Stable growth momentum in the OECD area

The Japanese economy has gained momentum and is creating jobs, according to a new OECD report. The latest OECD Economic Survey of Japan, presented in Tokyo by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, says that per capita growth rates in recent years have matched those across the OECD – a major improvement. The Survey underlines the key role Abenomics has played in the economic revival.

Labour productivity in Japan is about a quarter below the average of the top half of OECD countries, which is surprising given Japan's outstanding performance in education and skills and high level of R&D spending.

The paper describes revisions to the trend labour efficiency component of the production function underpinning long-term economic scenarios.

The global economy is expected to pick up moderately but greater efforts are needed to ensure that the benefits from growth and globalisation are more widely shared, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

The job market continues to improve in the OECD area, with the employment rate finally returning to pre-crisis levels. But people on low and middle incomes have seen their wages stagnate and the share of middle-skilled jobs has fallen, contributing to rising inequality, according to a new OECD report.

The New Zealand economy continues enjoying a strong, broad-based expansion, driven by booming tourism, high net inward migration, solid construction activity and supportive monetary policy.

This paper explores cross-country differences in the design of insolvency regimes and their potential links with two inter-related sources of labour productivity weakness: the survival of "zombie" firms (firms that would typically exit in a competitive market) and capital misallocation.

Financial globalisation has given international capital flows a central role in the functioning of the global economy and has therefore led to considerable economic research over the past 30 years.

International trade plays an important role in the Estonian economy. Around a half of the private sector employment is sustained by foreign demand, twice as much as the OECD average.

Never in the past 30 years has productivity growth been lower than since the 2008 global financial crisis, and never has income inequality been higher than it is today in Japan, and in the OECD area

With gross government debt of 219% of GDP in 2016, Japan’s fiscal situation is in uncharted territory and puts the economy at risk.

Luxembourg’s large foreign-born population is a pillar of the country’s prosperity: they have brought skills and knowledge to many sectors of the economy.

Technological change is increasing the productivity of highly skilled workers but creating more challenging labour-market conditions for their low-skilled counterparts.

This paper analyses how technological progress embodied in capital goods raises productivity and income, while at the same time it can modify the allocation of consumption, investment and the capital stock.

The mixed growth performance of emerging market economies has revived angst about a "middle-income trap".

The Norwegian economy is performing well, despite low oil prices. Further reforms will be needed to diversify the economy, improve public spending efficiency and ensure that today’s high levels of income, well-being and equality are passed on to future generations, according to a new report from the OECD.

Las perspectivas de crecimiento favorable ofrecen a Chile una oportunidad para abordar sus bajos niveles de productividad comparados con los de otras economías desarrolladas, mejorar el acceso al empleo de calidad, y tomar medidas para reducir su desigualdad persistentemente alta, según un nuevo informe de la OCDE.

Chile has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the OECD in recent decades. Sound macroeconomic management, bold structural reforms, such as trade and investment liberalisation, and buoyant natural-resource sectors, supported fast convergence in living standards.However, progress has slowed: declining productivity gains are limiting prospects for rising incomes and better-quality jobs; and inequality remains stubbornly high.

OECD annual inflation stable at 2.2% in February 2018

This paper compares Finland’s benefit system with two benefit reform scenarios: a uniform benefit for all ("basic income") and a universal tapering rule ("universal credit").

OECD CLIs point to stable growth momentum in the OECD area

Markets and commentators are speculating that there may be a sustained pick-up in inflation in the United States, after years of subdued price pressures. Along with continued solid US jobs growth and low unemployment, there are tentative signs of higher wage growth and the fiscal stimulus will also boost short-term growth. Global growth is also getting stronger.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Athens on Monday 30 April 2018 to present the 2018 OECD Economic Survey of Greece, alongside Mr. Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece.

OECD appoints Laurence Boone as new Chief Economist

This paper examines an industry whose economic activity uses a natural capital on which its profit also relies.

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.

