This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2011.

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

The President of Iceland, Mr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, will visit the OECD on Wednesday 27th February 2013. On this occasion, Mr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson will meet on a bilateral basis with Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD. He will also give an address to a special session of the OECD Council, focused on Sustainable Development and Energy.

In his speech to OECD Ambassadors, the President of Iceland discussed how Iceland could offer lessons on the nature of a clean energy economy; and presented some insights from Iceland's recent challenges in dealing with the financial crisis.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will travel to Reykjavik to meet with Mr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland, Mr. Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister, Mr. Bjarni Benediktsson, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, and other members of the government.

This note presents key findings for Iceland from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

Country profiles highlight some key findings from TALIS 2013 for individual countries and economies

Iceland must balance growth in power and tourism industries with nature conservation, OECD says Iceland has one of the world’s most pristine natural environments and its glaciers, volcanoes and hot underground springs bring major economic benefits via renewable energy and tourism.

Going for Growth 2015: Key findings for Iceland

The OECD Working Group on Bribery has serious concerns about Iceland’s lack of progress in combatting the bribery of foreign public officials, and to implement the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

Labour market conditions in Iceland further improved during the last year. In March 2015 the harmonised unemployment rate stood at 4.2% of the labour force, 1 percentage point lower than a year earlier.

The Secretary-General presented the 2015 OECD Economic Survey of Iceland and held meetings with the President of Iceland, the Prime Minster and several other ministers. Mr. Gurría also attended meetings with business and unions, and the Parliament’s Economic and Trade Affairs Committee.

The 2015 edition introduces more detailed analysis of participation in early childhood and tertiary levels of education. The report also examines first generation tertiary-educated adults’ educational and social mobility, labour market outcomes for recent graduates, and participation in employer-sponsored formal and/or non-formal education.

This policy profile is part of the Education Policy Outlook series, which presents comparative analysis of education policies and reforms across OECD countries.

Biographical note of Iceland's Permanent Representative to the OECD.

This country note provides an environmental tax and carbon pricing profile for Iceland. It shows environmentally related tax revenues, taxes on energy use and effective carbon rates.

This country note presents student performance in science, reading and mathematics, and measures equity in education in Iceland. The interactive charts allow you to compare results with other countries participating in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Despite a small aid budget, Iceland stands out among donors for its commitment to supporting the poorest countries and using its expertise in areas like renewable energy, land restoration and gender equality for aid programmes that advance global goals, according to a new OECD report.

Iceland is the OECD’s smallest economy and,currently,the fastest growing. A booming financial services and construction led to a deep financial crisis in 2008. However, Iceland has made a remarkable turnaround, helped by spectacular growth of tourism, prudent economic policies and a favourable external environment.

This note presents selected country highlights from the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2017 with a specific focus on digital trends among all themes covered.

This note presents marginal effective tax rates (METRs) that summarise the tax system’s impact on the incentives to make an additional investment in a particular type of savings. By comparing METRs on different types of household savings, we can gain insights into which assets or savings types receive the most favourable treatment from the tax system.

This country note for Iceland provides detail on the proportion of CO2 emissions from energy use subject to different effective carbon rates (ECR), as well as on the level and components of average ECRs in each of the six economic sectors (road transport, off-road transport, industry, agriculture and fishing, residential & commercial, and electricity).

The digital revolution, globalisation and demographic changes are transforming labour markets at a time when policy makers are also struggling with slow productivity and wage growth and high levels of income inequality. The new OECD Jobs Strategy provides a comprehensive framework and policy recommendations to help countries address these challenges.

The Icelandic standard VAT rate is 24.0%, which is above the OECD average. The average VAT/GST¹ standard rate in the OECD was 19.3% as of 1 January 2019. The previous standard VAT rate in Iceland was 25.5% in 2014. It changed to the current level in 2015. Iceland applies reduced VAT rates of 0% and 11% to a number of goods and services.

Sound macroeconomic policies and favourable external conditions have enabled Iceland’s economy to emerge stronger from a decade of post-crisis management. Yet the impact on growth from a drop in tourist arrivals and seafood exports underlines the need for reforms to open up and diversify the economy and improve its resiliency to sectoral shocks, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Iceland.

This country note explains how Iceland taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Iceland decreased by 0.8 percentage points from 37.5% in 2017 to 36.7% in 2018. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from 34.2% to 34.3% over the same period.

This note presents selected findings based on the set of well-being indicators published in How's Life? 2020.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Iceland decreased by 0.3 percentage points from 33.4 in 2018 to 33.1 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Iceland had the 25th lowest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, compared with the 24th in 2018.

