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The People's Republic of China - Avoiding the middle-income trap: Policies for sustained and inclusive growth

This report presents an update of OECD policy advice in areas that are critical to China’s long-term economic performance and social development. They include food security, social safety nets, health reform, green growth, climate change and urbanisation.




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The agri-food situation and policies in Switzerland

This paper examines the heavily supported Swiss food and agriculture sector. It reviews some of the key features and trends in the sector and reveals its low relative labour productivity in international comparison.




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Countries should make carbon pricing the cornerstone of climate policy, says OECD

Credible and consistent carbon pricing must be the cornerstone of government actions to tackle climate change, according to a new OECD report.




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Shaping the post-crisis global economy

There is no simple remedy for fixing the post-crisis global economy. But three key ingredients for sustainable long-term growth are jobs, equality and trust, said OECD Secretary-General in Washington.




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Innovation: Support for young firms would boost job creation, says OECD

Young firms play a crucial role in job creation but have missed out on many of the benefits of structural reforms of the past decade in OECD countries.




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Environmental policies and productivity growth - a critical review of empirical findings

This paper reviews the empirical evidence on the link between environmental policy stringency and productivity growth, and the various channels through which such effects can take place.




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Growth-promoting policies and macroeconomic stability

This paper looks at a vast array of policy recommendations by the OECD that promote long-term growth – contained in Going for Growth and the Economic Outlook – and attempts to establish whether they underpin macroeconomic stability or whether there is a trade-off.




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New indicators of competition law and policy in 2013 for OECD and non-OECD countries

This paper presents the new OECD competition law and policies (CLP) indicators which measure the strength and scope of competition regimes in 49 jurisdictions (OECD and non-OECD). The indicators cover areas for which there is a broad consensus among member countries on what constitutes 'good' practice for competition regimes.




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OECD appoints new directors for economic policy

The OECD has appointed a former Portuguese economy minister and a high-level German government official to top leadership posts in the Economics Department, reinforcing its commitment to identifying and promoting policies that improve countries’ long-term economic performance.




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Mr Gurria strongly supports recently announced plans to revitalise the French economy

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría strongly supports President François Hollande’s recently announced measures to revitalise the French economy and set it on a path towards stronger growth.




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Joint OECD and ESRI workshop: Long-term prospects of the world economy up to 2060 and their policy implications

Over the next 50 years, the world economic landscape will be shaped, among other things, by demographic developments, continuing trade and investment integration, a shift of gravity towards emerging economies, the rising role of knowledge-based capital, global environmental pressures and the correction of fiscal and current account imbalances.




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Growth Policies and Macroeconomic Stability

Macroeconomic shocks as severe and protracted as those since 2007 warrant a reconsideration of the role growth-promoting policies play in shaping the vulnerability and resilience of an economy to macroeconomic shocks.




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The Euro Area at a Crossroads: Policies for Growth, Jobs and Competitiveness

After five years of work at every level to correct the fiscal, financial and external imbalances that led to the crisis, and to reinforce fiscal and financial institutions, the Euro Area is beginning to show signs of recovery. But, despite these positive signs, growth is still weak and uneven.




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Strengthening Poland’s Competitiveness – OECD Recommendations

A broad agenda of reforms in four areas – labour markets, education, product markets and innovation – should strengthen Poland’s economy and allow it to continue its path of convergence towards the income levels of the more affluent OECD economies, said Angel Gurría during a seminar in Warsaw.




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Poland can grow faster through labour market and pro-competition reforms, OECD says

Poland’s economic performance has been impressive over the past 15 years, but further reforms are now needed to put the economy firmly back on track for stronger and sustainable growth, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Poland.




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OECD forecasts during and after the financial crisis: a post mortem

This note discusses OECD forecast performance over the period 2007 12. It focuses on the lessons that can be learned from cross-country differences in growth forecast errors and the changes to forecasting models and procedures that have been prompted by the experience of the crisis.




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The prudential regulation of financial institutions: why regulatory responses to the crisis might not prove sufficient

This paper surveys recent international developments concerning the prudential regulation of financial institutions: banks, the shadow banking system and insurance companies. It concludes that, while substantial progress has been made, the global economy nevertheless remains vulnerable to possible future financial instability.




