A new OECD report sheds light on mobile handset acquisition models, and provides pricing information from selected operators in 12 OECD countries for 2012.

In countries with four or more mobile operators benefits to consumers are visible through more competitive, more inclusive, and more understandable offers. International mobile roaming is another area where challenger brands are changing markets.

Digitalisation of goods and services destroys established business models and disrupts existing value chains. New value chains emerge. This is often called disruptive innovation.

New digital tools are empowering, and can serve to support a new source of inclusive global economic growth. Now is the time to take use the digital transformation to ensure it represents a leapfrog opportunity for women and a chance to build a more inclusive digital world. This brochure represents a preliminary effort by the OECD, working with the G20, to broaden the evidence base.

G20 Leaders today endorsed an OECD-launched initiative to encourage the flow of institutional investment towards longer-term assets, such as infrastructure and renewable energy projects, in order to strengthen the global economy.

On the occasion of the OECD High Level Policy Forum on Migration taking place on December 1 and 2 2014, Secretary General Angel Gurria congratulates President Obama on taking action to address the unsustainable situation of undocumented immigrants.

The Dominican Republic stands to benefit from integrating migration further into sectoral and national development strategies, says new joint OECD Development Centre – UNIBE report

In recent decades, Thailand has been an attractive destination for migrant workers due to its relatively high wages and its fast economic growth. A joint report by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organisation, How Immigrants contribute to Thailand’s economy, demonstrates the contribution of migrant workers and makes recommendations regarding the enhancement of this contribution.

This edition of Migration Policy Debates assesses the intergenerational transmission of the disadvantages encountered by migrants, in absolute and relative terms, and the conditions under which the native-born children of immigrants may be resilient in the face of the challenges of their parents’ generation. It summarises a recent OECD report (OECD, 2017) on this issue, funded by the European Commission.

The report provides an unprecedented analysis of immigrant workers’ contribution in three areas of the Dominican Republic’s economy: labour markets, economic growth and public finance. It shows that the labour market characteristics of immigrants and native-born workers in the Dominican Republic are very different.

Luxembourg allocated 0.97% of its gross national income, or USD 413 million, to official development assistance in 2011.“Luxembourg is the Development Assistance Committee’ s third most generous donor as a portion of its economy – after Sweden and Norway – and it has a high quality programme” says Brian Atwood, Chair of the DAC. “We commend Luxembourg’s commitment to keeping its ODA at 1% of GNI until 2014”.

Already one of the most generous providers of aid, Luxembourg has strengthened its development co-operation in recent years. It could build on this by setting out a clear vision for the future that factors in new risks of instability in fragile countries and ensures no vulnerable groups are overlooked, according to a new OECD Review.

Luxembourg’s economy has grown at a robust pace and has enviable levels of well-being, but public policy can do more to make growth sustainable and inclusive, according to a new report from the OECD.

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

OECD involvement is focussing on climate finance and investment to support low-carbon and climate-resilient growth; design and governance of carbon market mechanisms and the role of institutional investors in mobilising long-term green infrastructure investment.

Mexico is faced with difficult trade-offs as it pursues its economic, social and environmental goals. Like other emerging economies Mexico is balancing the need to protect its natural resources with the need to address high levels of income inequality and poverty.

The rise in international investment and trade in goods and services related to renewable energy has been rapid but not always smooth. This paper surveys, through the lenses of market-pull and technology-push policies, the numerous domestic incentives used by governments to promote renewable energy, focusing on those that might have implications for trade.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría will present a major address on the Organisation’s latest analysis of climate change, investment and energy policies in London on Wednesday 9 October, at 10:30am.

Environmental goods and services are now a bigger driver of Austria’s economy and job market than traditionally strong sectors like tourism and construction, thanks to the government’s policy of subsidising green investments, a new OECD report shows.

The latest Climate Change Report from the IPCC argues that human interference with the climate system is occurring, and climate change poses risks for human and natural systems. The report identifies eight major risks with high confidence, and says that each of these risks contributes to one of more of the five “reasons for concern”.

Colombia’s rich natural heritage as one of the world’s most bio-diverse countries is coming under increasing pressure from extractive industries, livestock grazing, urbanisation and car use, according to a new OECD report.

In many areas today, there is no such thing as a “natural” landscape. Thousands of years of farming have selected and encouraged some species, marginalised or eliminated others. The land itself has been altered by ploughing, enclosure, herding and other human interventions. We may feel that we have tamed Nature. Reports like this new one from the OECD remind us of our ignorance and warn us about our arrogance.

Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD congratulated the newly elected President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, for taking a bold first step in his economic reform agenda by substantially cutting fuel subsidies.

Please join me in an ode to the giant tortoise, recently confirmed to be back from near extinction on the Galapagos Espanola Island after conservation work that began forty years ago. Whoever thought this waddly wild wonk would be a model for humans to improve environment through adept household behaviour?

When considering a by-product, can this material or waste be used in another industry or in another manufacturing process instead of putting it into the environment, moving “from waste to resources” as the OECD says?

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.

