Slow economic growth is a serious problem for some of the world’s largest advanced economies, the Great Recession contributing to the slowdown for several regions. Australia’s economic slowdown, however, was small in contrast to that suffered by other advanced economies as a result of the global recession. With an average 2.72 percent GDP growth over the…

The Brown Center Chalkboard recently published an important article on a little-appreciated crisis in our public schools: The chronic teacher absenteeism that costs public schools billions of dollars and millions of hours of effective teaching and lost learning each year. The article reported that, on average, 29% of teachers in the 2015-16 school year were…

executive summary We make use of matched birth-school administrative data from Florida, coupled with an extensive survey of instructional policies and practices, to observe which policies and practices are associated with improved test performance for relatively advantaged students in a school, for relatively disadvantaged students in a school, for both, and for neither.  We consider…

Countries around the world are reeling from the health threat and economic and financial fallout from COVID-19. Legislatures are responding with massive relief programs. Central banks have lowered interest rates and opened lender-of-last-resort spigots to support the flow of credit and maintain financial market functioning. Authorities are also deploying macroprudential policies, many of them developed…

On Feb. 25, 2020, Rashawn Ray, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at The Brookings Institution, testified before Congress's Joint Economic Committee in a hearing titled “Improving Family Stability for the Wellbeing of American Children.” Ray used his testimony to brief lawmakers on the recent trends in family formation and stability, the best ways to interpret…

Tanzania, Kenya, and UNECA enact environment-positive policies and programs On Saturday, June 1, Tanzania’s ban on plastic bags went into effect. According to The Citizen, the new law targets the “import, export, manufacturing, sale, storage, supply, and use of plastic carrier bags regardless of their thickness” on the Tanzanian mainland. The law also bans the…

It is a great pleasure to speak to you today, at this event sponsored by Taipei Forum.1 I’m deeply grateful to my Columbia tongxue Su Chi for inviting me. It’s wonderful to see so many long-time friends. Thank you for coming today. I just arrived in Taipei yesterday evening. I am pretty confident that I…

SUMMARY Christopher Avery, Jessica Howell, Matea Pender, and Bruce Sacerdote, analyze state policies to increase four-year college completion rates, concluding that increased spending at all public colleges and targeted elimination of tuition and fees at four-year public colleges for income-eligible students are the most cost-effective options, while free community college is the least effective—finding it…

Traffic congestion is essentially a regional phenomenon requiring regional approaches to mitigate its impacts. This brief examines the governance options necessary to act regionally and the conditions required to implement such policies. Currently, the reauthorization of the federal transportation spending bill (TEA-21) presents a unique opportunity to build on previous reforms and increase the decision-making…

On April 28, the Middle East Youth Initiative and Silatech discussed a new report titled “Social Entrepreneurship in the Middle East: Toward Sustainable Development for the Next Generation.” The report is the first in-depth study of its kind addressing the state of social entrepreneurship and social investment in the Middle East and its potential for the…

World leaders are deliberating when and how to re-open business operations amidst considerable uncertainty as to the economic consequences of the coronavirus. One pressing question is whether or not countries that have remained relatively open have managed to escape at least some of the economic harm, and whether that harm is related to the spread…

Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States, killing more than 480,000 Americans each year and incurring over $300 billion per year in costs for direct medical care and lost productivity. In addition, of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. in 2016, 35% were menthol cigarettes, which…

Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States, killing more than 480,000 Americans each year and incurring over $300 billion per year in costs for direct medical care and lost productivity. In addition, of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. in 2016, 35% were menthol cigarettes, which…

In September, the Energy Security and Climate Initiative (ESCI) at Brookings held the third meeting of its Coal Task Force (CTF), during which participants discussed the dynamics of three carbon policy instruments: performance standards, cap and trade, and a carbon tax. The dialogue revolved around lessons learned from implementing these policy mechanisms, especially as they…

It's a sign of quality when companies are willing to stand by the goods they sell.

The U.N. just came up with some climate change solutions, and none of them are "expect techy solutions to pull us out."

But Amazon has some work to do.

The Slovak Republic is one of the most dynamic economies in the euro area. The country has continued to converge rapidly towards the living standards of advanced OECD economies. However, the Slovak Republic should continue on its path of reform to achieve balanced, fair and sustainable growth, according to a new OECD report.

This report was prepared by the Educational Policy Institute, Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, as an input to the OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools (School Resources Review).

The family-friendly policies introduced by Nordic countries over the past 50 years and associated increases in female employment have boosted growth in GDP per capita by between 10% and 20%, according to a new OECD report.

