This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

This report offers a guide on potential reform pathways towards sustainable agriculture water use, based on a thorough review of selected past water and agriculture reforms and extensive consultation with policy experts.

This paper presents the results of an ex post evaluation of the impacts of a vehicle tax reform in Ireland, by carrying out a full social cost benefit analysis of a vehicle tax reform and shows that whilst successful in improving the fuel economy of new passenger cars, it may have caused unintended effects (increased proliferation of diesel vehicles in the passenger car fleet).

This report develops an analytical framework that assesses the macroeconomic, environmental and distributional consequences of energy subsidy reforms. The framework is applied to the case of Indonesia to study the consequences in this country of a gradual phase out of all energy consumption subsidies between 2012 and 2020.

Germany recovered rapidly from the 2008-09 recession, with GDP topping pre-crisis rates during 2011 and unemployment falling significantly. Public finances are sound, but further reforms are needed to transform its growth model to thrive as a knowledge-based economy.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

Germany’s current economic success offers a good platform for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, but further reforms will be necessary over the medium and long term, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Germany.

The German economy is undergoing a robust expansion, with record-low unemployment and real wage gains underpinning domestic demand while strong exports are driving business investment. The strong fiscal position will offer opportunities for funding structural reforms and public investment to meet future challenges, according to a new report from the OECD.

Sweden’s 2008 reform of its labour migration policy, now one of the most open in the OECD, has helped businesses hire foreign workers quickly and cheaply, without hurting conditions for local workers, according to a new OECD report.

Ongoing reforms of Denmark’s disability benefits and flexjobs are promising, but a stronger focus on helping people with their mental health issues is needed for the reforms to contribute to a sustainable decline in the high rate of unemployment, according to a new OECD report. Past labour market reforms failed because underlying mental health problems of the jobless remained unaddressed.

Norway should overhaul its approach to mental health issues in the workplace in order to help more people find a job or stay in work, and cut high and rising public spending, according to a new OECD report.

Spain has taken courageous steps to strengthen its labour market. Recent reforms have helped create jobs and should further boost competitiveness and employment in the years to come. But additional efforts are needed to boost competition in product markets and to improve assistance to job seekers, particularly young people, according to a new OECD report.

The UK labour market weathered the recent recession moderately well. After a relatively limited fall, total employment recovered and it recently reached 30 million for the first time, even if a number of the new jobs created are low productivity and low paid.

The increasing number of people moving within the European Union is driving the rise in migration registered in OECD countries, after several years of decline caused by the crisis. High skilled migration and humanitarian movements to OECD countries are also increasing. Migration policies need to keep pace with these changes, according to a new OECD report.

Structural reforms and income distribution

Recent reforms have made pension systems more financially sustainable and pensioners have higher living standards than ever before. But future generations are likely to find their pension entitlements much less generous than today’s and many may face a serious risk of pensioner poverty, according to a new OECD report.

The recent mental health reform is an important step towards better services for people with mental ill-health, but Australia needs to do more to help people with mild to moderate mental health issues at and into work, according to a new OECD report.

In 2015 the Lithuanian government launched an ambitious Social Model reform agenda aimed at balancing flexibility of the labour market and security provided through the system of social protection.

In a majority of OECD countries, GDP growth over the past three decades has been associated with growing income disparities.

This document describes and discusses a new supply side framework that quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income in OECD countries.

This report has been elaborated by the OECD in very close collaboration with the Portuguese government and, in particular, the Ministry of Labour. A final version was submitted to the government in late December 2016 and it is expected to be released in Lisbon on the 19th of January 2017.

Comprehensive reforms to Portugal’s labour market between 2011 and 2015 have helped create jobs and reduce the country’s high unemployment rate but important challenges remain, according to a new OECD report.

Brazil’s old-age pensions have reduced old-age poverty below OECD levels, but pension expenditures of 8.2% of GDP are expected to rise rapidly as the population ages. A pension reform is necessary to ensure the financial sustainability of the system.

The OECD was invited to assess key elements of the Second Irish Public Service Reform Plan (PSRP 2014-2016), with a view to informing future public service reform efforts in Ireland.

