The Secretary-General of the OECD, Mr. Angel Gurría, will be in Washington on 2-3 December 2013, to present the results of the 2013 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), alongside Mr. Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education of the United States. The Secretary-General will also meet with several high-level US officials.

This paper looks at a study carried out among 80 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in two Canadian cities, Montréal and Winnipeg, based on a survey and case studies, which show the importance of innovation among Canadian SMEs. These innovations in turn create new demands for skill development, both through formal training and in informal activities.

The conference discussed the results of the project as well as policy recommendations on training and skills development for the creation of an innovative and competitive SME sector in OECD countries.

Merger control constitutes an essential component of an effective competition system. This in-depth study of Chile’s merger control regime assesses the main existing issues in the current system and provides suggestions for improvement based on OECD and international standards.

The OECD’s latest Competition Assessment of Greece looks at e-commerce, construction, media, wholesale trade and a number of manufacturing sectors such as chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Many laws and regulations set the rules for how businesses enter, operate and exit a market and competition assessments help to ensure that these regulations are not overly or inadvertently restrictive for businesses and consumers. This article looks at the tangible contributions competition assessment is making to reforms underway in Greece.

The Portuguese government and the OECD have worked together to assess the costs and benefits of regulations restricting competition in the transports and liberal professions sectors and to propose specific recommendations for change. Read more about the project and access the report.

The Steering Committee of the OECD Global Forum on Transfer Pricing publishes a Draft Handbook on Transfer Pricing Risk Assessment. This Handbook is intended to provide practical guidance to tax administrations in both OECD and non-OECD economies regarding the process of conducting transfer pricing risk assessments. Interested parties are invited to provide comments by 13 September 2013.

On 30 April 2013, the OECD invited comments from interested parties on the new Draft Handbook on Transfer Pricing Risk Assessment, produced by the Steering Committee of the OECD Global Forum on Transfer Pricing. The OECD now publishes the comments received.

SMEs form the vast majority of businesses in most countries and contribute strongly to employment and economic growth, but they face particular challenges, particularly as concerns access to finance. Governments have a range of policy levers, including tax policies, that can and should be used to support the growth and development of SMEs, according to a new OECD report.

Today the OECD released key documents, approved by the Inclusive Framework on BEPS, which will form the basis of the peer review of Action 13 Country-by-Country Reporting and for the peer review of the Action 5 transparency framework.

Today the OECD released the key document, approved by the Inclusive Framework on BEPS, which will form the basis of the peer review of the Action 6 minimum standard on preventing the granting of treaty benefits in inappropriate circumstances.

The OECD today published two self-assessment maturity models on tax debt management and the reduction of compliance burdens, both critical areas for successful tax administration. Maturity models set out descriptions of capabilities and performance in a particular function or set of activities across a number of levels of increasing maturity, in the case of these models from an emerging to an aspirational level.

As part of the Inclusive Framework’s work relating to the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, the OECD has been carrying out an economic analysis and impact assessment of the Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 proposals. Please join a live webcast with experts from the OECD to learn more about this work, which will include a presentation of preliminary results on the revenue and investment effects of the proposals.

This self-assessment report looks at South Africa's investment regime in the light of the OECD Codes of Liberalisation and the principle of National Treatment.

The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), supported by the OECD, has initiated a study to assess the contribution of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to due diligence for responsible mineral supply chains. To gather information for this study, SMEs were invited to take part on a confidential survey of due diligence activities by SMEs.

Lending volumes and credit conditions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have gradually improved, according to a new report from the OECD, but demand-side obstacles such as a lack of financial knowledge are contributing to holding back a stronger recovery.

As part of the implementation strategy for the recently adopted OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector, the OECD is conducting a series of surveys that target SMEs operating within the sector.

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance is being used as the basis and benchmark by many industry initiatives created to ensure the responsible sourcing of minerals. This report presents the findings of a pilot alignment assessment of five industry programmes against the recommendations of the OECD Guidance to gauge the coherence, effectiveness and credibility of these initiatives.

Evaluation and assessment policies are key in Australia’s national school reform agenda. The Australian approach combines the development of goals, monitoring and reporting at national level with local evaluation and assessment practices shaped by jurisdiction-level school improvement frameworks

An ecosystem assessment is a social process through which the findings of science concerning the causes of ecosystem change, their consequences for human well-bring, and the management and policy options are evaluated. The main objective of the paper is to draw insights from experience in the UK, Japan, Spain and Portugal of the added value to policy making of undertaking national level ecosystem assessments.

Between 1999 and 2014, the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan dropped by 21% as a result of the retirement of ageing business owners and weak entrepreneurial intentions in the Japanese population.

G20 Finance Ministers have welcomed a new OECD/G20 framework designed to help governments develop financial strategies for disaster risk management.

