Composite leading indicators continue to point to stable pace of expansion in the OECD area

OECD unemployment rate stable at 5.9% in May 2017

Israel disability pension note July 2017

The Slovenian economy is rebounding after a long downturn, experiencing stronger growth, declining unemployment, healthier public finances and renewed income convergence with more advanced European economies. Further reforms are now needed to increase investment, boost productivity, improve living standards and ensure that all Slovenians benefit from inclusive growth, according to a new report from the OECD.

Employment and hours worked are already at the highest since independence. The unemployment rate has fallen below historical norms. Nevertheless, more qualified people are needed.

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

This paper analyses for 34 OECD countries the extent to which the calculation of aggregate multi-factor productivity (MFP) is sensitive to alternative parameterisations.

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.

Norway’s success in maintaining high living standards, low inequality and good progress in gender balance owes much to its business sector.

A favourable growth outlook offers Chile an opportunity to address its low productivity levels compared to other advanced economies, improve access to quality jobs and take steps to reduce its persistently high inequality, according to a new OECD report.

In Finland, as elsewhere, income taxation and the withdrawal of benefits reduce the pay-off for individuals who go from benefits to work.

Governments must implement comprehensive structural reform programmes to sustain stronger, greener and more inclusive growth that will extend beyond the current cyclical upswing, according to the OECD’s annual Going for Growth report.

Thailand has made remarkable socio-economic progress over the past several decades. Even so, rising prosperity has not been shared equally across the country. Today, Thailand strives to pursue a development path to benefit all, seeking to reinvigorate economic transformation and reduce multifaceted inequalities in the face of a rapidly ageing population and technological change.

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").

Reforming the public sector, long a priority for Thailand, involves several challenges. Among these, insufficient public participation in policy-making is undermining the efficient allocation of resources toward public needs and development goals.

Network sectors (energy, transport and communications) have undergone a process of liberalisation in Greece in more than a decade.

As discussed in the latest OECD Economic Outlook, the prolonged undershooting of inflation targets, despite massive monetary policy stimulus and stronger economic growth and lower unemployment, raises issues about the appropriateness of current inflation targeting frameworks in advanced economies. While the frameworks differ in detail and implementation, they are principally based on medium-term inflation objectives of 2%.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in The Hague on 2 July 2018 to present the 2018 OECD Economic Survey of The Netherlands. While in The Hague, the Secretary-General will hold bilateral meetings with several Ministers and high-level officials of The Netherlands.

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

Stable growth momentum in the OECD area

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Prague on 16 July 2018 on an official visit. He will present the 2018 OECD Economic Survey and the Environmental Performance Review of the Czech Republic.

Canada is one of the OECD economies delivering the best outcomes for its citizens, especially in regards to self-reported well-being, personal security and health status. Canada is also undertaking several programmes to foster inclusive growth – with respect to childcare benefits, gender equality and social housing.

This paper provides robust empirical evidence that government effectiveness is a key determinant of sovereign defaults.

In a growing number of OECD countries policymakers are designing specific regulations for lending-based crowdfunding platforms.

How can government policies move towards increasing agricultural innovation and improving productivity? This OECD conference shared case studies and ideas from Europe, China, United States, India, Africa, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

Brazil’s strong economic growth has helped cut the youth unemployment rate over the past decade to levels below those of most OECD countries. Increased investment in education and vocational training is also helping young people get a foot in the jobs market, according to a new OECD report.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. To date, students representing more than 70 economies have participated in the assessment.

Strong crop yields, higher productivity and slower growth in global demand should contribute to a gradual decline in real prices for agricultural products over the coming decade, but nonetheless, prices will likely remain at levels above those in the early-2000s, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook report produced by the OECD and FAO.

Sustaining high agricultural growth is critical to Brazil's overall development given the importance of agriculture and agro-industries to the national economy and the resource potential that has yet to be exploited.

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.

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.

Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC) GDP will shrink by between 0.9% and 1% in 2016, according to the latest estimates, the second consecutive year of negative growth and a rate of contraction the region has not seen since the early 1980s. According to the Latin American Economic Outlook 2017, the region should recover in 2017, but with modest GDP growth of between 1.5% and 2%, below expected growth in advanced economies.

Brazil is steadily investing in the creation of rules and regulations to converge to governance standards already consolidated in developed countries. Complying with these international standards is indispensable if Brazilian companies intend to operate on a global scale.

The OECD and Brazil today launched a joint project to examine the similarities and gaps between the Brazilian and OECD approaches to valuing cross-border transactions between associated firms for tax purposes. The project will also assess the potential for Brazil to move closer to the OECD’s transfer pricing rules, which are a critical benchmark for OECD member countries and followed by countries around the world.

These graphs offer a brief summary of the commodity trade situation in the country.

La recaudación tributaria sobre PIB de Brasil en 2018 (33.1%) estuvo por encima del promedio de ALC (23.1%)¹ en la publicación de este año de las Estadísticas tributarias en América Latina y el Caribe en 10.0 puntos porcentuales y por debajo del promedio de la OCDE (34.3%).

Chicago is at a tipping point: despite economic strengths, it faces considerable challenges to compete in the “Premier League” of world-class cities, warns the OECD’s review of the Chicago Tri-State Metropolitan Region.

Korea has weathered the shocks triggered by the global recession and its economy is recovering more quickly and vigorously than most other OECD countries.

The aim of this workshop was to present recent developments in implementing Regulatory Impact Assessment in the Czech Republic as well as to enable an exposure to different approaches in some leading OECD countries.

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.

Europe is putting in place a new system of fiscal rules following the euro area sovereign debt crisis and decades of rising government to debt-to-GDP ratios. These include the so-called "six pack" to upgrade the Stability and Growth Pact to a new Treaty incorporating the "fiscal compact".

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.

Individual freedom can only exist within the social context in which people live, and among the ways in which it is possible to exercise this freedom, that of respecting democratic rules deserves a special place.

This report summarises experience of OECD and non-OECD countries with reforming inspections, attempts to present some of the most interesting and successful experiences suggesting that some good practices may be valid beyond the countries where they were initially pioneered.

This report summarises the results of the survey on regulatory enforcement and inspections conducted among OECD countries in 2012. The report draws some general conclusions from this survey and provides theoretical background on the topic. It also suggests some recommendations for organising and reforming inspections.

Mexico’s river basins are under severe water stress. The quality of rivers, lakes and aquifers is declining and floods, droughts, and hurricanes are more frequent. These are some of the alerts signaled in OECD’s Making Water Reform Happen in Mexico.

Fiscal rules that constrain sub-central government (SCG) budgeting are very common across the OECD, but there are substantial cross-country differences in their implementation and impact. This paper presents the 2011 update of the fiscal rules database established in 2005.

The Spanish government has launched a series of ambitious public administration reforms as part of wider efforts to promote economic competitiveness and strengthen trust in government and public institutions.

This workshop served to discuss how benchmarking and measuring regulatory performance can help advance a regulatory policy at the sub-national level.

The OECD, in co-ordination with Mexico's Ministry of Economy and COFEMER, organised a workshop to train federal officials to understake competition assessment as part of the RIA framework.