Publications

The report discusses the results of the OECD 'Leveraging Training and Skills Development in SMEs' (TSME) project which examines access to training by SMEs across seven regions in six OECD countries: New Zealand, Poland, Belgium, UK, Turkey and Canada. The book analyses the policy issues related to both low access by SMEs, and how to recognise the increasing importance of informal training and skills development methods. The book looks at how both formal and alternative ways of training and skills development interact and identifies impacts at three levels; for the firm and employees; for the industry; and for the local area where the firm is located.The report pays special attention to the development of entrepreneurial skills and the emerging area of 'green skills'. This focus is not just because ‘green skills’ represent the next new training opportunity – the de-carbonisation of economies that will occur over the coming decades represents an industrial transformation on the scale of the microelectronics revolution - but in many ways the response to the green economy is at an emerging stage- this means we have the opportunity to implement lessons from previous successful practices into a skill development area that will have enormous reach.

This study presents a tool to help design logical frameworks for results-based management of aid for trade. What are donors and partner countries trying to achieve?  Three different levels of possible objectives (i.e. direct, intermediate and final) are explored. Trade is treated as an intermediate objective, serving as a transmission mechanism, with an increase in the value for trade as the final objective. Six case studies - Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, Rwanda, Solomon Islands and Viet Nam - provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges involved in introducing a tool for managing results in an agenda that covers a broad area of interventions that are aimed at building trade-related supply side capacities.

As ageing societies are pushing a growing number of frail old people into needing care, delivering quality long-term care services – care that is safe, effective, and responsive to needs – has become a priority for governments. Yet much still remains to be done to enhance evidence-based measurement and improvement of quality of long-term care services across EU and OECD countries. This book offers evidence and examples of useful experiences to help policy makers, providers and experts measure and improve the quality of long-term care services.

This publication presents an internationally agreed framework to support the joint analysis of micro-level statistics on household income, consumption and wealth. Its aim is to extend the existing international frameworks for measuring household income and consumption at the micro level to include wealth, and describes income, consumption and wealth as three separate but interrelated dimensions of people’s economic well-being. The framework, prepared by an international expert group working under the auspices of the OECD, is intended to assist national statistical offices and other data producers to develop data sets at the household level that are suitable for integrated analysis, and for facilitating comparisons between countries. The Framework is widely applicable, with relevance to countries that are at different stages of statistical development, that have different statistical infrastructures, and that operate in different economic and social environments.

This publication presents an internationally agreed set of guidelines for producing micro statistics on household wealth, It addresses the common conceptual, definitional and practical problems that countries face in producing such statistics, and are meant to improve the comparability of the currently available country data. The Guidelines, prepared by an international expert group working under the auspices of the OECD,  propose a set of standard concepts, definitions and classifications for micro wealth statistics, and cover different phases in the statistical production process, including sources and methods for measuring particular forms of wealth, best practice in using household surveys or other sources to compile wealth statistics, the development of analytic measures, the dissemination of data, and data quality assurance.

History has shown that openness to trade is a key ingredient for economic success and for improved living standards. But simply opening the economy to international trade is not enough. Developing countries – especially the least developed – require help in building their trade-related capacities in terms of information, policies, procedures, institutions and infrastructure, so as to compete effectively in the global economy. Aid for trade aims to help countries overcome the supply-side constraints that inhibit their ability to benefit from market access opportunities. The almost 300 case stories show clear results of how aid-for-trade programmes are helping developing countries to build human, institutional and infrastructure capacity to integrate into regional and global markets and to make good use of trade opportunities. Together, these stories are a rich and varied source of information on the results of aid for trade activities – an indication of the progress achieved by the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.

As manifested by an increasingly globalised media, a nuclear accident anywhere quickly becomes a potential concern for people everywhere. It is therefore of prime importance that nuclear regulators’ communication strategies take into consideration the expectations and concerns of the public and provide sound information not only for the people of the affected country, but also for citizens worldwide. Public trust is a key element in being able to do so effectively and of particular importance when there are consequences for people or the environment. International co-operation can play a fundamental role in helping to improve crisis communication on national and global scales in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency. These proceedings contain the papers, recommendations and conclusions of the workshop, which was attended by over 180 experts from 27 countries and 6 international organisations.

The availability of oil and gas for future generations continues to provoke international debate. In 2005, the first edition of Resources to Reserves found that the known hydrocarbon resources were sufficient to sustain likely growth for the foreseeable future. Yet the book also predicted that developing oil and gas resources – and bringing them to market – would become more technically demanding.Resources to Reserves 2013 – a comprehensive update to the 2005 edition – confirms these earlier findings and investigates whether oil and gas resources can be produced at a reasonable cost and in a timely manner, while also protecting environmentally sensitive areas. Released amid a boom in shale gas and oil development in North America that is transforming the global energy landscape, the book surveys the cutting-edge technologies needed to find, produce and bring these reserves to the market, and it reviews the challenges on greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil fuel production. With renewed interest in coal as a potential source of liquid and gaseous fuels, it also looks at technology advances for this fossil fuel.

Since the IEA last reviewed Germany’s energy policies in 2007, the country has taken two fundamental policy decisions that will guide its energy policy in coming decades.  In September 2010, the federal government adopted the Energy Concept, a comprehensive new strategy for a long-term integrated energy pathway to 2050. Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011, Germany decided to accelerate the phase-out of nuclear power by 2022 starting with the immediate closure of the eight oldest plants. This decision resulted in the adoption of a new suite of policy measures, determined renewable energy as the cornerstone of future energy supply, a set of policy instruments commonly known as the Energiewende.In order to achieve the ambitious energy transformation set out in the Energiewende, by 2030 half of all electricity supply will come from renewable energy sources; Germany must continue to develop cost-effective market-based approaches which will support the forecast growth of variable renewable generation. Furthermore, the costs and benefits need to be allocated in a fair and transparent way among all market participants, especially households.Renewable energy capacity must expand alongside the timely development of the transmission and distribution networks. In addition, a stable regulatory system is necessary to ensure long-term finance to network operators. Furthermore, close monitoring of Germany’s ability to meet electricity demand at peak times should continue in the medium term.Energy policy decisions in Germany inevitably have an impact beyond the country’s borders and must be taken within the context of a broader European energy policy framework and in close consultation with its neighbours.This review analyses the energy-policy challenges facing Germany and provides recommendations for further policy improvements. It is intended to help guide the country towards a more secure and sustainable energy future.