This article presents a brief overview of current financing difficulties for SMEs and policy measures to support SME lending during the crisis, and presents a literature review related to difficulties in SME’s access to finance during the crisis, against a background of a sharp decline in bank profitability and an erosion of bank capital that negatively affected lending.

The results of the first international assessment of 15-year-old students’ financial literacy competencies were presented in Paris on 9 July 2014.

This article summarises discussions from an OECD Financial Roundtable on reducing bank dependence in financing small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and non-bank debt financing alternatives.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key contributors to economic growth and job creation. The current economic and financial crisis has reduced bank lending and has affected SMEs in particular. Capital markets will have to play a bigger role in financing SMEs in order to make them more resilient to financial shocks. This article reviews the spectrum of alternative market-based debt instruments for SME financing.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fundamental for inclusive growth and jobs, but they need to broaden their sources of finance in order to reduce their vulnerability to volatile credit market developments, according to two new OECD reports.

29 October 2015, Paris - Resilient cities and SMEs are critical to reducing the economic disruption from climate-related disaster events. In the run up to COP21, these remarks by Adrian Blundell-Wignall at the AXA-UNEP-PSI Conference on Climate Resilience address the importance of building resilience to climate change risks at the level of cities and SMEs.

SMEs are important engines of innovation, growth, job creation and social cohesion. However, they can only reach their full potential if they obtain the finance necessary to start, sustain and grow their business. These voluntary principles provide broad guidelines on how to enhance access by SMEs to finance to help increase the contribution of SMEs to resilient and inclusive growth.

This article on public equity financing for SMEs complements earlier OECD work on market-based finance for SMEs. The development of this market segment could promote investment in SMEs and, together with securitisation and other non-bank debt financing instruments, encourage an enhanced allocation of risk and risk taking, and thus support growth.

This review of Colombia by the OECD Working Party on Private Pensions examines Colombia’s position with respect to core principles related to pension systems.

Jakarta, 1-2 June 2016: This seminar addressed the importance of financial literacy and financial education for empowering micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Certain growth-promoting policies can have negative side-effects by increasing the vulnerability of economies to financial crises. Typical examples are greater openness to financial flows or more liberalised financial markets.

This study explores the effectiveness of the incentive mechanisms embedded within the UK’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) for banks’ to expand their supply of lending to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

24 May 2017: PISA 2015 Results (Volume IV): Students’ Financial Literacy explores students’ experience with and knowledge about money and provides an overall picture of 15-year-olds’ ability to apply their accumulated knowledge and skills to real-life situations involving financial issues and decisions.

While the contribution of MSMEs to national economies is widely recognised, their financial education needs are not always being met and low levels of financial literacy pose a potential barrier to successful business creation and growth. Covering 21 economies, this stocktaking report identifies the main policy challenges and good practices.

This report examines the approaches adopted in 23 OECD and EU countries for evaluating the performance and cost-effectiveness of publicly supported credit guarantee programmes for SMEs.

This document contains a high-level, outcome-based, internationally relevant, core competencies framework on financial literacy for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and potential entrepreneurs. It highlights a range of outcomes that may be important to sustain or improve their financial literacy.

This report analyses the emergence and potential of ICOs as a financing mechanism for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), examines the benefits and challenges of this mechanism for small businesses and investors, and discusses policy implications of ICO activity for inclusive financing of SMEs and the real economy.

This report provides, for the Flemish community of Belgium, an independent analysis of major issues facing the educational evaluation and assessment framework, current policy initiatives, and possible future approaches.

Micro, small and medium-sized firms (MSMEs) are a key source of employment and economic growth in Indonesia. They contributed to the country’s economic resilience during the 2008-09 financial crisis.

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.

Growth in emerging market economies (EMEs) is set to durably slow from the rates observed over 2010-12 as cyclical effects fade, potential growth declines and external financing conditions tighten.

This report focuses on the effects of climate change impacts on economic growth. The analysis finds that the effect of climate change impacts on annual global GDP is projected to increase over time, leading to a global GDP loss of 0.7% to 2.5% by 2060 for the most likely equilibrium climate sensitivity range.

This report focuses on the effects of climate change impacts on economic growth. The analysis finds that the effect of climate change impacts on annual global GDP is projected to increase over time, leading to a global GDP loss of 0.7% to 2.5% by 2060 for the most likely equilibrium climate sensitivity range.

Entrepreneurship is an important driver of economic growth, job creation and competitiveness. However, the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector has been severely affected by the crisis, with access to bank finance being particularly difficult.

The Korean government has made fostering a “creative economy” a top priority. The goal is to shift Korea's economic paradigm to one based on innovation in which new start-ups and venture businesses play a key role.

Chief Economist Catherine L. Mann will present the near-term prospects for the global economy on Wednesday 18 March at 11:00 a.m. (CET).

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fundamental for inclusive growth and jobs, but they need to broaden their sources of finance in order to reduce their vulnerability to volatile credit market developments, according to two new OECD reports.