Imports in Singapore decreased to 39949.90 Million SGD in March from 40720.98 Million SGD in February of 2020. Imports in Singapore averaged 15210 Million SGD from 1964 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 44689.59 Million SGD in October of 2018 and a record low of 266.38 Million SGD in July of 1964. The biggest import product, with 43 percent share, is machinery and equipment (with electronics accounting for 60 percent). The country also imports: crude oil (32 percent), miscellaneous manufactures (7 percent) and chemical products (7 percent). Main import partners are: China (11 percent), Malaysia (11 percent), the United States (9 percent), South Korea (8 percent), Japan (6 percent) and Indonesia (5 percent). This page provides the latest reported value for - Singapore Imports - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Imports in Japan increased to 6352.93 JPY Billion in March from 5212.52 JPY Billion in February of 2020. Imports in Japan averaged 3061.86 JPY Billion from 1963 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 8047.03 JPY Billion in January of 2014 and a record low of 162.06 JPY Billion in January of 1963. In 2019 imports to Japan dropped 5 percent from the previous year's record high amid global trade tensions. Main imports were: mineral fuels (22 percent of total imports), with petroleum accounting for 10 percent and LNG for 6 percent; electrical machinery (15 percent) on the back of telephony, telegraphy and semiconductors; chemicals (10 percent) due to medical products and organic chemicals; machinery (10 percent) in particular computers and units; foodstuff (9 percent) such as fish and fish preparations and meat and meat preparations; manufactured goods (9 percent) on nonferrous metals; and raw materials (6 percent) mainly ore of nonferrous and iron ore and concentrates. Japan's main import partners were China (23 percent), the EU (12 percent) in particular Germany (3 percent), the US (11 percent), Australia (6 percent), South Korea (4 percent), Saudi Arabia (4 percent), Taiwan (4 percent), the UAE (4 percent) and Thailand (4 percent). This page provides the latest reported value for - Japan Imports - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Core consumer prices in Japan increased 0.40 percent in March of 2020 over the same month in the previous year. Core Inflation Rate in Japan averaged 2.48 percent from 1971 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 24.70 percent in October of 1974 and a record low of -2.40 percent in August of 2009. In Japan, the core inflation rate tracks changes in prices that consumers pay for a basket of goods which excludes prices of fresh food. This page provides - Japan Core Inflation Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Gains in female education attainment have contributed to a worldwide increase in women’s participation in the labour force, but considerable gaps remain in working hours, conditions of employment and earnings.  More specific data for Brazil are available in this country note.

Nos últimos anos, o crescimento econômico do Brasil teve o apoio de importantes investimentos e programas sociais do governo, que mobilizaram recursos em todo o país. Esses programas podem ajudar o Brasil a atingir seus objetivos de crescimento econômico sustentado e promover o desenvolvimento social, reduzindo as disparidades regionais.

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.

Hoje, a OCDE lança no Brasil, e na presença da lenda do futebol Pelé, o Índice para uma Vida Melhor totalmente em português. Este é o sexto idioma em que o site está disponível e a tradução permite que a OCDE alcance mais de 240 milhões de falantes de português ao redor do mundo.

This case study provides an overview of the Brazilian political financing system, including the applicable legislation, categories of political parties and funding, regulation mechanisms and transparency initiatives. It also reviews some of the tools provided to political actors to comply with the legal standards, and draft legislation designed to strengthen and reform the political funding system.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery reaffirms the importance of the independence of prosecutors and judges and is concerned that Brazil’s achievements in fighting corruption may be seriously jeopardised by recent legislative developments.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery is to send a high-level mission to Brasilia as soon as possible in November, to meet with senior officials, to reinforce the message that law enforcement capacity to investigate and prosecute foreign bribery should be preserved in order to ensure that Brazil remains able and committed to meeting its obligations under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery urges Brazil, one of the founding Parties to the Anti-Bribery Convention since 1997, to preserve the full capacity and independence of law enforcement authorities to investigate and prosecute foreign bribery and corruption.

This working paper offers an evaluation of the performance of the ports of the Seine Axis (Le Havre,Rouen, Caen and Paris).

The objective of this seminar was to facilitate the implementation of administrative simplification strategies in MENA countries and to deepen the knowledge about the use of ICT-tools and consultation processes with stakeholders.

This paper is part of the regional development working paper series covering water governance in Latin America and the Carribbean (LAC) countries.

This event explored the prospects of providing innovative, actionable information and advice to policymakers and other stakeholders, based on the results of contemporary research on complex dynamic systems.

Greater use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) can help Spain unlock governmental efficiencies and help prepare the country for future economic growth, according to a new study from the OECD.

This paper analyses the monetary and fiscal policy implications of output gap estimates in times of crisis. The widening of output gaps observed in major OECD economies in the wake of the recent crisis has been mainly due to total factor productivity gaps, except in the United States where it essentially resulted from a large increase in the unemployment gap.

In this paper we develop a simple analytical framework to analyze “good” and “bad equilibria” in public-debt and growth dynamics.

With gross government debt surpassing 200% of GDP, Japan’s fiscal situation is in uncharted territory. In addition to robust nominal GDP growth, correcting two decades of budget deficits requires a large and sustained fiscal consolidation based on a detailed and credible multi-year plan that includes measures to control spending and raise revenue.

This working paper presents the background and the details of the simulations behind Box 1.4 of the May 2013 OECD Economic Outlook. A small simulation model is used to evaluate the contribution that the three pillars of the government’s strategy – fiscal consolidation, growth-boosting structural reforms and higher inflation – could make to reversing the rise in Japan’s public debt ratio.

This report provides a framework to understand the changing relationships between urban and rural areas. Specifically, it documents the characteristics of these partnerships and the factors that can hinder as well as enable rural-urban co-operation.

A major flooding of the Seine River similar to the flood disaster of 1910 could affect up to 5 million residents in the greater Paris area and cause up to 30 billion euros worth of damage, according to a new OECD report.

The Netherlands is a global pioneer in water management with a long history of containing flood risks and reclaiming land from the sea. Yet it will need to adapt its water governance policies to meet the looming challenges of shifting demographics, regional development and climate change, according to an OECD report.