Time flies as we try to catch up with our busy lives amidst the urban jungles.

Rajasthan is a historically and culturally rich land. It is also known as Rajputana because of the long history of Rajput rulers. The forts and buildings in Rajasthan are living examples of ekistics of the Rajput rulers.

The transition from school to work in Germany is remarkably smooth. An excellent vocational education and training (VET) system ensures that young people are well-prepared when they enter the labour market and can find jobs that match their qualifications.

To help inform the Conference on Managing Hospital Volumes, co-organised by the German Federal Ministry of Health and the OECD, and held on the 11th April 2013 in Berlin, the OECD Secretariat produced a paper to provide an international perspective on Germany’s situation and the current policy debate.

Carbon taxes and emission trading systems are the most cost-effective means of reducing CO2 emissions, and should be at the centre of government efforts to tackle climate change,according to a new OECD study.

Recovery is under way in the world’s advanced economies, underpinned by supportive financial conditions and reduced drag from budgetary tightening, but activity in the major emerging markets is mixed, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Assessment.

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría welcomes the initiative of President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel to put forward a structural and ambitious response to the current refugee crisis.

This country note provides an environmental tax and carbon pricing profile for Germany. It shows environmentally related tax revenues, taxes on energy use and effective carbon rates.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) published today the first 10 outcomes of a new and enhanced peer review process aimed at assessing compliance with international standards for the exchange of information on request between tax authorities.

This note presents marginal effective tax rates (METRs) that summarise the tax system’s impact on the incentives to make an additional investment in a particular type of savings. By comparing METRs on different types of household savings, we can gain insights into which assets or savings types receive the most favourable treatment from the tax system.

The German standard VAT rate is 19.0%, which is close to the OECD average. The average VAT/GST¹ standard rate in the OECD was 19.3% as of 1 January 2019. The previous standard VAT rate in Germany was 16% in 2006. It changed to the current level in 2007. Germany applies a reduced rate of 7% to a number of goods and services.

This country note explains how Germany taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Germany decreased by 0.1 percentage points from 49.5 in 2018 to 49.4 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Germany had the 2nd highest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

Mexico has experienced a stronger economic recovery than most other OECD countries accompanied by strong employment growth.

This study looks into the use of fixed term contracts and agency work in Russia during and shortly after the crisis 2009 10 with the help of an enterprise survey.

The main purpose of this meeting is to shortly present where the Mental Health and Work project stands and to discuss some good practice examples from the first countries that have been reviewed.

High female participation in the workforce has a decisive effect on a country’s performance, as Norway shows.

This paper discusses the results of the 2011-2012 OECD LEED study of measuring green growth in the Benelux countries (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg). The study paid particular attention to the challenges of measuring the transition to a low-carbon economy in cross-border areas as they have additional levels of complexity when it comes to measuring and monitoring their low-carbon transition.

The creation of innovative new firms and the development of SME innovation are strongly influenced by the extent to which localities offer environments that favour the transfer of knowledge to local business and provide the other resources required for innovative firm development, including skills, finance, advice, and supply chain partners.

As G20 leaders look distraught at a global economy that is faced with weak growth, high unemployment and rising income inequality, they should repeat to themselves that this is not inevitable.

OECD Development Centre, ECLAC and CAF to launch their joint Latin American Economic Outlook 2015 at the XXIV Ibero-American Summit on Tuesday 9 December 2014

This expert seminar aims to get a better understanding of the features, limitations and preliminary findings from the use of SIBs, and to a lesser extent, of DIBs in developing countries from a multidimensional and multi-stakeholder perspective.

Latvia should step up its efforts to improve the employment prospects of young people by continuing to reform its vocational education system and pursuing the commitments made as part of the Youth Guarantee to further reduce the share of young people under 30 who are not in employment, education or training.

Latvia faces a huge demographic challenge. Since restoration of its independence in 1991, the country lost more than a quarter of its resident population.The report "Investing in Youth: Latvia" states that investing in youth, by upgrading skills and promoting employment, is a priority if Latvia wants to offer its young people a positive outlook and address the demographic challenge.

