Browse by: "2018"

When Member States of the United Nations approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, they agreed that the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets should be met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society. Governments and stakeholders negotiating the 2030 Agenda backed the ambition of leaving no one behind, an ambition increasingly referred to in development policies, international agendas and civil society advocacy.

How can we transform this ambition into reality? Policy makers, civil society and business are asking for more clarity on how to ensure that no one is left behind in practice. What does it mean for the design and delivery of economic, social and environmental policies? How should development co-operation policies, programming and accountability adapt? What should governments, development partners and the international community do differently to ensure that sustainable development goals benefit everyone and the furthest behind first?

The 2018 Development Co-operation Report: Joining Forces to Leave No One Behind addresses all of these questions and many more. Informed by the latest evidence on what it means to be left behind, it adopts a wide range of perspectives and draws lessons from policies, practices and partnerships that work. The report proposes a holistic and innovative framework to shape and guide development co-operation policies and tools that are fit for the purpose of leaving no one behind.

These case studies complement the 2018 Development Co-operation Report: Joining forces to leave no one behind. Case study contributors share knowledge and lessons on what it takes to answer the pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind through national and sub-national policies, strategies and programmes as well as international development co-operation projects, programmes and partnerships. The insights, good practices and lessons shared in these case studies were provided by diverse actors. These include official development co-operation ministries and agencies from members of the OECD and the Development Assistance Committee, international organisations, developing country governments, civil society organisations, business, and research bodies.
 
The case studies highlight experiences from projects and programmes in leaving no one behind and reaching the furthest behind. They are organised and presented under two broad categories:

1. Reaching and including people and places;

2. The enabling role of international co-operation: policies, partnerships and data.

Australia's long span of positive output growth continues, demonstrating the economy's resilience. In the absence of negative shocks, policy rates should start to rise soon, as wage growth and price-inflation pick up. Fiscal discipline will nevertheless still be required to bring balances to surplus. Despite countervailing measures, the housing market and related debt pose macroeconomic risks. Furthermore, as flagged in previous Surveys, there is room to improve the tax system, notably through greater use of value-added tax and less use of inefficient and distorting taxes, such as real-estate transactions tax.  
 
Levels of well-being are generally high but climate-change policy still lacks clarity and stability and there are socio-economic challenges. Some groups are at high risk of being disrupted by globalisation and technological change and this is the theme of this Survey’s in-depth chapter. Further reforms to education, including efforts to improve PISA scores and vocational education, and better target disadvantaged students, are important. So too is activation policy where there is scope to improve employment services, support for displaced workers and measures helping parents combine work and family life. Australia’s highly urbanised population means that good metropolitan transport, planning and housing policy can importantly boost labour-market flexibility, as well as living standards.

SPECIAL FEATURE: COPING WITH GLOBALISATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

The OECD Economic Outlook is the OECD's twice-yearly analysis of the major economic trends and prospects for the next two years. The Outlook puts forward a consistent set of projections for output, employment, prices, fiscal and current account balances.
Coverage is provided for all OECD member countries as well as for selected non-member countries. This issue includes a general assessment, a special chapter on the implications for public policy of the decoupling of wages from productivity and a chapter summarising developments and providing projections for each individual country.
The Statistical Annex is available on-line only at https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eco_outlook-v22018-2-en

The Revenue Statistics in Asian and Pacific Economies publication is jointly undertaken by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the OECD Development Centre with the co-operation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Pacific Island Tax Administrators Association (PITAA), and the Pacific Community (SPC) with the financial support of the European Union and the Government of Japan. It compiles comparable tax revenue statistics for Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Thailand and Tokelau and comparable non-tax revenue statistics for the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tokelau. The model is the OECD Revenue Statistics database which is a fundamental reference, backed by a well-established methodology, for OECD member countries. Extending the OECD methodology to Asian and Pacific economies enables comparisons of tax levels and tax structures on a consistent basis, both among Asian and Pacific economies and with OECD, Latin American and Caribbean and African averages.

SPECIAL FEATURE: MANAGING TAXPAYERS' COMPLIANCE

The 2009 Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (“Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi” Commission) concluded that we should move away from over-reliance on GDP when assessing a country’s health, towards a broader dashboard of indicators that would reflect concerns such as the distribution of well-being and sustainability in all of its dimensions. This book includes contributions from members of the OECD-hosted High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, the successor of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission, and their co-authors on the latest research in this field. These contributions look at key issues raised by the 2009 Commission that deserved more attention, such as how to better include the environment and sustainability in our measurement system, and how to improve the measurement of different types of inequalities, of economic insecurity, of subjective well-being and of trust.

A companion volume Beyond GDP: Measuring What Counts for Economic and Social Performance presents an overview by the co-chairs of the High Level Expert Group, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand of the progress accomplished since the 2009 report, of the work conducted by the Group over the past five years, and of what still needs to be done.

The Spanish economy continues its strong growth, thanks to past structural reforms, robust employment growth and accommodative macroeconomic policies. However, the legacy of the crisis has not yet been fully overcome and imbalances remain. The robust recovery provides an opportunity to keep reducing macroeconomic and financial vulnerabilities, such as high public and external debt. The resilience of public finances should be increased to address medium-term challenges, including spending pressures from demographic changes. Income inequality is high and displays regional differences in Spain. More effective use of taxes and transfers, bringing people back into employment and reducing regional disparities would make growth more inclusive. Improving productivity growth, which remains subdued, will require firms to be more exposed to competition and innovation. Policies to improve education and skills will deliver results not only in terms of productivity growth, but also better employment prospects and wages. Spain is a highly decentralised country, making the effective implementation of national reforms dependent on regional policies. More effective coordination and cooperation across different levels of government are needed to improve the effectiveness of policies.

SPECIAL FEATURE: REDUCING REGIONAL DISPARITIES

Im OECD-Wirtschaftsausblick analysiert die OECD zweimal jährlich die wichtigsten wirtschaftlichen Trends und die Aussichten für die kommenden zwei Jahre. Der Wirtschaftsausblick liefert einen in sich stimmigen Satz von Projektionen zu gesamtwirtschaftlicher Produktion, Beschäftigung, Preisentwicklung, Haushaltssalden und Leistungsbilanzen.

Die vorliegende Ausgabe enthält eine allgemeine Beurteilung der Wirtschaftslage und ein Sonderkapitel über die Konsequenzen der Entkopplung von Lohn- und Produktivitätsentwicklung auf die Politikgestaltung. Ein Kapitel, in dem die Entwicklungen und Projektionen für die einzelnen Länder zusammengefasst sind, und ein Statistischer Anhang schließen den Ausblick ab.