The economic crisis has hit certain regions and cities harder than others in the OECD area, calling for better regional policies across levels of governments to foster an inclusive and sustainable recovery, according to two new OECD reports.

The OECD High Level Risk Forum (HLRF) brings together policy makers from government, practitioners from the private sector and civil society, and experts from think tanks and academia to identify and share good practices with the aim to deepen understanding of how to govern and manage complex national risks.

Strengthening OECD firewalls can only do so much to combat a phenomenon which thrives on weak governance. This report highlights that donor agencies can support this goal through their central role in linking OECD and developing countries, and using their aid to support governments willing to tackle these issues.

This review addresses the territorial dimension of a range of policy challenges in the Ukraine, including Ukraine's productivity challenge, large inter-regional disparities, and need for decentralisation.

Recommendation of the OECD Council on Effective Public Investment Across Levels of Government

This is the spring 2014 edition of the regional development policy newsletter.

Co-organised by the Italian Co-Chair of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group and the OECD, participants discussed progress in advancing the key elements of the global anti-corruption agenda and innovative solutions to address the latest challenges facing countries, business and civil society.

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

The OECD Framework for Regulatory Policy Evaluation assists countries in systematically evaluating the design and implementation of regulatory policy, against the achievement of strategic regulatory objectives.

The Japan-OECD Policy Forum on Urban Development and Green Growth will address cities’ unique role in creating synergies between environmental and economic objectives to advance green growth. Asian cities in particular are at the centre of this challenge. This event is organised as a commemorative event for the 50th Anniversary of Japan's Accession to the OECD.

This workshop provided practical information and learning through case studies, group exercises and presentations from government officials with extensive experience in applying regulatory impact assessment (RIA) systems.

An overview of vents and reports on Regional Development Policy for Autumn 2014.

While the outlook for many OECD countries remains subdued, Emerging Asia is set for healthy growth over the medium term. Annual GDP growth for the ASEAN -10, China and India is forecast to average 6.5% over 2015-19. Growth momentum remains robust in the 10 ASEAN countries, with economic growth averaging 5.6% over 2015-19.

MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries are looking for ways to build a strategic public sector capacity to enable full women’s empowerment in society and public life in a sustainable manner. They also seek to ensure conformity with international standards related to issues of gender equality and human rights.

The objective of this workshop was to provide basic facts and theory related to RIA and best practices when undertaking RIA.

This country review series assesses countries public governance ability in delivering government objectives and determines their preparedness to meet current and future challenges.

The Government of Mexico have requested an OECD Integrity Review focusing on anti-corruption, conflict of interest prevention and integrity in the public service.

This report is the first joint OECD Public Governance Review between two countries. The Report discusses challenges in whole-of-government strategy steering and the opportunities of digital government.

China needs a new model of urbanisation to match the shift to a new model of growth. For decades, both urbanisation and growth have been based on robust export demand, cheap labour, cheap land and artificially low pricing of environmental externalities. None of these can support growth or urban development in the future.

Colombia has engaged in a sustained process of fiscal decentralisation over the past decades. Evidence is presented that the current framework is conducive to fiscal sustainability, especially after the reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

This paper contributes to the scarce literature on the macroeconomic effects of property taxes, in particular on the relationships between property taxes, house prices and the wider economy.

Newsletter for OECD Regional Development Policy giving an overview of projects from January-June 2015.

Better access to and use of public sector information (PSI), including open government data, are inter-related parts of the shift towards knowledge-based economies, and drivers of innovation, growth and employment. PSI can be used directly to generate products and services, and it contributes in a wide variety of ways to improving efficiency and productivity across the economy (including within the public sector).

The Public Governance Review of Lithuania was launched in Vilnius on 19 June 2015 as part of the closing event of Lithuania’s Open Progress Forum "Innovative Public Sector – Mission (Im)possible?".

Governments should set prudent debt targets to ensure that public finances serve to promote economic growth and stability, according to new OECD research.

The recent droughts in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states have exposed the need to shift from crisis management to effective risk governance of the country’s water resources, according to a new OECD report.

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.

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.

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

The 5th OECD High Level Risk Forum (HLRF) brought together policy makers from 30 governments, practitioners from the private sector and experts from think tanks and academia to share good practices with the aim to improve the governance and management of complex risks.

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 report analyses the strengths and weaknesses of Ireland’s system of parliamentary engagement in budgeting, and outlines a number of proposals for reform.

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.

Through measurement, reviews, the identification of good practices and policy dialogue, the OECD seeks to better understand, track and help to improve access to justice.

This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and economy-wide disposable income inequality.

The public consultation took place from 1 August to 31 October 2016.

Using fiscal levers to escape the low-growth trap

The role of fiscal policy has been at the heart of the policy debate since the financial crisis. With the global economy stuck in a low-growth trap and monetary policy overburdened, it is time to re-assess the use of fiscal policy levers.

This paper reviews the key issues concerning the impact of public spending and taxation on long-run growth and inequality and takes stock of existing theoretical and empirical studies.

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

This paper exploits firm-level data from the ORBIS database to assess international tax planning by multinational enterprises (MNEs).

This paper assesses the redistribution of foreign direct investments (FDI) and tax revenues among countries due to multinationals’ response to international differences in corporate tax systems.

This paper surveys the theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between local taxation, land use regulation and land use patterns.

In 1998 Indonesia embarked on an ambitious course of decentralisation. Over a period of a few years, facilitated by financial transfers from the central government, responsibility for many public services and administrative tasks were devolved to local authorities.

The event, organised by the OECD Directorate for Public Governance in cooperation with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Campbell Collaboration and the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA), developed a strategic agenda for the OECD on how to connect policy evidence on what works and what doesn’t.

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.

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.

This publication catalogues national practices that illustrate implementation of aspects or elements of competitive neutrality and highlights examples of challenges that may be encountered.