Average wages can vary markedly between socio-economic groups (gender, native- and foreign-born; high-skilled and low-skilled parents; workers of different ethnicities; age). These differences between groups of workers contribute to high overall wage inequality.

This study will analyse how selected local areas/industry clusters identify the specific skills needed to support green growth and how related skills policies and practices can be made more effective in supporting their provision and accelerating transition to a low-carbon economy.

Tax incentives are used widely across OECD countries to incentivise individuals to invest in education and training, but are they effective? Recent evidence from the USA highlights the risk of creating overly complex systems in which the embedded incentives are no longer fully understood by individuals. This carries an important lesson for other countries in designing their own tax measures for skills investments.

Reforms that boost growth by enhancing economic flexibility often meet strong opposition related to concerns that they may imply adverse consequences for categories of workers. This study investigates how making product or labour market regulation more flexible changes workers’ risks of moving out of employment and jobless people’s chances of becoming employed.

New well-being data released today expose deep divisions in our society along fault lines of age, wealth, gender and education. The OECD’s latest How’s Life? report shows that while some aspects of well-being have improved since 2005, too many people are unable to share the benefits of the modest recovery that is underway in many OECD countries.

"Bridget Jones's Baby"; Director: Sharon Maguire; Cast: Renee Zellwefer, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Emma Thompson, Sarah Solemani; Rating: ***

Layered with metaphors and allegories that give varied meanings to the narration, on the surface, the film is the adventure of a young boy named Jake (Asa Butterfield), who shuttles in time.

Director: Ang Lee; Cast: Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, Makenzie Leigh, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin, Brain "Astro" Bradley, Arturo Castro.

This Guide provides concrete recommendations of high impact reforms to simplify the processes of business start ups, construction permits, property registration, procurement, and to upgrade regulatory transparency and efficiency in the management of formalities in Mexico.

Indonesia has improved its macro-economic and structural policies over the last 15 years. Its economy, with strong and stable growth rates of 5–6.6%, is catching up with other countries in the region and allowing Indonesia to focus on its development agenda.

The OECD and the Municipality of San Luis Potosí in Mexico launched a programme to improve municipal formalities according to the OECD Guide.

Workshop held in The Hague on 17-18 June 2014 to evaluate stakeholder engagement in regulatory policy

The tramitesmetepec.mx website organises formalities by “life events”, facilitating the search of information for citizens and entrepreneurs, and reducing the cost of regulatory compliance.

The main objective of this meeting was to create a Latin American Network to contribute to the better functioning of markets and the improvement of public services in Latin American countries.

Launch of the OECD programme for regulatory improvement in the Municipality of Torreon, Mexico.

The Municipality of San Luis Potosi scores an 87% progress in implementing the OECD Guide to Improve the Quality of State and Municipal Regulations.

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

OECD will measure the impact of digitalising the Mexican Social Security Institute formalities and guide future efforts on simplification

Reforms that boost growth by enhancing economic flexibility often meet strong opposition related to concerns that they may imply adverse consequences for categories of workers. This study investigates how making product or labour market regulation more flexible changes workers’ risks of moving out of employment and jobless people’s chances of becoming employed.

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

Mexico’s 2013 telecom reform has brought tangible benefits, spurring competition that has increased access and brought down mobile Internet costs from among the highest in advanced economies to among the lowest.

OECD WBG Sector Indicators in Excel

Luxembourg must step up its efforts to detect and prosecute cases of bribery of foreign public officials, particularly now that its legal framework has been strengthened, in compliance with the Anti-Bribery Convention

Mexico has improved, but needs to give greater priority to the criminal enforcement of bribery and ensure that its criminal law enforcement authorities have all the resources and expertise they need to seriously investigate all allegations, according to a new OECD report.

The Phase 3 Report on Italy by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates and makes recommendations on Italy's implementation and application of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related instruments.

Colombia and Mexico are a step closer to beneffiting from cross border tax co-operation and information sharing. Colombia has signed, and Mexico has deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.