This report discusses the main areas in which national strategies to expand broadband networks affect universal service objectives, proposes criteria to rethink the terms of universal service policies, and shares the latest developments across a selected group of OECD countries.

The OECD has adopted a new basket methodology for benchmarking wireless broadband prices. It adds to the existing baskets for voice, leased lines and fixed broadband services and reflects the increasing importance of wireless broadband for laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Study outlining how OECD countries are dealing with the challenges of Open Government Data with a special chapter on the policy context of OGD in the United Arab Emirates.

The June 2016 OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy in Cancun, Mexico will discuss online platforms. Opportunities coming from online platforms not only create innovative forms of production, consumption, collaboration and sharing between individuals and organisations, but also promote economic benefits and employment opportunities thanks to the digital economy by creating a fast-moving business environment.

OECD expert consultation co-sponsored by Harvard Global Health Institute, Swedish Vinnova, Canada Health Infoway and Global Coalition on Aging, held in Boston on 5-6 October 2016.

This compendium of good practices was prepared by the OECD at the request of the G20 Anti-corruption Working Group (ACWG), to raise awareness of the benefits of the digital transformation in the public sector, including governance, productivity, economic development and social innovation.

The country profile: pension eligibility ages and other qualifying conditions; the rules for calculating benefit entitlements; the treatment of early and late retirees; personal income tax and social security contributions.

Riding the wave of technological innovation in finance, the robo-advice model has emerged as one potential solution for helping individuals manage their pensions and invest savings for retirement. This report provides an overview of the types of robo-advisors that are now available and discusses the potential benefits, risks and challenges of such platforms.

Gaps in data covering refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and internally displaced populations are endangering the lives and well-being of millions of children on the move, warned five UN and partner agencies today.

World water week provides a unique forum for the exchange of views, experiences and practices between the scientific, business, policy and civic communities.

In his speech to OECD Ambassadors, the President of Iceland discussed how Iceland could offer lessons on the nature of a clean energy economy; and presented some insights from Iceland's recent challenges in dealing with the financial crisis.

This Global Forum plays an important role as the tool for on-going dialogue on responsible business conduct. I am pleased to announce that today, Ministers from over 20 countries are coming together to discuss how to integrate responsibility considerations throughout government policies. Their work will contribute to protect internationally recognised fundamental rights and to ensure good governance, fair regulations, and transparency.

Iceland must balance growth in power and tourism industries with nature conservation, OECD says Iceland has one of the world’s most pristine natural environments and its glaciers, volcanoes and hot underground springs bring major economic benefits via renewable energy and tourism.

It’s time for governments to ramp up the development of alternative energies and to nail a price onto every tonne of CO2 emitted. With COP21 taking place in Paris in November, sending the right message on climate change means gradually increasing the cost of CO2 emissions, and creating a strong economic incentive to reduce the carbon entanglement and to move towards a zero-carbon world.

Concerns around potential losses of competitiveness as a result of unilateral action on carbon pricing are often central for policy makers contemplating the introduction of such instruments. This paper is a review of literature on ex post empirical evaluations of the impacts of carbon prices on indicators of competitiveness as employed in the literature, including employment, output or exports, at different levels of aggregation.

According to shocking new research by Oxfam, the world’s richest 1% would, on current trends, own more than half the world’s wealth by 2016.

Developing countries are increasingly moving towards more strategic national policies and plans, the effectiveness of which will depend upon proper assessment of a given country’s vulnerability to climate change. This report draws upon emerging monitoring and evaluation practices across developed and developing countries to identify four tools that countries can draw upon in their own assessment frameworks.

Today, more than 22% of global emissions are covered by a carbon price. Almost 40 countries and over 20 cities, states and provinces use carbon pricing mechanisms or are planning to implement them. The OECD recommends that countries make carbon pricing the cornerstone of climate policy. Price signals sent to consumers, producers and investors alike need to be consistent and facilitate the gradual phase-out of fossil fuel emissions.

This joint OECD/France conference to be held in Paris on 16 September 2015 will aim to lay the foundation for the international effort which is needed on public policy options and economic incentives to support food security, the fight against climate change and adaptation to climate change while integrating soil issues in that effort.

Cost-benefit analyses and other quantitative appraisals are used in many countries to support decision-making in public policy, including investment projects in sectors such as transport and energy. This paper discusses the range of approaches which can be employed to value changes in carbon emissions in policy appraisalsand presents some case studies and a survey of current practice in OECD countries.

The current Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal highlights the difficult reality of making the transition to a low-carbon economy. It also highlights the growing need for governments to make smart policies, based on actual costs.