The OECD Governance and Territorial Development Directorate has worked closely with United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) on urban development issues. This webpage highlights the complex governance challenges that cities present and offers guidance on how they may be overcome.

"Indonesia is well placed to be a strong advocate for open government reforms, and to link such reforms to other multi-lateral reform efforts" - OECD Insights Blog by Luiz De Mello.

The role of international organisations (IOs) is critical in the development of rules and standards that can help advance the well-being of citizens in an increasingly globalised world.

The effect of the size and mix of public spending on growth and inequality

The role of fiscal policy has been at the heart of the policy debate since the financial crisis. With the global economy stuck in a low-growth trap and monetary policy overburdened, it is time to re-assess the use of fiscal policy levers.

This paper reviews the key issues concerning the impact of public spending and taxation on long-run growth and inequality and takes stock of existing theoretical and empirical studies.

This paper provides evidence on the effects of the size and the composition of public spending on long-term growth and inequality.

For the last five years the global economy has been in a low-growth trap, with growth disappointingly low and stuck at around 3 per cent per year. Persistent growth shortfalls have weighed on future output expectations and thereby reduced current spending and potential output gains.

Governments in Latin America will need to improve public sector management and capacity – including budget allocation – to compensate for the pressure on public finances from sliding commodity prices, according to a new report by the OECD and Inter-American Development Bank covering more than 15 countries in the region.

Spending on public administration itself is relatively low and so are indicators of its performance.

Spending on public administration itself is relatively low and so are indicators of its performance.

Malaysia has sustained over four decades of rapid, inclusive growth, reducing its dependence on agriculture and commodity exports to become a more diversified, modern and open economy.

Malaysia has sustained over four decades of rapid, inclusive growth, reducing its dependence on agriculture and commodity exports to become a more diversified, modern and open economy.

This paper assesses the effect of international differences in taxes on the choice of patent location by multinational enterprises (MNEs). The analysis is based on a large sample of patents and firms from the OECD-PATSTAT and OECD-ORBIS databases over 2004-10.

This paper assesses how international tax planning affects real business investment by multinationals. Earlier studies have shown that corporate taxes reduce business investment. This paper shows that tax planning multinationals are less sensitive to corporate taxes than other firms in their investment decisions.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) manipulate the location of their debts to reduce their corporate tax burden. Indeed, by locating debts in higher-tax rate countries, MNEs can deduct interest payments against a higher tax rate. This paper provides evidence of such manipulation of debt location.

This paper investigates if tax planning by large multinationals distorts competition in their favour and allows them to crowd out other firms. The competitive implications of tax planning are frequently mentioned in the tax policy debate, but not yet documented empirically to our knowledge. This paper aims to fill this gap.

This paper assesses the redistribution of foreign direct investments (FDI) and tax revenues among countries due to multinationals’ response to international differences in corporate tax systems.

Seminar on Innovations and challenges in the management of a regional policy held in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, 22 February 2017

Forum on competition and regulation: In pursuit of market efficiency

This paper surveys the theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between local taxation, land use regulation and land use patterns.

Women’s representation in parliaments remains a global issue. In 2016, women constituted 23% of parliamentarians over both upper and lower houses combined, with the Pacific, Arab States and Asia having the lowest representation (16.4%, 18.2%, and 19.2% respectively).

Indonesia's fiscal position is generally sound and policy making prudent. However, the country still faces important challenges in terms of economic and social development.

This may come as a surprise to most serious policymakers, but here’s a fact: not all that is “news” is fact-checked information. Worse, non-facts are frequently introduced into stories and passed off as facts. Welcome to the new information world. It is unsettling, and hardly augurs well for robust policymaking. So what can be done about it?

This OECD review underlines the success of Chile’s infrastructure policies which have served as a backbone for it's rapid economic development and social welfare reforms - but also highlights the need to update public investment processes to reflect a more integrated approach to long-term development.

Tax reforms are crucial to promoting inclusive growth in India.

