Blog article on the complex and multi-dimensional challenges faced by city policy-makers in addressing urban issues at all levels of government.

One of the key institutions that can play a role in steering the delivery of the SDGs by highlighting trade-offs, enabling policies across issue areas to address multiple and sometimes competing objectives is the Centre of Government.

Chile has improved its regulatory policy in recent years, but could see benefits from further measures and a comprehensive effort to improve the way it prepares and issues new laws and regulations, according to a new OECD report.

The world cannot resolve today’s development challenges with purely national approaches. We need to complement them with local approaches, too. We live in an era of enormous transformations, in which our traditional political structures and forms of democratic participation must adapt. That means casting a bigger focus than ever on the important role of local power and communities.

This event to be held on 21 June 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal, will discuss the preliminary findings of the OECD project "Resilient Cities" and share cities' experience on enhancing resilience.

In Hungary, young people want to have bigger families, but concerns over issues like housing and striking a work-life balance appear to be obstacles. In response, the government has introduced a range of family-friendly policies–a vital step in helping families fulfil their dreams and in meeting the challenge of a rapidly ageing population.

Launch of the OECD review of the risk management policies in Morocco. The review provides an objective assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Morocco's risk management policies by international experts.

Sound public policies grounded in evidence – and implemented effectively – will be crucial for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This document outlines four broad areas for future action for the OECD, highlighting what it could do more of – or do differently – to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. C/MIN(2016)6.

The Paris floods are another call to action for the international community. Preventing such shocks from happening and limiting the damage they cause should be a public policy priority.

Chile has established itself as a regional leader and has been rapidly closing the gap with other OECD countries in the field of digital government.

14-16 June 2016, Paris: The OECD hosted an International Anti-Corruption Conference organised by the French Ministry of Justice, and with the support of the World Bank and the United Kingdom. This conference brought together representatives from anti-corruption authorities worldwide responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption.

Income inequality is worsening within many countries, and regional disparities in housing, safety and air quality inside countries are also growing wider in many cases, according to a new OECD report.

Report identifies how cities can become more resilient so that they can absorb, recover and prepare for future shocks (economic, environmental, social & institutional).

Mexico has become a frontrunner in a short time in making government data publicly accessible, but it now needs to put this wealth of digital information to use to foster innovation and benefit the Mexican economy and society, according to a new OECD report.

Governments must act faster help people and firms to make greater use of the Internet and remove regulatory barriers to digital innovation or else risk missing out on the potentially huge economic and social benefits of the digital economy, the OECD told ministers and high-level officials from almost 40 countries today.

Blog post on how Mexico's commitment to open data is helping to bring a broad range of innovative services to citizens.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, and the 2008 financial meltdown—whose aftershocks are still reverberating globally—have at least one trait in common: they reflected breakdowns in the regulatory process. This is not to say that the principal industry actors in both catastrophes were mere bystanders, but with better regulatory oversight, the disasters could have been prevented.

To achieve a euro area fiscal stance that fosters the recovery, countries with fiscal space under the Stability and Growth Pact rules should use budgetary support to raise growth, and existing incentives and flexibility should be taken advantage of to pursue reforms of tax and spending policies.

Through measurement, reviews, the identification of good practices and policy dialogue, the OECD seeks to better understand, track and help to improve access to justice.

Across the OECD, GDP per capita is converging. In contrast, regional disparities – or differences in GDP per capita across jurisdictions – are rising, mainly as a result of widening productivity differences. Fiscal decentralisation could help reduce them again. According to new OECD research, assigning more ownsource revenue to sub-national governments dampens regional GDP disparities and underpins regional convergence.

The growth pattern of OECD countries and their sub-national entities is puzzling. Between-country differences in GDP per capita are declining, yet the differences across jurisdictions within those countries tend to rise.

Your zip code matters – but not only to get your mail. It determines your chances of going to a good school, finding a well-paid job, breathing clean air or even living longer. Our day-to-day experience of life is essentially local, and this is precisely where governments and citizens can make a difference. Blog by OECD's Soo-Jin Kim.

Middle Eastern and North African countries should press ahead with further economic and structural reforms to boost flagging trade and investment, restore public trust and create jobs for the region’s young population, the OECD told ministers from the region today.

Forum promoting policy exchange on the increasing strategic approach of Innovation Procurement. This forum provided a space for policy makers and leaders in public procurement to share knowledge and good practices in transforming procurement into a strategic function.

Online toolkit designed to help implement the OECD Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies. By comparing good practices across OECD countries, this site can guide decision-makers in using digital technologies to encourage innovation, transparency, and efficiency in the public sector.

Online resource to help implement the OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement. This website provides policy tools, country examples and indicators to measure public procurement systems.

Fiscal decentralisation can lead to a more efficient provision of local public goods and services and promote a better match between policies and citizens’ preferences.

This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and economy-wide disposable income inequality.

The scale of the transition to a green, low-emissions and climate-resilient economy is enormous – it is the biggest structural adjustment ever proposed in the field of international governance. The OECD Centre will catalyse and support the transition to a green, low-emissions and climate-resilient global economy through the development of effective policies, institutions and instruments for green finance and investment.

La inversión pública en Colombia ha aumentado sustancialmente en los últimos años hasta alcanzar casi el 4% del PIB, una cifra superior a la media OCDE de 3.2%. Sin embargo, según indica un nuevo informe de la OCDE, para hacer frente a la brecha en infraestructuras y para superar las desigualdades territoriales será necesario que el país mantenga y amplíe sus esfuerzos en materia de inversión.

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 Centres of Government meetings review issues on how to make the centre of national government work more effectively. They are held annualy by a member of the network.

The public consultation took place from 1 August to 31 October 2016.

The Danish financial sector is big and there is a high degree of inter-connectedness between banks, mortgage institutions and pension funds.

The Municipality of Torreon has reached 49% progress in implementing the 267 recommendations delivered by OECD to improve its regulatory framework.

The Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA) has devoted its 9th Annual Conference to opening direct channels of discussion on experiences, methodologies and innovative practices in the process of optimization of public administration in the Western Balkans.

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

This paper seeks to identify the conditions under which raising public investment can sustainably lift growth without deteriorating public finances.

Public investment benefits current as well as future generations.

To what extent can public deficits increase without putting fiscal sustainability at risk, given the specific current macroeconomic situation of protracted low growth and low interest rates, combined with relatively high government debt levels?

To investigate how public finances could best be designed to promote long-run growth and address inequality, it is essential to have comprehensive, cross-country comparable data on government spending and revenues, along with structural and policy indicators.

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.

An estimated baseline convergence model capturing the long-term effect of human capital and physical investment on potential output for a panel of OECD countries is augmented with public investment and its components.

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

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.

A roundup of OECD news & events on regional issues - December 2016

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.