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Make growth socially inclusive for improved well-being and stronger economies – OECD report

Inequality – now at its highest level in decades in many countries – undermines economic growth and well-being, says a new OECD report. But policies to tackle the widening gap between rich and poor will only succeed if they also look beyond income and address better access to high-quality education, health care and public infrastructure, it adds.




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Economic policies and microeconomic stability: a literature review and some empirics

This study reviews the existing literature on the link between economic policies and economic stability at the firm and household level. Based on firm-level and household-level data for a wide range of OECD countries, it also provides preliminary results on sources and patterns of microeconomic volatility.




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Spillover effects from exiting highly expansionary monetary policies

The prospective normalisation of monetary policies in the main OECD areas will be challenging given that current policy rates are likely to be significantly below neutral levels and that central bank balance sheets will be above the pre-crisis levels by a wide margin.




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Policies for making the Chilean labour market more inclusive

The paper discusses a number of policies that could help to make the Chilean labour market more inclusive and broaden the benefits of growth. These include expanding childcare, promoting a more flexible labour market and strengthening education and skills policies, among others.




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Trade specialisation and policies to foster competition and innovation in Denmark

Danish productivity has grown only weakly over the past two decades, both historically and in relation to other countries, despite sound policies and institutions. Denmark needs to continue its efforts to reap the benefits of globalisation, which would contribute to invigorating productivity growth.




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Making the labour market work better in Poland

Poor labour market outcomes remain one of Poland’s major structural weaknesses, impeding firms’ competitiveness and the nation’s potential output. Boosting employment prospects is also critical, as the country will soon be ageing at a fast pace.




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Strengthening competition in Poland

Poland’s productivity has grown strongly over the past decade, and efforts to reduce the regulatory burden have been significant. Despite impressive progress, product market regulation remains more burdensome than in most OECD countries, partly due to the importance of red tape and the level of state involvement in the economy.




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Macroprudential policy tools in Norway: strengthening financial system resilience

In Norway house prices have risen to high levels, associated with very strong credit growth, in a context of low interest rates. Such a combination was in many countries a contributory factor to the 2008-09 crisis.




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What explains the volume and composition of trade? Industrial evidence from a panel of countries

This paper quantifies the importance of different determinants of trade at the industry level using a sample of 54 OECD and non-OECD economies. The empirical methodology extends the approach of previous empirical studies to explicitly quantify the impact that trading partners’ factor endowments and policies have on bilateral trade, and to analyse the effect of tariffs on the volume and composition of trade.




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Portugal: Deepening structural reform to support growth and competitiveness

Having been hit hard by the global crisis, the Portuguese government has taken action to put its economy back on track, and to correct external and budgetary imbalances. This document highlights some key priorities to support economic growth and competitiveness through further productivity-enhancing structural reforms.




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International migration: the relationship with economic and policy factors in the home and destination country

Unfavourable demographic trends in many OECD countries threaten the sustainability of potential labour resources, GDP growth and fiscal positions. One factor that is expected to mitigate these trends is continued inflows of migrant workers from low income economies.




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Workplace stress in the United States: issues and policies

Despite relative affluence, workplace stress is a prominent feature of the US labour market. To the extent that job stress causes poor health outcomes – either directly through increased blood ressure, fatigue, muscle pain, etc. or indirectly through increased rates of cigarette smoking – policy to lessen job stress may be appropriate.




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Reducing income inequality and poverty and promoting social mobility in Korea

To strengthen social cohesion, a top government priority, it is essential to address the labour market roots of inequality by breaking down dualism to reduce the share of non-regular workers and to boost the employment ratio toward the government’s 70% target.




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OECD appoints Catherine L. Mann as new Chief Economist

OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Catherine L. Mann as the new OECD Chief Economist. Her appointment will reinforce the OECD’s commitment to identifying and promoting better policies for better lives around the world.




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Reducing the high rate of poverty among the elderly in Korea

One-half of Korea's population aged 65 and over lives in relative poverty, nearly four times higher than the OECD average of 13%. Elderly poverty is thus an urgent social problem.




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The effect of the global financial crisis on OECD potential output

This paper estimates potential output losses from the global financial crisis by comparing recent OECD published projections with a counter-factual assuming a continuation of pre-crisis productivity trends and a trend employment rate which is sensitive to demographic trends.




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Secular stagnation: evidence and implications for economic policy

This paper investigates whether OECD countries are facing secular stagnation. Secular stagnation is defined as a situation when policy interest rates bounded at zero fail to stimulate demand sufficiently, due to low or negative neutral real interest rates and low inflation, and when ensuing prolonged and subdued growth undermines potential growth via labour hysteresis and discouraged investment.