Full and effective implementation of recent reforms, including the Jobs Act and the Good Schools reform, would help boost growth in Italy by improving people’s skills and ensuring their more effective use across the country, according to a new OECD report.

Recent reforms of Italy’s education system (“Buona Scuola”), labour market (“Jobs Act”) and industrial policy (“Industria 4.0”) have clear synergies and could reduce worrying imbalances between the supply and demand of skills on the Italian labour market, according to the new OECD report Getting Skills Right: Italy.

Korea’s economy has progressed rapidly over the past 40 years, catching up with the level of well-being in most OECD countries. It now needs to continue and speed up the reforms of its labour market in order to strengthen its social safety net, create better quality jobs and boost inclusive growth, according to a new OECD report.

This report summarises experience of OECD and non-OECD countries with reforming inspections, attempts to present some of the most interesting and successful experiences suggesting that some good practices may be valid beyond the countries where they were initially pioneered.

This report summarises the results of the survey on regulatory enforcement and inspections conducted among OECD countries in 2012. The report draws some general conclusions from this survey and provides theoretical background on the topic. It also suggests some recommendations for organising and reforming inspections.

The Netherlands, as other OECD countries, faces the challenge of providing high quality health and long term care services to an ageing population in a cost-efficient manner.

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

This report assesses progress in the implementation of regulatory policy within the MENA region and highlights good practices from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority and Tunisia.

The OECD is supporting Malaysia to implement regulatory reforms supporting the country’s economic, social and environmental goals, as well as regional and global competitiveness.

This document describes and discusses a new supply side framework that quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income in OECD countries.

Better services trade policy can stimulate inclusive economic growth by promoting access to the information, skills, technology, funding and markets needed for success in an increasingly digital global economy, according to a new OECD report.

Mongolia should persist with systematic reforms in its struggle against corruption, says a new report by the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP).

21 April 2016, Paris: The OECD will host a High-Level Meeting on boosting the impact of anti-corruption reforms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have introduced important anti-corruption reforms in recent years. However, corruption in the region remains high. This report identifies progress achieved as well as challenges which require further action by countries.

Ireland still needs to make substantial progress on key recommendations issued three times since March 2007 by the OECD Working Group on Bribery with regard to improving its domestic criminal law as it applies to bribery by Irish individuals and companies in their international business transactions.

Ukraine has made considerable progress in the area of anti-corruption reform but faces significant challenges to implement some important tools for combating corruption, according to a recent OECD report.

Russia still needs to make substantial progress on key recommendations issued by the OECD Working Group on Bribery in 2012 and 2013.

Mongolia has made significant progress in developing its anti-corruption policy, legislation and institutions over the past few years. However, progress has recently slowed and there are increasing concerns about the future direction and pace of reforms, according to a new OECD report.

Chile must make further progress on key recommendations of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, more than three years after its Phase 3 evaluation in March 2014.

Sweden has still not implemented reforms to its Penal Code initially recommended by the OECD Working Group on Bribery in June 2012. Sweden’s legal provisions on corporate liability do not meet the requirements of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

Ukraine has achieved remarkable progress on anti-corruption reforms since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. Despite these major achievements, there is a serious risk of backsliding on reforms, according to a new OECD report.

Lithuania has taken significant steps to strengthen its legislative framework to combat foreign bribery. Yet further efforts are needed to ensure effective enforcement of anti-bribery laws with regard to corporate liability and imposing sanctions for foreign bribery, including confiscation, according to a new report by the OECD Working Group on Bribery.

Poland must make urgent progress on carrying out key recommendations of the OECD Working Group on Bribery that remain unimplemented, more than four years after its Phase 3 evaluation in June 2013.

Mexico needs to give more priority to foreign bribery enforcement, having yet to prosecute a case involving the bribery of foreign public officials 19 years after ratifying the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

The OECD and the Uzbekistan Government, with the support of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), has launched a project to strengthen Uzbekistan’s capacity to fight corruption and boost its implementation of OECD Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP) recommendations.

Greece needs to look beyond its short-term difficulties and start to prepare for a brighter future. It is at the crossroads, but can succeed, provided that it undertakes and implements relentlessly the right reforms. The reform of education is in fact the key to Greece’s future prosperity.