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.

The Spanish economy experienced significantly weaker labour productivity growth than other OECD economies and failed to catch up with the most advanced economies in the period 1996-2007. In recent years labour productivity growth has accelerated, but this recovery is likely to be due to cyclical and temporary factors.

Despite the economic importance of the road transport sector, there is no systematic cross-country evidence on the sector’s efficiency.

This paper analyses the age structure of employment rates across OECD countries with a focus on France. The statistical contribution of each age group to total unemployment-rate differentials is also computed.

This paper provides both descriptive and empirical evidence about the main youth labour market problems in Spain. Using the experiences of other EU economies as a benchmark, we document the performance of Spain as regards a wide set of youth labour market dimensions.

Judicial performance and its determinants: a cross-country perspective

Both educational attainment and skills, as measured in the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), are high in Sweden. They are not perfect substitutes, but both are to some degree necessary for successfully integrating in the Swedish labour market.

The New Zealand economy has performed well in recent years, but bottlenecks in housing and urban infrastructure, inequalities in living standards and rising environmental pressures all pose challenges for sustaining robust growth and high levels of well-being over the long term, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of New Zealand.

In the years before the economic crisis, Portugal had low growth, a decline in export competitiveness and rising imbalances that included a large current account deficit and a strong expansion of the non-tradable sector. Strengthening export performance is therefore one of the principal challenges for Portugal.

Boosting investment in infrastructure and logistics, further liberalising the network industries, improving investment in human and knowledge-based capital to allow upgrading in the global value chains will be essential to enhance export performance.

The German economy has steadily recovered from the 2008 global crisis. Thanks to past reforms, the labour market has proved strong and export performance has been impressive.

Non-residential investment has fallen over the past 20 years as a share of GDP and is now lower than in several other high-income OECD countries.

This paper explores the extent to which “zombie” firms – defined as old firms that have persistent problems meeting their interest payments – are stifling labour productivity performance.

This paper explores the extent to which “zombie” firms – defined as old firms that have persistent problems meeting their interest payments – are stifling labour productivity performance.

Well-known global companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon of the digital era as well as more traditional ones of the likes of BMW, L’Oreal and Nestlé have recorded impressive productivity gains over the 2000s as they created more and more revenue per employee. At the same time, aggregate productivity growth in the OECD – that reflects the performance of all businesses not just the few most successful ones – has stagnated.

Almost 10 years after the outset of the financial crisis in summer 2008, European growth remains modest, constantly underperforming the OECD average.

With persisting slower growth worldwide and in China, over-capacity in some heavy industry sectors, declining profitability, and intensifying competition from other, lower-cost emerging economies, corporate behaviour in China needs to change and focus more on efficiency and sustainability.

A key priority in China’s "new normal" period -- where returns on investment are slackening -- is corporate governance, which could lead to enhanced productivity by a better management of resources at the firm level.

Switzerland is among the leaders in many global rankings including on R&D, innovation, infrastructure, universities and competitiveness. It is well integrated in global value chains, specialised in some high-value-added activities and home of many large multinationals. These factors should contribute to high, and rising, labour productivity.

This paper investigates if higher public spending in education and better teacher qualifications are related to student’s performance, using data from Saber 11, a national standardized test conducted by Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Educación.

Chile’s export growth has disappointed over the past two decades. In particular, exports of goods and services - in volume - have only grown at 1.1% annually over 2009-17 and at around 2.0% for non-copper products and services, compared to 4.2% in the average Latin American country.

This paper exploits a new database that is unique in its scale and scope containing detailed information on over two million projects carried out by one million firms that benefited from the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund in 25 EU member countries during the multi-annual financial framework 2007-2013.

Intergovernmental fiscal frameworks usually reflect fundamental societal choices and history and are not foremost geared towards achieving economic policy objectives. Yet, like most institutional arrangements, fiscal relations affect the behaviour of firms, households and governments and thereby economic activity.

This workshop served to discuss how benchmarking and measuring regulatory performance can help advance a regulatory policy at the sub-national level.

