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.

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.

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

Malaysia has followed a comparatively equitable development path, largely eliminating absolute poverty and greatly reduced ethnic inequality.

Malaysia has followed a comparatively equitable development path, largely eliminating absolute poverty and greatly reduced ethnic inequality.

OECD Global Network of Schools of Government provides direct access to OECD governance expertise and enables exchange of schools’ experiences and good practices in ensuring that public sector employees have the skills and competencies to address current and future priorities.

Towards Gender Equality before the Law

As part of efforts to deepen co-operation between the OECD and Argentina and contribute to the country’s public policy and reform agenda, Argentina’s Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne has presented an Action Plan to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.

OECD promotes the exchange of experiences and good practices for the improvement of regulation among Latin American countries

A Job for Life? The old notion of a safe job in the civil service is profoundly changing - OECD Insights blog by Bill Below.

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?

Information is in no short supply these days. Indeed, as comedian Joey Novick has pointedly remarked: “The information in the world doubles every day. What they don’t tell us is that our wisdom is cut in half at the same time.”

This web page presents the 10 dimensions of the framework for the governance of public infrastructure. The dimensions relate to how governments prioritise, plan, budget, deliver, regulate and evaluate infrastructure investment. Each area covers the principal objective of policy in each area, followed by key questions decision makers need to address and indicators identifying the enabling factors.

It doesn’t feel like a great time to be an expert. Experts rely on facts, evidence and careful analysis to make assessments of the past, present, and future. All those categories—expertise, evidence and logical analysis—seem under attack. Equally importantly, public trust in the institutions that house experts has ebbed at an alarming rate over the last 40 years.

Democracy is a living organism; it is made by and for the people. And encouraging more people to participate surely strengthens democracy.

It is hardly surprising that rising inequality has translated into growing political disaffection, anti-market sentiment and disenchantment with globalisation. In such a context, we desperately need to take action to promote inclusive growth and restore public confidence in the power of policymakers to improve people’s lives.

The first generation of those born into the internet age is already joining the workforce and yet the internet still manages to disrupt. The phenomenon of fake news is one of the by-products of digital transformation and it is worth taking a look at what is new, and not so new, and how it fits in to the rest of what some are calling the “post-truth world”.

The 2017 OECD Forum takes place after a series of political upheavals few would have predicted scarcely twelve months ago. Divides have become more apparent between metropolises and capital cities on the one hand, and towns and villages on the other, between Millennials and pensioners, between the haves and the have-nots, between the best and the rest.

Tax reforms are crucial to promoting inclusive growth in India.

The 6th OECD workshop on Strategic Crisis Management will bring together government crisis managers and practitioners from international organisations, industry and leading think-tanks to discuss the key challenges faced by governments in managing critical infrastructure crises.

In relation to GDP, India's public debt and interest payments are high compared with most other emerging economies and rating agencies have put India's sovereign debt at the lowest investment grade.

Training Workshop on the elaboration and evaluation of regulatory impact assessment (RIA)

At the leader’s summit in Hamburg on July 7-8, 2017, the G20 High Level Principles on Combatting Corruption Related to Illegal Trade in Wildlife and Wildlife Products were launched as an annex to the Leaders’ Declaration. The Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade (TF-CIT) provided substantive input to this document throughout its development.

A new OECD/ EUIPO study maps counterfeit trade routes, and they’re complicated, writes Bill Below from the OECD Directorate for Public Governance.

This OECD assessment of the Constitutional Process Open to Citizens in Chile, identifies the lessons learned and advises on how to further improve citizen engagement in the policy making processes.

On 10 July, the Multi-level governance review of Chile “Making decentralisation work: towards stronger municipalities” was launched in Santiago in the framework of a conference organised by SUBDERE.

This OECD project on Linking indigenous communities with regional development aims to develop policy recommendations for OECD and partner countries to improve economic outcomes for indigenous communities by better linking them with regional development efforts.

The 2011 annual report on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises focuses on adhering countries' committment to new, stronger standards of corporate behaviour in the updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

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.

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.

Government, business, trade and civil society representatives came together at this panel session to discuss the first year of implementation following the 2011 Update of the Guidelines.

This paper charts the key changes in equity markets over the last decade or so which may affect the conditions for corporate governance. It also provides a brief overview of related policy discussions and selected national initiatives that have been taken as a response to equity market developments.

Boards of directors of SOEs play a fundamental role in corporate stewardship and performance. Over the last decade, OECD governments have sought to professionalise SOE boards, ensure their independence and shield them from ad hoc political intervention. In general these approaches have worked; yet, more remains to be done. This report seeks to shed slight on good practices drawing on national practices from over 30 economies.

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 study provides critical observations on the state of key global equity markets as recent developments have put into question their efficiency and effectiveness in facilitating capital formation. It covers the top 26 initial public offering (IPO) producing nations, with a particular focus on stock markets in the United States.

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.

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 report evaluates the corporate governance practices of Colombian SOEs against the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. The assessment was prepared based on information provided by the Colombian authorities, an analysis of the available literature and interviews with authorities, consultants, academics, and company as well as stakeholder representatives.

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 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 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.

This survey was presented at the Informal ministerial meeting on responsible business conduct held in Paris on 26 June 2014.

Investment treaties are often thought to be silent on investors’ responsibilities to host societies and on their contributions to sustainable development. This paper establishes a factual and statistical basis for understanding the relationship between investment treaty law and governments’ ability to advance the sustainable development agenda and promote responsible business conduct.

This paper examines shareholder claims for reflective loss under investment treaties in light of comparative analysis of advanced systems of corporate law; considers the impact of allowing shareholder claims for reflective loss on key characteristics of the business corporation; and explores possible responses by different categories of investors to the availability of shareholder claims for reflective loss under investment treaties.

The OECD made the draft text of the revised OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises available for public comment between May and September 2014. The public consultation is now closed.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría today welcomed the passage into law of Latvia's “Public Persons Enterprises and Capital Shares Governance Law”.

26-27 November 2014 – Lusaka, Zambia: This meeting focused on combating corruption and promoting responsible business conduct in SOEs and was followed by a workshop on the governance of SOEs operating in the power generation industry. Participants launched and adopted the Guidelines on the Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Southern Africa.

The Principles are being reviewed to ensure their continuing high quality, relevance and usefulness, taking into account recent developments in the corporate sector and capital markets. The OECD invited public comment on the draft revised text. Deadline for comment: Now closed.