Browse by: "PRE-2015"

• Rising levels of tertiary attainment seem not to have led to an “inflation” eroding the labour-market value of qualifications. However, tertiary graduates have the highest relative earnings advantage when they live in a country with low tertiary attainment rates.
• On average, compared to those with an upper secondary education, tertiary-educated adults earn about 1.6 times more than their peers, while individuals without an upper secondary education earn 24% less.
• Higher educational attainment and literacy skills increase earnings, but the advantages are more pronounced for men than for women and seem to increase as adults get older.
• The crisis has widened the wage gap between less educated and highly educated individuals: across OECD countries, the average difference in earnings from employment between these two groups increased from 75 percentage points in 2008 to 79 percentage points in 2012.
• Qualifications are more rewarded than skills: attaining a higher level of education has a stronger positive impact on earnings than better literacy proficiency.

In this paper we first consider alternative measures of efficiency. We explain why simple partial productivity measures are inadequate as the basis of overall measures of efficiency, and outline two alternative approaches. The first is technical efficiency – the degree to which output is maximised for a given level of inputs (or conversely inputs are minimised for a given output) – and the second is cost efficiency, the degree to which costs are minimised for a given level of output. Cost efficiency implies technical efficiency but also allocative efficiency – choosing a cost minimising mix of inputs. We explain why we prefer to measure cost efficiency, both in terms of what governments and regulators are interested in and in terms of practical data problems. We then examine applications of cost function analysis to two areas. The first is rail privatisation in Britain. British experience has seen a large increase in traffic, but also a similar increase in costs. We review attempts to understand and explain both the increase in passenger train operating cost and infrastructure cost using cost function analysis. The second is European rail reform. Countries in Europe have adopted a wide variety of approaches to rail reform, and studies using a mix of European and other countries should be able to shed light on the important question of what works best in different circumstances. Finally we consider how efficiency analysis techniques need to develop in future to address current weaknesses and tackle new challenges.

The use of public private partnerships (PPPs) for investment in transport infrastructure has a long history, spreading rapidly in Latin America in the 1980s and in the 1990s in the UK. There are many forms of PPP, ranging from the project finance type (e.g. Design, Build, Finance, Maintain, Operate (DBFMO) contracts) to concessions with economic regulation, with the line between partnership and outright privatisation somewhat blurred. PPPs sought to bring efficiency incentives from private sector management into network industries (power transmission, water supply, road and rail infrastructure provision) that bear the hallmarks of natural monopoly and were traditionally managed by the state in many places.

This paper analyses the experience, high incidence, lesson learned and reflections on the issue renegotiations in Latin America, based in the evolution of PPP contracts through the last 25 years. The paper also shows how countries via new PPP laws, regulations, norms and specific platforms can reduce the incidence and the incentives to renegotiate contracts. Based in experience in the last two decades, many countries in the region have improved renegotiation practices and regulations/framework through their PPP legislation and associated regulations, such as Peru (2008), Chile (2010), Colombia (2011) or Mexico (2012.) The preliminary findings show advances in the implementation of platforms to address renegotiations and new trends in the renegotiations of contracts particularly in complex projects and where governments are providing financial or credit enhancement, such as sharing risk or co-financing.

• Si après leur journée d’école, la plupart des élèves de 15 ans consacrent une partie de leur temps à faire leurs devoirs, ce temps a néanmoins diminué entre 2003 et 2012.
• Les élèves issus d’un milieu socio-économique favorisé et ceux qui fréquentent un établissement favorisé sur le plan socio-économique consacrent en général davantage de temps aux devoirs.
• La quantité de devoirs donnés aux élèves est associée à la performance en mathématiques des élèves et des établissements, mais d’autres facteurs influent davantage sur la performance globale des systèmes d’éducation.