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Fundamental reforms paving the way for economic recovery in Portugal, OECD says

Fundamental reforms have helped put the Portuguese economy back on the right track, but a durable recovery will require additional measures to improve export competitiveness, create jobs and ensure social protection for those most in need, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Portugal.




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Reforms poised to put India on a strong, sustainable and inclusive growth path, OECD says

The Indian economy is showing signs of a turnaround, but new reforms are needed to put the country on a path to strong, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of India.




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Stronger policy response needed to avoid risks to growth, especially in the euro area, says OECD in latest Economic Outlook

Modest global economic forecasts, continuing high unemployment, and downshifts in potential output,should spur governments with a greater sense of urgency to fully employ monetary, fiscal and structural policy levers to support growth, notably in Europe, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.




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Policy Brief: Green growth - Environmental policies and productivity can work together

As environmental pressures continue to rise, governments throughout the OECD area have not been sitting back. If anything, the stringency of their policy measures has been increasing on the whole, not least to combat pollution and climate change. And as the evidence shows, stringent environmental policies can be introduced without hurting overall productivity.




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Can pro-growth policies lift all boats? An analysis based on household disposable income

In a majority of OECD countries, GDP growth over the past three decades has been associated with growing income disparities. To shed some lights on the potential sources of trade-offs between growth and equity, this paper investigates the long-run impact of structural reforms on GDP per capita and household income distribution.




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Mexico has a unique opportunity to boost growth and share prosperity more widely, according to the OECD

Mexico now has the chance to dramatically boost growth rates and resume convergence of its living standards towards those of advanced economies, reduce pervasive labour market informality and drive down high rates of poverty and income inequality.




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Challenges and opportunities of India’s manufacturing sector

Stronger manufacturing would increase productivity and make growth more inclusive, while contributing to improved current account balance. In particular, India should aim for more formal jobs, as these tend to be the most secure and of highest productivity.




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Escaping the Stagnation Trap: Policy Options for the Euro Area and Japan

The global economy continues to run at low speed and many countries, particularly in Europe, seem unable to overcome the legacies of the crisis. With high unemployment, high inequality and low trust still weighing heavily, it is imperative to swiftly implement reforms that boost demand and employment and raise potential growth.




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Reforms can support growth and equity in Belgium, OECD says

The Belgian economy has returned to growth and continues scoring well on broader measures of well-being, but further reforms will be needed to secure fiscal sustainability while promoting employment and competitiveness, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Belgium 2015.




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A constant market share analysis of Spanish goods exports

As other high-income countries, Spain has experienced competitive pressures from China and other emerging economies that have resulted in a loss of global market share.




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Reforms can support growth and equity in Latvia, OECD says

The Latvian economy is among the fastest-growing in the euro area, but continued reforms will promote a rapid and sustainable pace of convergence with upper-income countries while limiting the risk of repeated boom-and-bust cycles, according to the OECD Economic Survey of Latvia.




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The conduct of monetary policy in the future: instrument use

The set of monetary policy instruments has expanded since the start of the global financial crisis in the many OECD economies. Against this background, this paper analyses whether some of the new instruments should be retained in the long term when broader financial stability objectives are likely to feature more prominently as monetary policy goals than prior to the crisis.




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Colombia: Supporting the development of local innovation systems – Policy review

The project provided recommendations to the city of Medellin and Antioquia to support the development of the local economy and includes a focus on how the innovative environment can be strengthened to support inclusion, entrepreneurship, SME, and local developmentto and how to better coordinate and integrate its policies with the national level.




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Improving transport infrastructure in Russia

Russia faces very large challenges in modernising its large transport system. Promoting competition in the transport sector is essential, in particular by effectively opening the railway freight market to independent operators.




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Raising the potential of the domestically oriented sector in Germany

Reforming and deregulating the domestically oriented sectors, including network industries, crafts and professional services would release hidden growth potential and prove beneficial to the economy as a whole. It could also help strengthen domestic demand and reduce dependence on exports.




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The 2013 update of the OECD’s database on product market regulation – policy insights for OECD and non-OECD countries

This paper investigates patterns in product market regulation across 34 OECD and 21 non-OECD countries, using an updated and revised version of the OECD’s indicators of product market regulation (PMR).