Publications

More than three million individuals who were born in Germany lived in another OECD country in 2010/11. To assess the potential that this group represents for the German labour market, this review establishes the distribution of German emigrants over OECD countries, as well as their age, sex, and educational attainment. Shifts in the German diaspora towards European destination countries and higher educational attainment are documented. The largest German diaspora still resides in the United States, but the diaspora in Switzerland and Spain has grown particularly quickly. International students from Germany have even come to represent the largest group of international students from any OECD country. While German emigrants experience less favourable labour market outcomes than their peers in Germany, the emigrants work disproportionately often in high-skill occupations. Survey evidence suggests that many Germans in Germany consider emigration and that many German emigrants are open to return. Those who have returned in recent years, however, appear to have a lower educational attainment than those leaving. 

Many of the recent concerns about food security relate to perceived threats to current levels of food security, such as those due to price shocks or natural disasters. These threats concern the risk of food insecurity. This publication develops a risk-management tool to examine the robustness of policy responses to managing risks and uncertainty across a variety of different threats to food security, and applies the framework to an Indonesia case study.Five risk scenarios were selected as major threats to food security in Indonesia, following a consultation process among stakeholders and policy makers, and assessed in terms of existing and alternative agricultural and social policies. The risk assessment shows that domestic economic and natural disaster scenarios are more important than global price hikes and that a policy strategy that concentrates on addressing a single source of risk, such as a price spike in international markets, may increase vulnerability to other sources of risk such as domestic crop failure. The analysis yields a number of specific policy recommendations, including targeting of social assistance programme using food vouchers or cash transfers.

This How2Guide for Smart Grids in Distribution Networks (Distribution SG H2G) seeks to provide decision makers with tools and steps for developing and implementing a strategic plan for smart grids at the national, regional or municipal level. It is the second in the International Energy Agency (IEA) series of How2Guides (H2Gs), concise manuals that seek to guide the reader through the key steps to developing and implementing a roadmap for a given technology, sector or system.

All on Board: Making Inclusive Growth Happen puts forth a new approach to economic growth that goes beyond traditional monetary indicators and includes dimensions that reflect people's well-being. It introduces an analytical framework to assess economic growth based on a measurement of multidimensional living standards. The report also presents win-win policies that can deliver stronger growth and greater inclusiveness in areas such as: macroeconomic policies, labour market policies, education and skills, infrastructure and public services and development and urban policies. It underscores the need to assess and weigh trade-offs and complementarities between and among policies, and the crucial role of good governance in implementing an Inclusive Growth agenda.

This report analyses the incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education in Latin America, focusing mainly on what is commonly referred to as 'e-learning'. Access to and quality of higher education, financial constraints and relevance to the needs of the labour market are all crucial challenges facing the higher education system in the region. The study attempts to understand how ICTs and new learning and teaching practices can help to meet these challenges. The report also provides the results of a questionnaire showing the degree of implementation and the impact of e-learning on a group of higher education institutions in Latin America and includes a set of policy recommendations in this area.

Partout dans le monde, les jeunes peinent à entrer sur le marché du travail. Dans certains pays de l’OCDE, un quart des 16-29 ans sont sans emploi et ne suivent ni études ni formation. Les Perspectives de l’OCDE sur les compétences 2015 montrent combien une stratégie d’ensemble est nécessaire pour améliorer l’employabilité des jeunes. Si les politiques éducatives, sociales et du marché du travail tiennent chacune un rôle essentiel à cet égard, la coordination entre secteur public et secteur privé n’en est pas moins déterminante. La présente publication s’appuie sur les résultats de l’Évaluation des compétences des adultes de 2012, objet de la première édition des Perspectives, et contient des exemples de politiques menées avec succès dans différents pays.

This report reviews the quality of health care in Portugal, seeks to highlight best practices, and provides a series of targeted assessments and recommendations for further improvements to quality of care. The Portuguese National Health Service has responded well to financial pressure, successfully balancing the twin priorities of financial consolidation and continuous quality improvement. Even in the post-crisis years when GDP fell and health spending declined, improvements in quality of care continued. The need to reduce health spending has been met through a combination of structural reforms, and a well-designed suite of quality initiatives. Reforms around the purchasing and use of pharmaceuticals and medical devices have helped drive down costs, and Portugal has been innovative in how public funds are used to pay providers, increasingly basing payments on quality and efficiency. Important priorities for further work in the Portuguese health system do remain. Portugal will need to improve clinical processes and pathways, particularly in the acute sector. There is still room to improve efficiency, for instance increasing the share of generic drug consumption, and using the Portuguese health workforce more effectively, especially through expanded roles for nurses. Further structural reform is needed with an emphasis on shifting care out of hospitals into less-expensive community settings, and Portugal will also need to reflect on the strategic direction of the primary care system which, following an impressive reform, now risks developing into a two-tiered system with increasingly divergent levels of care quality. 

This report aims to identify new developments in the administration of central government that lead to better value for money: better services at lower costs for the taxpayers.

This report contains the 2014 'Phase 2: Implementation of the Standards in Practice' Global Forum review of Czech Republic.The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over 120 jurisdictions which participate in the work of the Global Forum on an equal footing.The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. These standards are primarily reflected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and its commentary as updated in 2004, which has been incorporated in the UN Model Tax Convention.The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting party. 'Fishing expeditions' are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information must be provided, including bank information and information held by fiduciaries, regardless of the existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard.All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identified by the Global Forum as relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework. Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 plus Phase 2 – reviews. The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

Le Forum mondial sur la transparence et l’échange de renseignements à des fins fiscales est l’enceinte multilatérale au sein de laquelle le travail en matière de transparence fiscale et d’échange de renseignements est mené par plus de 120 juridictions participant, sur un pied d’égalité, aux travaux du Forum mondial.Le Forum mondial est chargé de la surveillance approfondie et de l’examen par les pairs de la mise en œuvre des standards en matière de transparence et d’échange de renseignements en matière fiscale. Ces standards sont essentiellement reflétés dans le Modèle d’accord d’échange de renseignements en matière fiscale et ses commentaires publiés en 2002 par l’OCDE et dans l’article 26 du Modèle de convention fiscale concernant le revenu et la fortune de l’OCDE et ses commentaires, tels que mis à jour en 2004. Ces standards ont aussi été repris dans le Modèle de convention fiscale des Nations Unies.Les standards prévoient l’échange de renseignements sur demande des informations vraisemblablement pertinentes pour l’administration et l’application de la législation fiscale interne de la partie requérante. La pêche aux renseignements n’est pas autorisée mais tous les renseignements vraisemblablement pertinents doivent être fournis, y compris les renseignements bancaires et les renseignements détenus par des agents fiduciaires, sans tenir compte de l’existence d’un intérêt fiscal national.Tous les membres du Forum mondial, ainsi que les juridictions identifiées par le Forum mondial comme pertinentes pour ses travaux, seront examinés. Ce processus est réalisé en deux phases. L’examen de phase 1 évalue la qualité du cadre juridique et réglementaire des juridictions en matière d’échange de renseignements alors que l’examen de phase 2 se concentre sur la mise en œuvre pratique de ce cadre. Certains membres du Forum mondial font l’objet d’un examen combiné – phase 1 et phase 2. Le but final vise à aider les juridictions à mettre effectivement en œuvre les standards internationaux en matière de transparence et d’échange de renseignements en matière fiscale.