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.

As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approach their expiry date, we must focus our efforts on ensuring a brighter, more inclusive and sustainable future for all. We face a plethora of common issues: growing inequalities; changing consumption patterns and population dynamics; increasing natural resource scarcity; and ongoing illicit financial flows.

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.

This chapter from the 2015 OECD Business and Finance Outlook examines the potential impact of an environment of protracted low interest rates on pension systems and life insurance companies. It describes the mechanisms through which prolonged low interest rates can affect the solvency position of these institutions and uses available data to assess potential impacts.

Amsterdam, 20-21 April 2016: This symposium addressed the challenges of financial resilience throughout life and the importance of financial education.

The OECD, UN Environment and World Bank Group today called on leaders of G20 countries to do more to enable a radical shift of investment into low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure as a way to limit the impact of climate change.

Two rounds of the Survey of Adult Skills are under way: Round 1 (2008-13) with 24 participating countries, whose results were released in October 2013, and Round 2 (2012-16) with 9 participating countries, whose results will be released in 2016. A third round is scheduled to begin in May 2014.

This note presents selected findings based on the set of well-being indicators published in How's Life? 2020.

The pace of reform has accelerated in those OECD countries where it is needed most, says the latest Going for Growth report. It identifies the specific action needed to help governments steer their economies out of the crisis, stimulate growth and create jobs.

The Jobs Potential of a Shift towards a low-carbon Economy” provides an in-depth analysis of how green growth will reshape labour markets. It also describes the role that labour market and skill policies can play in maximising the benefits of economic greening for workers

The balance of economic power is expected to shift dramatically over the next half century, with fast-growing emerging-market economies accounting for an ever-increasing share of global output, according to a new OECD report.

After a decade of relatively strong growth, Latin America is facing headwinds associated with declining trade, a moderation in commodity prices and increasing uncertainty over external financial conditions, according to the latest Latin American Economic Outlook jointly produced by the OECD Development Centre, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC) and CAF - Development Bank of Latin America.

The global economy will strengthen over the coming two years, but urgent action is still required to further reduce unemployment and address other legacies from the crisis, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

Canada has experienced solid economic growth since the global crisis, allowing it to reverse recession-induced job losses and put federal public finances on a sound footing, says the OECD. Growth is expected to accelerate from 2.5% this year to 2.7% in 2015.

People’s well-being has generally progressed since the early 20th century across a large part of the world, according to new research published by a consortium of economic historians (CLIO-INFRA) and produced in collaboration with the OECD and OECD Development Centre.

The global economy remains stuck in low gear, but is expected to accelerate gradually if countries implement growth-supportive policies. Widening differences across countries and regions are adding to the major risks on the horizon, according to the advanced G20 release of the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

In a majority of OECD countries, GDP growth over the past three decades has been associated with growing income disparities. To shed some lights on the potential sources of trade-offs between growth and equity, this paper investigates the long-run impact of structural reforms on GDP per capita and household income distribution.

Norway has taken some good initiatives to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, but needs to establish overarching policies and strategies, and address significant weaknesses in a number of key areas, according to a new report by the Financial Action Task Force.

The Colombian economy has done remarkably well over the last decade, consistently ranking among the fastest-growing countries in Latin America, but a comprehensive tax reform that promotes investment and diversifies the economy is now needed to put the country on a path toward stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Colombia.

Cambiare il quadro politico-istituzionale in Italia è fondamentale per garantire che le ambiziose riforme in corso rilancino la crescita e aumentino la qualità della vita, secondo un nuovo rapporto dell’OCSE.

Luxembourg weathered the global economic crisis well, but must take additional steps to foster the diversification of the economy while ensuring the continuing health of its financial sector, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Luxembourg.

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.

This paper first decomposes labour productivity growth over 2000-11 into a within-industry, a shift and a cross effect in a number of countries and compares China with other countries over this period. This shift-share analysis also allows a comparison of within-sector productivity gains across a large number of sectors and countries.