This case study explores the strategies, processes and outcomes of an education reform in Poland which was introduced in 2009 and substantively changed the school inspection system. Its analysis looks in particular at the co-operation between the central and the local level throughout the implementation of the programme. In order to address the shortcomings of the prior inspection system, the reform combined internal and external evaluation in school supervision practice and put greater emphasis on collaboration among stakeholders. The results of the analysis show that the reform has had a great impact on the organisation of inspectorates, introducing modern principles such as teamwork and self-evaluation. Also, it affected the attitudes of important actors in the education system regarding the relevance of data to support internal and external school evaluation. The overall goals and aims of the reform gained the support of the various stakeholders. However, the implementation and communication processes were seen as deficient, especially in terms of a lack of capacity to roll out the reform as well as a lack of trust/disbelief that evaluation can be used for improvement, rather than the expected punitive purposes. Nevertheless, the reform achieved first structural steps towards building a culture of self-evaluation, which had thus far not been part of the Polish education system.

This report analyses policies along the agricultural supply chain, in particular support measures for fertilisers and for biofuels. It uses the OECD Fertiliser and Biofuel Support Policies Database that covers polices in 48 countries (including the EU and its Members) and assesses the market effects of these policies with a computable general equilibrium model, MAGNET. This report finds that biofuel support policies generate additional demand for feedstock commodities and, therefore, higher incomes for crop farmers in subsidising and non-subsidising countries. In contrast, these policies increase costs to downstream industries, including livestock farmers, and to consumers. Fertiliser support policies reduce crop production costs and hence increase yields, production and incomes for crop farmers in subsidising countries. However, they lower crop farm incomes abroad, while livestock farmers in both country groups face lower feed costs and, in consequence, lower livestock prices.

A wide range of voices around the world have stressed the need to understand development as a multidimensional phenomenon that involves and affects many aspects of people’s lives. Increasingly, it is recognised that current well-being and its long-term sustainability are the ultimate goals of development and that these notions better capture the human experience of development. The objectives of this paper are to explain why well-being matters in countries at different levels of development and to address measurement challenges in the context of developing countries. These objectives are pursued in four main steps. First, the paper offers a conception of well-being and illustrates its relevance in different development contexts. Second, it describes briefly how the measurement of well-being is implemented under the OECD Better Life Initiative for OECD countries. Third, it proposes ways in which the OECD framework can be adapted to specific development contexts and thereby made more universal, by suggesting relevant well-being dimensions and indicators that could be used to measure well-being in developing countries. Finally, it discusses the possible implications of the adapted framework for OECD work in developing countries, in particular its possible use in the Multi-Dimensional Country Reviews conducted by the OECD Development Centre for a range of non OECD countries.

IQ tests and achievement tests do not capture non-cognitive skills — personality traits, goals, character and motivations that are valued in the labour market, in school and elsewhere. For many outcomes, their predictive power rivals or exceeds that of cognitive skills. Skills are stable across situations with different incentives. Skills are not immutable over the life cycle. While they have a genetic basis they are also shaped by environments, including families, schools and peers. Skill development is a dynamic process. The early years are important in shaping all skills and in laying the foundations for successful investment and intervention in the later years. During the early years, both cognitive and non-cognitive skills are highly malleable. During the adolescent years, non-cognitive skills are more malleable than cognitive skills. The differential plasticity of different skills by age has important implications for the design of effective policies.

The OECD has created a Joint Network on Fiscal Sustainability of Health Systems. This article, developed as input to that project, seeks to summarise both why budgeting for healthcare is particularly challenging and why the challenge is often misunderstood. I argue that sustainability is a political, not fiscal, issue; that common explanations of increased spending, such as “ageing” and “technology”, are either inaccurate or unhelpful; and that the nature of public support for healthcare means that standard budgetary worldviews may not be appropriate in a representative system. For example, both a focus on “fiscal space” and distrust of dedicated revenues may be contrary to budgetary values of both representation and balance. I offer explanations of why demand for healthcare spending both is peculiarly intense and tends to expand because notions of “necessary” care expand. Budget-making is made more difficult by a uniquely confusing proliferation of ideas about how to control spending, many of which are supported more by disciplinary biases than by hard evidence. I conclude by considering the impact of two structural features: whether services are delivered by a bureau or as an entitlement, and whether it is funded by dedicated revenues. The challenges can be met, but hardheaded and sceptical budget analysis is especially important.