Drawing on experiences in OECD countries and in our key partners, this report presents an OECD view of major policy challenges in Russia, including the fiscal framework, financial sector, competition, business climate, governance of public enterprises, innovation, trade, social policies, employment, education, health, energy, agriculture and green policies.

Cities can generate growth and jobs while becoming greener – this is the message of the OECD’s new Green Growth in Cities report. Drawing on case studies of Paris, Chicago, Kitakyushu and Stockholm, the report identifies green policies that can respond to urban growth priorities and suggests how to implement and finance them.

This study examines trends in and key features of policies and programmes used by governments to support innovation in the business sector.

The Canadian economy is adjusting to the fall in commodity prices, but additional policies are needed to boost productivity, reduce financial stability risks and make future growth stronger, greener and more inclusive, according to a new OECD report.

The Netherlands should improve its policies to attract and retain highly skilled migrants in order to address labour shortages and strengthen its position as a knowledge-based economy, according to a new OECD report.

The Netherlands has strongly benefited from globalisation, which boosted international trade, cross-border investment and economic growth over the latest decades.

This book deals with two issues. The first concerns the various measurement of fiscal decentralization in general and their usefulness for policy analysis. The second and more specific issue concerns the taxonomy of intergovernmental grants and the limits of the current classifications.

The tax code can affect incentives to invest in education and training by influencing the costs and benefits of these investments. This can be the case for individuals through the income taxes and social security contributions they pay, and for companies through their corporate taxes and employer social security contributions.

Today, the OECD has released updated and new IT-tools and guidance to support the technical implementation of the exchange of tax information under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), on Country-by-Country Reporting (CbC) and in relation to tax rulings (ETR).

With global economic activity facing a historic drop and government spending rising dramatically, the implications of the Covid-19 crisis on public finances and tax revenues are significant.

Widespread corruption continues to be a major challenge for Kyrgyzstan’s development, despite efforts to streamline its anti-corruption policy and strengthen the institutional framework since 2012.

9 November 2016, Marrakesh - This COP22 side event will focus on the role of policies and domestic enabling conditions to encourage private investment in green infrastructure in developing countries, drawing on lessons learned from country-specific experiences in Jordan and Viet Nam.

This paper explores the development of the bioplastics sector and its role in national bioeconomy strategies. It finds that bioplastics are at a disadvantage compared to some other biobased products, notably biofuels, that often benefit from preferential treatment. It also notes that greater efforts are needed at the international level as regards standards to avoid creating barriers to international trade in biobased products.

Improving labour market participation of people with mental health problems requires well-integrated policies and services across the education, employment, health and social sectors. This paper provides examples of policy initiatives from 10 OECD countries for integrated services.

This paper looks at recent trends in pharmaceutical spending across OECD countries. It examines the drivers of recent spending trends, highlighting differences across therapeutic classes, and then looks at emerging challenges for policy makers in the management of pharmaceutical spending.

Healthier lifestyles, higher incomes and better education have all contributed to boost life expectancy in recent decades. Better health care has also helped, according to a new OECD report.

Cities can generate growth and jobs while becoming greener – this is the message of the OECD’s new Green Growth in Cities report. Drawing on case studies of Paris, Chicago, Kitakyushu and Stockholm, the report identifies green policies that can respond to urban growth priorities and suggests how to implement and finance them.

Japan must improve job quality and further reform the mandatory retirement age to address upfront the challenges of its rapidly ageing and shrinking labour force, according to a new OECD report.

Japan’s agriculture sector has traditionally been characterised by small-scale rice production, but has recently begun to respond to new market opportunities for higher value food products across a rapidly growing East Asia. Today, rice represents less than 20% of the value of agriculture production, and larger, more productive, and more profitable farm businesses now account for more than half of total agriculture output.

This paper explores the relationship between policy settings and extreme positive and negative growth events, what we call GDP tail risks, using quantile regression methods.

Economic policy should be better designed to bring about more inclusive growth, ensuring that the benefits of increased prosperity are shared more evenly across society, according to a new report from the OECD and the World Bank.

Denmark’s green growth strategy focuses on moving the energy system away from fossil fuels and investing in green technologies, while limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Germany reduced greenhouse gas emissions substantially but remains an important emitter. Ambitious targets for climate change mitigation have been fixed and a broad range of environmental measures are being implemented.

Renewed impetus for reforms is essential for India to continue to narrow its major gap in living standards with middle-income and OECD economies, to reduce widespread poverty, to reverse rising inequality and to improve the wellbeing of all Indians. Based on the expertise of OECD, this report presents an update of policy advice in critical areas to India’s long-term economic performance and social development.

Latin American governments must act now to strengthen growth and development and counter these risks, according to the 2013 Latin American Economic Outlook, jointly produced by the OECD Development Centre and ECLAC.