"Back to the Future" festivities marking 21 October 2015 as the date Marty and Doc travel to the future in the famous film with Michael J. Fox. If only we had a similar time machine allowing us to travel to 2045 to see what the climate has in store to better decide what policies to adopt today. Alas, no time machine has been invented yet but, in the absence of such a cool device, we can rely on climate and economic models...

Countries everywhere have committed to fighting climate change but many are still subsidising fossil fuels, investing little in green technologies, failing to put a realistic price on carbon, and allowing transport emissions to grow. Much more can and should be done.

Given the years of preparation – and for some OECD colleagues, a life’s work – my hope was for an enduring, ambitious text, helping us to avoid climate catastrophe. My expectation was far less grand, more closely aligned to the reality of getting 195 countries to adopt an agreement with legal force.

“If He holds back the waters, there is drought; if He lets them loose, they devastate the land”. To be fair, that was in the days before governments played “a key role in developing targeted policy responses to market failures that impede the mitigation and allocation of drought and flood risks”, as the OECD report on Mitigating Droughts and Floods in Agriculture puts it.

Countries that implement stringent environmental policies do not lose export competitiveness when compared against countries with more moderate regulations, according to a new OECD study that examines trade in manufactured goods between advanced and emerging economies.

Advanced economies have reduced their consumption of raw materials and improved waste management, but more should be done to design and produce goods in a way that uses fewer natural resources and produces less waste, according to a new OECD report.

The theme of Biodiversity Day this year is “Mainstreaming biodiversity; sustaining people and their livelihoods”. According to World Bank figures, “natural capital accounts for an estimated 30% of total wealth in low income countries compared to only 2% in OECD countries”.

This paper details a methodology for calculating the extent of terrestrial and marine protected areas recorded in the World Database on Protected Areas by country, type and IUCN management categories. The method allows the data on protected areas to be summarised in a harmonised and more detailed way than is currently available, without requiring any additional reporting by countries.

The OECD’s third Environmental Performance Review of Switzerland finds that despite being one of the greenest OECD countries in terms of energy supply, greenhouse gas emissions and domestic material consumption per unit of GDP, Switzerland urgently needs to address pressures on its biodiversity.

The OECD proposes to conduct a first-of-its-kind review of Indonesia’s green growth policies, with the co-operation of four Ministries.

The world’s consumption of raw materials is set to nearly double by 2060 as the global economy expands and living standards rise, placing twice the pressure on the environment that we are seeing today, according to a new OECD report.

Emissions curbs set by the European Union’s Emissions Trading System, Europe’s main tool for reducing carbon emissions, have not hurt revenue, profits or employment at firms subject to the cap-and-trade programme over 2005-2014, according to a new OECD report.

At a time when nationalism is rising and individual countries are facing a growing array of threats, it is critical that we recognize a shared and unprecedented global challenge: We need to double our infrastructure in the next decade to meet global development needs, while achieving a systematic shift away from business-as-usual, carbon-intensive options to low-emissions, resilient infrastructure, to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Tourism has boomed in Indonesia in recent years and is already one of the main sources of foreign-currency earnings.

The OECD welcomes the release of voluntary G20 peer reviews of Indonesia and Italy’s efforts to phase out and rationalise their inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies at the 2nd meeting of G20 Energy Transitions Working Group under the Japanese Presidency in Toyama, Japan.

Climate change and outdoor air pollution are two of the most challenging environmental issues that modern society faces. This paper presents the first global analysis of the joint economic consequences of climate change and outdoor air pollution to 2060, in the absence of new policies to address these challenges.

The UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September marks a potential inflection point ahead of the start of the implementation of the Paris Agreement in 2020. This event will gather and encourage Heads of State and Government to deliver concrete actions to address climate change. Our planet is witnessing dramatic changes in its life-support ecosystems, demanding accelerated action and co-operation among interlinking policy areas...

Donor countries must do more to bring development finance in line with climate goals, raising the share used for climate action and reducing to zero the amount that supports new fossil fuel activities, according to a new OECD report.

Mexico is faced with difficult trade-offs as it pursues its economic, social and environmental goals. Like other emerging economies Mexico is balancing the need to protect its natural resources with the need to address high levels of income inequality and poverty.

Environmental goods and services are now a bigger driver of Austria’s economy and job market than traditionally strong sectors like tourism and construction, thanks to the government’s policy of subsidising green investments, a new OECD report shows.

This report develops an analytical framework that assesses the macroeconomic, environmental and distributional consequences of energy subsidy reforms. The framework is applied to the case of Indonesia to study the consequences in this country of a gradual phase out of all energy consumption subsidies between 2012 and 2020.

A new OECD publication highlights notable economic and environmental benefits of phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies in Indonesia. Interestingly, the study is based on the context that pertained until mid-2014, when international oil prices where high and before the recent phase-out of subsidies by the government.

Advanced economies have reduced their consumption of raw materials and improved waste management, but more should be done to design and produce goods in a way that uses fewer natural resources and produces less waste, according to a new OECD report.

Spurred by a rise in 2019 development aid, the OECD and its donor member countries are working to help the most vulnerable countries during the coronavirus crisis. Official development assistance (ODA) provided by OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members rose by 1.4% in real terms to USD 152.8 billion in 2019.