Portugal has one of the most unequal income distributions in Europe and poverty levels are high. The economic crisis has halted a long-term gradual decline in both inequality and poverty and the number of poor households is rising, with children and youths being particularly affected. Unemployment is one of the principal reasons why household incomes declined.

With gross government debt of 226% of GDP, Japan’s fiscal situation is in uncharted territory and puts the economy at risk. Japan needs a detailed and credible fiscal consolidation plan, including specific revenue increases and measures to control spending to restore its fiscal sustainability.

Healthcare costs are rising so fast in advanced economies that they will become unaffordable by mid-century without reforms, according to a new OECD report.

On the eve of the launch of the OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook, Bill Below looks at the world of intertemporal policy trade-offs and why it can be difficult for politicians to focus on longer-term regulatory projects.

Ministers and cabinet-level officials from OECD countries and beyond will participate to help determine how we shape the policy cycle to deliver inclusive outcomes.

Governments should do more to improve the design and delivery of new laws, as even small efforts to fix regulatory shortcomings can have a tangible positive impact on economic activity and well-being, according to a new OECD report.

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

Brazil has made significant progress in building a reputation for sound fiscal policy since it passed the Fiscal Responsibility Law in 2000. In recent years, however, the fiscal situation has become more difficult as public spending and gross debt have risen.

Recent reforms have made pension systems more financially sustainable and pensioners have higher living standards than ever before. But future generations are likely to find their pension entitlements much less generous than today’s and many may face a serious risk of pensioner poverty, according to a new OECD report.

Mayors and ministers gathered for the 6th OECD Roundtable concluded that the solution to climate change will happen in cities. National governments alone will not be able to tackle environmental challenges, sustainable development should include cities and their governments as main stakeholders. Creating sustainable cities is a global agenda and Habitat III is an opportunity to shape the global urban agenda for the next 20 years.

This paper analyses income inequality in Ireland using a new panel dataset based on the administrative tax records of the Revenue Commissioners for Ireland.

TThe economic literature suggests that a revenue-neutral shift of tax revenues from income taxes to property taxes would increase GDP per capita in the medium term. This paper analyses for Ireland the consequences of such a shift in the tax mix.

The Regional Development Policy Division was honoured to have been selected by the Regional Studies Association (RSA) to receive the Institutional Ambassador Award 2015 on 18 November. The award is in recognition of the high calibre of reports and measurement tools produced by the Regional Development Policy Committee and its supporting Working Parties.

This Recommendation offers a whole-of-government policy arsenal commonly agreed upon among OECD Members that governments can use to close remaining gender gaps in public life, scale up inclusive approaches to policy making and public service delivery, and monitor continuous progress.

This paper re-estimates the elasticities of government revenue and expenditure items with respect to the output gap for OECD countries. These elasticities are used by the OECD to calculate cyclically adjusted fiscal balances. The study updates the earlier 2005 study using the most recent datasets and tax codes, the coverage being confined in this paper to 35 countries, the 34 OECD member states and Latvia.

Reforms over the past two decades have produced a well-balanced, modern tax system. However, considerable revenues will be needed in the years ahead to expand social spending and infrastructure in order to raise growth and well-being. The challenge is to generate these revenues without penalising growth or exacerbating inequality.

This OECD Regulatory Policy Working Paper presents the methodology, key results and statistical analysis of the 2015 Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance (iREG) to complement the OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook 2015.

This OECD Regulatory Policy Working Paper relies on an empirical stocktaking of mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) among selected OECD countries. It aims to build a greater understanding of the benefits and pitfalls of one of the 11 mechanisms of international regulatory co-operation.

Many economically advanced countries are failing to fully enforce regulations on political party funding and campaign donations or are leaving loopholes that can be exploited by powerful private interest groups, according to a new OECD report.

Study outlining how OECD countries are dealing with the challenges of Open Government Data with a special chapter on the policy context of OGD in the United Arab Emirates.

This paper examines the potential contribution of RIA to better incorporating the inclusive growth perspective in regulatory decision-making.

This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the efficiency of welfare spending in a sample of OECD countries around 2012, focussing on health care, secondary education and general public services.

Despite having low government spending, Switzerland scores highly in various public policy outcomes, including health, education and transportation. But, as the population grows and ages, efficiency of public spending will have to rise to maintain low tax rates.

This paper analyses two-way interactions between monetary policy and inequality in selected advanced economies. In the context of a highly accommodative monetary stance over recent years, the analysis focuses on the effects of monetary policy on inequality over the business cycle via its impacts on returns on assets, the cost of debt servicing and asset prices.

OECD countries have agreed to work towards greater gender equality in public life – including in governments, parliaments and judiciaries – with concrete measures to improve women’s access to leadership and decision-making roles and integrate more of a gender perspective into public policies.

Paris, 8 March 2016: Organised on International Women's Day, the OECD hosted a conference to consider policy approaches to closing leadership gender gaps in the public and corporate sectors.

16 March 2016, Paris: Chaired by the Italian Minister of Justice, Andrea Orlando, the OECD will host a Ministerial Meeting on the Anti-Bribery Convention to discuss measures to strengthen implementation of the Convention and to exchange ideas on combating foreign bribery and emerging issues.

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

Mayors from cities across the United States, Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America gathered in New York to launch a global campaign to address rising inequalities and foster inclusive growth in their cities, in their countries and worldwide.

Blog examining how corruption can have a negative impact on citizens health, and underlines the difficulties of controlling trade networks and examines how illicit trade continues to evolve.

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.

Japan must make revitalising growth its number one priority with reforms to boost productivity and encourage more women and older people into jobs to compensate for its rapidly shrinking labour force, according to the OECD.

Imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5% of global imports, with US, Italian and French brands the hardest hit and many of the proceeds going to organised crime, according to a new report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

International trade is a motor of the global economy and represents increasingly large volumes of exchanged goods, services, and financial flows. Yet, corruption in the trade chain hampers economic activity and entails important health and safety risks for societies.The 2016 OECD Integrity Forum will put the spotlight on this hidden tariff.

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.

Discussion of progress to enhance regulatory quality and promote inclusive economic growth in the Latin American region.

Blog article asks if our democratic processes are more responsive to the rich than they are to the poor and the middle class?

While infrastructure investment remains a key focus of international efforts to jump start growth in OECD countries and trigger sustainable economic development elsewhere, it presents a range of challenges for policy makers. This report finds that in many cases, it is governance problems rather than financing, that are responsible for sub-optimal outcomes.

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.

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.

Significant corruption, labour, human rights and environmental risks are associated with the organisation of large sporting events. The OECD has instruments and expertise in implementation of complex projects can help host governments, event organisers and their business partners ensure that the world of sport remains associated with the traditional values of excellence and fair play.

Internet access and use is growing in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), but the region needs to move faster in adding broadband infrastructure, expanding access and services and equipping people with the right skills for firms and households to fully benefit, according to a new OECD report.

Ministers and high-level representatives from 41 countries and the European Union committed today at the closure of the OECD’s 2016 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to work together to preserve an open Internet, close digital divides, promote digital skills and generally do more to seize the potential of the digital economy.

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.