JEL classification: H51, H6, E62, H2, I1, J11, O33, P16, Z18
Keywords: Budgeting, healthcare spending, ageing society, Baumol’s disease, dedicated revenues, efficiency, entitlements, redistribution, technology, unsustainability

European Atomic Energy Community
Proposed binding instruments
Adopted legally binding instruments
Non-legally binding instruments

International Atomic Energy Agency
Convention on Nuclear Safety
Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management
International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability
Legislative assistance activities

OECD Nuclear Energy Agency
Appointment of new Director-General
International experts in Japan to review safety after Fukushima Daiichi
China Atomic Energy Authority co-operation workshop

Belarus
International co-operation
Organisation and structure
Licensing and regulatory infrastructure
Nuclear safety and radiological protection

France
Nuclear safety and radiological protection
Radioactive waste management
Environmental protection
Liability and compensation
International co-operation

Hungary
General legislation
Radioactive waste management
Nuclear security

Ireland
Nuclear safety and radiological protection (including emergency planning)

Lithuania
Licensing and regulatory infrastructure

Moldova
Nuclear safety and radiological protection

Portugal
Radioactive waste management
Nuclear safety and radiological protection

Slovak Republic
Radioactive waste management
Liability and compensation

Spain
Radioactive waste management

Ukraine
Radioactive waste management

United Kingdom
Organisation and structure

Germany
Federal Administrative Court confirms the judgments of the Higher Administrative Court of the Land Hesse: The shutdown of nuclear power plant Biblis blocks A and B based on a “moratorium” imposed by the Government was unlawful
List of lawsuits in the nuclear field

Slovak Republic
Further developments in cases related to the challenge by Greenpeace Slovakia to the Mochovce nuclear power plant
Developments in relation to the disclosure of information concerning the Mochovce nuclear power plant

United States
Judgment of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission resuming the licensing process for the Department of Energy’s construction authorisation application for the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste repository
Judgment of the Licensing Board in favour of Shaw AREVA MOX Services regarding the material control and accounting system at the proposed MOX Facility
Dismissal by US District Court Judge of lawsuit brought by US military personnel against Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in connection with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident

Mental ill-health can lead to poor work performance, high sickness absence and reduced labour market participation, resulting in considerable costs for society. Improving labour market participation of people with mental health problems requires well-integrated policies and services across the education, employment, health and social sectors. This paper provides examples of policy initiatives from 10 OECD countries for integrated services. Outcomes and strengths and weaknesses of the policy initiatives are presented, resulting in the following main conclusions for future integrated mental health and work policies and services: More rigorous implementation and evaluation of integrated policies is necessary to improve labour market outcomes. Implementation cannot be left to the discretion of stakeholders only; Better financial incentives and clearer obligations and guidelines need to be provided to stakeholders and professionals to participate in integrated service delivery; Each sector has a responsibility to assure integrated services in line with client needs, in turn requiring much better knowledge about the needs of clients with a mental illness; More integrated provision of services within each sector – e.g. through employment advice brought into the mental health system and psychological expertise brought into employment services – appears to be the easiest and most cost-effective approach.

This paper investigated the effects of response styles in cross-cultural contexts. The authors used data on social desirability, extreme and midpoint responding, and the scale scores of 17 constructs related to the teaching profession, which were collected from 76,887 teachers in 18 countries in the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Main findings are: (1) a 10-item social desirability scale demonstrated partial invariance of a positive and a negative impression management factor; (2) a general response style, representing a continuum ranging from response amplification to moderation, was extracted with social desirability and extreme responding as positive indicators and midpoint responding as a negative indicator; (3) social desirability and the general response style at the country level were negatively correlated with country affluence and educational achievement; (4) social desirability and the general response style were more strongly correlated with constructs of teacher efficacy and job satisfaction than other constructs at both the individual and country level; and (5) correction of response styles had negligible effects on cross-cultural differences in these constructs.