Economic recovery is progressing in the world’s advanced economies, but stagnating world trade and deteriorating conditions in financial markets are curbing growth prospects in many of the major emerging economies, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Outlook.

Children are paying a high price for today’s growing inequality, according to a new OECD report.

This paper analyses the characteristics of firms that operate at the global productivity frontier and their relationship with other firms in the economy, focusing on the diffusion of global productivity gains and the policies that faciliate it.

Switzerland’s recent economic performance has been impressive, but with growth now slowing new reforms will be necessary to maintain high levels of prosperity and ensure future well-being, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Switzerland.

A UK exit from the EU would immediately hit confidence and raise uncertainty which would result in GDP being 3% lower by 2020, which equates to £ 2200 per household. The OECD states that such costs are already piling up in a new study released today.

The pace of structural reforms is slowing just when the world economy needs decisive policy actions to strengthen fundamentals and restore healthy growth (the 2016 Going for Growth report). Policy makers may be concerned that introducing structural reforms in the current context involve trade-offs between the mid- to long-run gains in employment and productivity and short-run losses.

Labour market mobility in the European Union is increasing, but it remains too low to provide sufficient adjustment in the face of diverging labour market developments.

This document describes and discusses a new supply side framework that quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income in OECD countries.

This document describes and discusses a new supply side framework that quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income in OECD countries.

Productivity growth will be the main driver of global economic growth and prosperity over the coming decades. For New Zealand, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity, as NZ productivity is below that of leading OECD countries.

This paper contributes to the empirical literature investigating reasons for the fall in real interest rates in advanced economies.

Não obstante o progresso significativo conseguido, melhorar as competências e as qualificações continua a ser um dos principais desafios que Portugal enfrenta para aumentar o crescimento, os níveis de vida e o bem-estar.

While overall poverty is relatively low in France, it can be highly concentrated at the neighbourhood level.

Austria’s transition to a digital economy and society is slower than in other high-income small open European economies.

This paper estimates and quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income for a large set of OECD and non-OECD countries.

Switzerland makes more use of its human resources than most other OECD countries. Labour force participation is high and the unemployment rate low for most segments of society.

This paper summarises earlier OECD work aimed at quantifying the impact of structural reforms on economic outcomes.

This paper presents country-specific effects of structural reforms. It discusses how sizeable and interesting country-specific effects can be identified in a panel setting by conditioning the impact of individual policies on their own level or on the stance of other policies and institutions.

This paper uses a novel data set of digital technology usage covering 25 industries in 25 European countries over the 2010-16 period to explore the drivers of digital adoption across two broad sets of digital technologies by firms, cloud computing and back or front office integration.

Since the start of the Great Recession, labour productivity growth has been weak in the United Kingdom, weaker than in many other OECD countries.

Stronger cross-border economic and financial integration implies that macroeconomic shocks in one country are increasingly likely to spill over into other economies.

The global economic expansion appears to have peaked, with diverging growth prospects worldwide and intensifying risks, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Outlook.

To assess the cyclical position of an economy, macroeconomists use a concept called potential output, which measures the economy’s production rate that is consistent with stable inflation at the target.

After a decade of relatively strong growth, Latin America is facing headwinds associated with declining trade, a moderation in commodity prices and increasing uncertainty over external financial conditions, according to the latest Latin American Economic Outlook jointly produced by the OECD Development Centre, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC) and CAF - Development Bank of Latin America.

Today, the OECD launched the Portuguese version of its Better Life Index in Brazil with football legend Pelé. The Portuguese version is the site’s 6th language edition, enabling the OECD to reach over 240 million Portuguese speakers across the globe.

Brazil remains a fairly closed economy, with small trade flows relative to its share of world income. This paper explores the effects of three possible policy reforms to strengthen Brazil’s integration into global trade: a reduction in import tariffs, less local content requirements and a full zero-rating of exports in indirect taxes.

Current carbon prices are falling short of the levels needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, but even moderate price increases could have a significant impact, according to new OECD research.