensive information relating to the historical, political, economic, financial and legal framework, essential for sound and secured foreign investment; thirdly, to draw on the experiences of the foreign investors in Latvia, and to conclude with an assessment of the business, investment and regulatory environment. This assessment will focus on areas within the legal framework and structure which need greater transparency, predictability and efficiency.
Rapid economic and social change in both inner cities and suburbs has created new challenges for the integration of immigrants and their descendants. What is the role of immigration in urban development and neighbourhood change? What are the impacts of urban change on immigrants and their chances of integration? The history of urban development and the characteristics of immigrant populations -- size, origins, the range of groups represented and their history, length of residence and civic status -- vary across countries. The process of integration may thus vary considerably at different times and for different immigrant groups.
This publication analyses in detail the nature and content of policies being implemented to promote the integration of immigrants in urban areas. It examines how the changing socio-economic context in cities may affect immigrants and the advantages and disadvantages of urban concentrations of immigrants, drawing on examples from cities in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. It also highlights the importance of associating not only immigrants and key local actors, but the concerned wider population as well, in defining and implementing urban development and integration policies.