Business taxation in India is characterised by high effective tax rates, a narrow tax base, and an uncertain tax environment for potential investors.

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.

Description of regulatory policy activities in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

OECD work on the independence of regulators and how to protect them from undue influence. Information includes new data from a survey of 48 regulators across the world.

This publication reviews provisions covering related party transactions and the protection of minority shareholder rights in 31 countries. It includes in-depth reviews of Belgium, France, Italy, Israel and India.

Middle Eastern and North African countries should reform the governance of their state-owned enterprises to bring about greater public accountability and improve their efficiency, according to a new OECD report.

This publication catalogues national practices that illustrate implementation of aspects or elements of competitive neutrality and highlights examples of challenges that may be encountered.

This report addresses the corporate governance framework and company practices that determine the nomination and election of board members. It covers 26 jurisdictions, including in-depth reviews of Indonesia, Korea, the Netherlands and the United States.

This meeting aimed to identify practical policy options for Latin American governments in the formulation of their investment promotion strategies with a specific focus on international value chains.

07/11/12 - the OECD and the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions concluded a Memorandum of Understanding to promote respect by multinational enterprises of the new human rights chapter of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights upon which the OECD Guidelines are based.

With growing integration via trade and investment, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that have traditionally been oriented towards domestic markets increasingly compete with private firms in the global market place. This paper discusses the extent of state ownership in the global economy, the advantages and disadvantages that SOEs can face, and how potential SOE advantages can generate cross-border effects.

Participants in this multi-stakeholder meeting launched the Gold Implementation programme and advanced implementation of due diligence in the 3Ts supply chain to ensure that companies avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral or metal purchasing decisions and practices.

Slovenia is facing the legacy of a boom-bust cycle that has been compounded by weak corporate governance of state-owned banks. The levels of non-performing loans and capital adequacy ratios compare poorly in international perspective and may deteriorate further, which could require significant bank recapitalisation.

Legislative and regulatory policy options for sustainable capital markets - A good corporate governance framework should combine transparency, accountability and integrity and this requires knowledge of beneficial ownership. This report assesses the costs, benefits and practicalities of different approaches, suggesting policy options to better identify ultimate beneficial ownership in Indonesia.

This article provides both an analytical framework for the role of public policy in corporate governance and a description of the empirical context that influences the conditions for that policy.

This report describes the current policy framework in Asia and summarises the challenges to establishing a formal and transparent board nomination and election process. It proposes policy options to improve the transparency of the board nomination and election process in order to reinforce more effective boards.

SOEs are an important feature of the economic landscape in the MENA region. This report examines their contribution to industrial development, diversification, poverty elimination and the provision of goods and services. It assesses ownership and governance practices and makes recommendations to policymakers, managers and boards.

This report analyses the supervision and enforcement of rules and practices relating to related party transactions, takeover bids and shareholder meetings in 27 jurisdictions and includes in-depth reviews of practices in Brazil, Turkey, and the United States.

18 November 2013 - Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Week 2013 opened in Bangkok today with a regional conference on responsible business practices jointly organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This paper provides a framework for analysing ownership engagement by institutional investors. It argues that the general term “institutional investor” in itself doesn’t say very much about the quality or degree of ownership engagement. It is therefore an evasive “shorthand” for policy discussions about ownership engagement.

This report explores the efforts of MENA stock exchanges to restructure their ownership through regional comparisons and case studies, situating this process within the global transformation of the stock exchange industry over the past two decades.

This article provides a framework for analysing the character and degree of ownership engagement by institutional investors. There are large differences in ownership engagement between different categories of institutional investors. There are also differences in ownership engagement within the same category of institutional investors such as hedge funds, investment funds, etc.

This report analyses the corporate governance framework and practices relating to corporate risk management, in the private sector and in state-owned enterprises. The review covers 26 jurisdictions and is based on a general survey of all participating jurisdictions, as well as an in-depth review of corporate risk management in Norway, Singapore and Switzerland.

This workshop focused on how to comply with international regulations on conflict-free gold supply chains and how to make the most of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.