Publications

Taking risks is a fundamental driving force in business and entrepreneurship. To reap the full rewards of risk-taking, however, firms need to have in place effective risk management practices. This publication provides a stocktaking of ways in which SOEs and those exercising the state’s ownership role address the issue of risk management from the perspective of corporate governance ('risk governance'), as recommended in the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. The report looks at this issue from three perspectives: by taking stock, first, of national legal and regulatory SOE risk management frameworks, and then by taking stock of risk-management practices at the level of the SOE and then at the level of the state.

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each member are critically examined approximately once every five years. DAC peer reviews assess the performance of a given member, not just that of its development co-operation agency, and examine both policy and implementation. They take an integrated, system-wide perspective on the development co-operation and humanitarian assistance activities of the member under review.

The economic performance of Peru in recent times has been impressive. There is now a transition underway as commodity prices fall, and the key challenge for Peru is how to improve productivity and maintain this growth trajectory. Peru is a territorially diverse country and addressing these challenges will require policies that are designed for the specific needs of different cities and regions. The importance of regional policies is particularly important for the case of Peru. Within the OECD only four countries have a larger land mass. The physical geography of the country is shaped by a thin coastal region, the Andes and the Amazon forest in the interior. These different areas are not well connected and have vastly different levels of service provision and infrastructure. The report sets out how regional policies can be improved to address these challenges. This includes ensuring the preconditions (such as revenues, capabilities and coordinating mechanisms) are in place for decentralisation to work. Lifting national productivity will largely depend on well-functioning cities. The report also includes recommendations for how Peru can develop a comprehensive approach to urban policy, including enhancing linkages with rural areas.
 

Peru has experienced significant improvements in economic growth, well-being and poverty reduction since the introduction of macroeconomic reforms, economic openness and more effective social programmes in the 1990s. However, the country still faces structural challenges to escape the middle-income trap and consolidate its emerging middle class. This report provides policy actions to tackle the main bottlenecks to boost inclusive development and well-being in Peru. In particular this report presents an in-depth analysis and policy recommendations to boost economic diversification and productivity, improve connectivity and reduce informality. Policy actions in these areas demand better institutions and improvements in areas and markets, including research and development and innovation, fiscal policy, education and skills, logistics and transport infrastructure as well as labour and product markets.

Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. How can employers and unions be engaged?  How can workbased learning be used?  How can teachers and trainers be effectively prepared? How should postsecondary programmes be structured? The country reports in this series look at these and other questions. They form part of Skills beyond School, OECD policy reviews of vocational education and training.

L'OCDE et la FAO ont élaboré ce Guide pour aider les entreprises à respecter les standards existants de conduite responsable des entreprises et à exercer leur devoir de diligence dans les filières agricoles afin que leurs activités contribuent à un développement durable. Le Guide comprend :
• Un modèle de politique d’entreprise qui présente le contenu des standards existants à observer pour bâtir des filières agricoles responsables.
• Un cadre pour l’exercice du devoir de diligence basé sur les risques qui décrit les cinq étapes que les entreprises doivent suivre pour identifier, évaluer et atténuer les impacts négatifs de leurs activités et pour rendre compte de la manière dont elles y répondent.
• Une description des principaux risques auxquels les entreprises sont confrontées et des mesures d’atténuation de ces risques.
• Des orientations concernant l’engagement des peuples autochtones.

This study examines the multi-level governance framework for public investment in Colombia. It provides a diagnosis of the strengths and challenges of the Colombian system and includes comparative data and a set of benchmarks to promote exchange of good practices and promote learning. It makes recommendations for how to further improve the system, make more effective use of existing resources and catch up to OECD countries in terms of infrastructure development . The review also suggests a set of indicators against which Colombia can measure its progress.

Cities are places where opportunities for prosperity coexist with stark inequalities between the richest and the poorest. Cities produce and attract highly educated workers and innovative employers. It is usually easier in cities than in other parts of the country for individuals to climb up the income, education or jobs ladder. But cities, especially the largest ones, also concentrate inequalities, both in income and in other well-being aspects,  that remain remarkably high in many OECD economies. Access to opportunities seems stalled for many low-income urban residents, who often live in distressed neighbourhoods.  This report provides ground-breaking, internationally comparable data on economic growth, inequalities and well-being at the city level in OECD countries. It provides empirical evidence on how cities are diverging from, or converging with, other parts of the country, and of the extent of inequality within cities. Finally, it proposes a framework for action, to help national and local governments reorient policies towards more inclusive growth in cities – a new approach to growth that ensures that no part of society is left behind.

Often called the 'first fuel' of the global energy system, energy efficiency is one of the most important steps that any government can take to move towards a sustainable energy system.To check on the progress made on this front, the IEA Energy Efficiency Market Report tracks the core indicators of energy efficiency. This year, the report takes a new approach and expands the scope of analysis by examining the drivers of energy efficiency programmes in emerging economies, as well as the impact of those policies.Some of the questions that are addressed in this year’s report include:

• Which countries and policies are having the greatest impact, and what is the recipe for their success?
• Are we improving energy efficiency fast enough to achieve our climate goals?
• What is the size of energy efficiency investments around the world and in key energy-consuming sectors?
• What has been the impact of low energy prices on these efficiency investments?
• What are the benefits of efficiency programmes on climate policy, energy security and public budgets?
• What are the market trends for energy efficiency services and financing?

The Energy Efficiency Market Report is the global tracker for energy efficiency programmes, providing policy makers and the private sector with insights on the latest trends and market prospects.

Every three years, the Programme for International Student Assessment, better known as PISA, evaluates 15 year-old students around the world to determine how well their education system has prepared them for life after compulsory schooling. Once the results are published, the media rush to compare their countries’ positions in the international league tables. Government policy makers, journalists and academic researchers mine the report to find out how successful education systems elicit the best performance from their students while making access to high-quality education more equitable. But sometimes the key messages don’t make it back to the teachers who are preparing their country’s students every day.Ten Questions for Mathematics Teachers…  and How PISA Can Help Answer Them aims to change that. This report delves into topics such as, 'How much should I encourage my students to be responsible for their own learning in mathematics?' or 'As a mathematics teacher, how important is the relationship I have with my students?'. It gives teachers timely and relevant data and analyses that can help them reflect on their teaching strategies and how students learn.