Workshop held in The Hague on 17-18 June 2014 to evaluate stakeholder engagement in regulatory policy

Measuring regulators’ performance can strengthen the contribution of regulatory policies to sustainable growth and development. While measuring a regulator’s performance is a fundamental function of a “world class” regulator, it is challenging, starting with the definition of what should be measured and including the attribution of outcomes to regulators’ actions and the availability of robust and evidence-based evaluation

This report provides an overview of national practices towards performance evaluation and management of state-owned enterprises in 11 Asian economies: Bhutan, People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Viet Nam.

Services PMI in Australia decreased to 27.10 points in April from 38.70 points in March of 2020. Services PMI in Australia averaged 50.03 points from 2003 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 63 points in June of 2018 and a record low of 27.10 points in April of 2020. The Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Services Index (Australian PSI®) is a leading indicator of services activity in the Australian economy. The Australian PSI is a seasonally adjusted national composite index based on the diffusion indices for sales, orders/new business, deliveries, inventories and employment with varying weights. An Australian PSI® reading above 50 points indicates that services activity is generally expanding; below 50, that it is declining. The distance from 50 is indicative of the strength of the expansion or decline. Results are based on a sample of around 200 companies each month. This page provides the latest reported value for - Australia Performance Services Index - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Spoken word is a form of poetry usually written to be performed in front of an audience, and often associated with hip hop culture. In recent years its popularity has soared in the UK – and now, as part of the London Literature Festival, the Southbank Centre is hosting the final of “Shake the Dust”, a national poetry slam for teenagers. So, what’s the difference between “page” and “stage” poetry? Does spoken word have a political bent? And can poets hope to change anything? Jan Dalley puts these questions to the poet, rapper and playwright Kate Tempest; poet and artistic director of the “Shake The Dust” Jacob Sam-La Rose; and critic Suzi Feay. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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European Commission and MEPs warn regulator over watering down Priips performance scenarios decried as misleading

UBS drops to second spot while Invesco slips to third in Z-Ben analysis of investment market

Why, from an investment perspective, Covid-19 suppression is the equivalent of kicking the can down the road.

It is the deepest, broadest, most liquid market for larger global businesses

Machine learning ops focuses on the ML model and datasets, as opposed to code. Data engineers run MLOps, but it’s likely that the specialized role of MLOps engineer will come about soon.

Ruffer precious metal and Baillie Gifford tech vehicles shine during market turbulence

Miley Cyrus is coming Down Under.

Miley Cyrus and Lil Nas X are set to perform at a bushfire relief concert in Melbourne later this month.

The last time Louis Smith competed in front of a crowd this size he was doing a shirtless showdance in the final of Strictly Come Dancing. There was more material, fewer sequins, but the same strength and poise involved as he returned to the day job of trying to win gold medals.

Rapper Iggy Azalea regularly champions LGBTI+ rights. 

The Australian singer, 29, ensured all eyes were on her as she took to the stage at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on Friday night.

In December, Iggy Azalea told fans that she and on-off boyfriend Playboi Carti were no longer dating. 

There are few British sportspeople who have legitimate claims to being the best in the world however Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Jessica Ennis-Hill are in that category.

Adele showed she can nail any musical performance as she channelled her inner Nicki Minaj during a raucous rap performance in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Two men rushed the Dancing with the Stars stage in protest against disgraced Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte after he made his debut on the show with partner Cheryl Burke.

They're two of our biggest musical exports and Iggy Azalea and 5 Seconds Of Summer are set to take to the stage and perform at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles later this month.

Australian rapper Iggy Azalea and Jennifer Hudson sang their latest tune, Trouble, at the Kids' Choice Awards in LA on Saturday.

The reality star / singer / dancer / actress / YouTube personality was on a double high as she put on an energetic performance right after picking up an award.

Justin Bieber will officially be performing at the Kids' Choice Awards next Sunday. The 26-year-old pop act will treat his fans to a rendition of his single Intentions, which he released with Quavo.

Ryder Cup veteran Phil Mickelson hopes his long association with the event did not end in a watery grave but accepts he may have played his last match for the United States.

Lorde has slammed viewers who took issue with her silent, interpretative dance performance at the MTV Video Music Awards this week.