Publications

Latvia’s health system broadly delivers effective and efficient care to the population within a context of significantly fewer resources – and higher health care needs – than most OECD countries. Latvia has successfully consolidated its hospital sector and strengthened primary care. Average length of stay in hospital fell by almost 15% between 2005 and 2013, and GPs are now required to follow up on patients who called for emergency medical assistance but were not hospitalised. OECD health systems could learn much from these reforms as well as longer-standing institutions, such as Latvia’s feldshers (physician assistants). Latvia nevertheless faces important challenges to improve the performance of its health system. Up to one in five Latvians report forgoing health care because of the cost; waiting times for key diagnostic and treatment services can be long; and inclusion of key treatments in the publicly-funded benefits basket does not always reflect latest best practice. Critically, the health system lags behind many OECD countries in the extent to which data are used to systematically measure, compare and improve the performance of services, especially at more granular provider or local levels. This review aims to support Latvia in continuing reform of its health system, informed by international best practice. 

To capitalise on the new international resolve epitomised by COP21 and the agreement on the universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires a renewed effort to promote new policy thinking and new approaches to the great challenges ahead. Responding to new challenges means we have to adopt more ambitious frameworks, design more effective tools, and propose more precise policies that will take account of the complex and multidimensional nature of the challenges. The goal is to develop a better sense of how economies really work and to articulate strategies which reflect this understanding. The OECD’s New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) exercise challenges our assumptions and our understanding about the workings of the economy. This collection from OECD Insights summarises opinions from inside and outside the Organisation on how NAEC can contribute to achieving the SDGs, and describes how the OECD is placing its statistical, monitoring and analytical capacities at the service of the international community. The authors also consider the transformation of the world economy that will be needed and the long-term 'tectonic shifts' that are affecting people, the planet, global productivity, and institutions.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the largest international survey of teachers and school leaders. Using the TALIS database, this report looks at different approaches to school leadership and the impact of school leadership on professional learning communities and on the learning climate in individual schools.It looks at principals’ instructional and distributed leadership across different education systems and levels. Instructional leadership comprises leadership practices that involve the planning, evaluation, co-ordination and improvement of teaching and learning. Distributed leadership in schools explores the degree of involvement of staff, parents or guardians, and students in school decisions.How are principals’ and schools’ characteristics related to instructional and distributed leadership? What types of leadership are favoured across countries? What impact do they have on the establishment of professional learning communities and positive learning environments? The report notes that teacher collaboration is more common in schools with strong instructional leadership. However, about one in three principals does not actively encourage collaboration among the teaching staff in his or her school. There is room for improvement; and both policy and practice can help achieve it. The report offers a series of policy recommendations to help strengthen school leadership.

Regulators are proactive referees of the sectors they regulate, contributing to the delivery of essential public utilities for citizens. To fulfill this function, they need to be constantly alert, checking sectoral trends as well as assessing the impact of their decisions. However, while measuring regulators’ performance is essential, it is also challenging, from defininig what should be measured to attributing impacts to regulators' decisions. To address these challenges, the OECD has developed an innovative framework that looks at the institutions, processes and practices that help regulators assess their performance. The framework has been applied to Latvia's Public Utilities Commission, which is responsible for regulating energy, communications, water and waste. The review offers unique insights into the work of a multi-sector regulator, identifying the organisational features that allow lessons and experiences to be shared across sectors and contribute to good performance. It  highlights the importance of clarifying the role and functions of the regulator and its relationship with other public institutions, setting long-term strategic objectives for the regulator's activities, and having the right regulatory tools with appropriate incentives for the efficient and effective provision of public utility services.
 

Decommissioning of both commercial and R&D nuclear facilities is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, and the largest of such industrial decommissioning projects could command considerable budgets. It is important to understand the costs of decommissioning projects in order to develop realistic cost estimates as early as possible based on preliminary decommissioning plans, but also to develop funding mechanisms to ensure that future decommissioning expenses can be adequately covered. Sound financial provisions need to be accumulated early on to reduce the potential risk for residual, unfunded liabilities and the burden on future generations, while ensuring environmental protection.Decommissioning planning can be subject to considerable uncertainties, particularly in relation to potential changes in financial markets, in energy policies or in the conditions and requirements for decommissioning individual nuclear installations, and such uncertainties need to be reflected in regularly updated cost estimates.This booklet offers a useful overview of the relevant aspects of financing the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. It provides information on cost estimation for decommissioning, as well as details about funding mechanisms and the management of funds based on current practice in NEA member countries.

In this inaugural annual report on energy investments around the world, the International Energy Agency (IEA) looks at the lifeblood of the global energy system: investment. The ability to attract and direct capital flows is vital to transitioning to a low-carbon economy while also maintaining energy security and expanding energy access worldwide. The success or failure of energy policies can be measured by their ability to mobilise investments.The new report measures in a detailed manner the state of investment in the energy system across technologies, sectors and regions. The analysis takes a comprehensive look at the critical issues confronting investors, policy-makers, and consumers over the past year.World Energy Investment 2016 addresses key questions, including :

• What was the level of investment in the global energy system in 2015? Which countries attracted the most capital?
• What fuels and technologies received the most investment and which saw the biggest changes?
• How is the low fuel price environment affecting spending in upstream oil and gas, renewables and energy efficiency? What does this mean for energy security?
• Are current investment trends consistent with the transition to a low-carbon energy system?
• How are technological progress, new business models and key policy drivers such as the Paris Climate Agreement reshaping investment?

As a unique benchmark of current investment trends, World Energy Investment 2016 serves as a complement to the forecasts and projections found in other IEA publications and provides a critical foundation for decision making by governments and industry.

Ce rapport surveille l’accès des PME et des entrepreneurs à des financements dans 37 pays, tout au long de la période 2007-14, en prenant l’année 2007 – antérieure à la crise – comme référence. Il propose des indicateurs relatifs à l’endettement, aux fonds propres, au nantissement d’actifs et aux conditions-cadres du financement des PME et de l’entrepreneuriat, que viennent compléter d’autres sources d’information et de récentes initiatives publiques et privées en faveur du financement des PME. Pris ensemble, ces indicateurs composent un cadre complet permettant aux pouvoirs publics et à d’autres parties prenantes d’évaluer les besoins de financement des PME et d’en apprécier la prise en compte.

The present report on Australia is part of the series on 'Investing in Youth', which builds on the expertise of the OECD on youth employment, social support and skills. This series covers both OECD countries and countries in the process of accession to the OECD, as well as some emerging economies. The report provides a detailed diagnosis of youth policies in the area of education, training, social and employment policies. Its main focus is on disengaged or at-risk of disengaged youth.

This report looks at a range of local employment and economic development issues in Saskatchewan and the Yukon, Canada, with a focus on indigenous peoples. The report provides a comparative framework to understand the role of the local level in contributing to more and better quality jobs, and practical recommendations to help federal, provincial/territorial, and local policy makers in Canada build effective and sustainable partnerships that join-up efforts across employment, training, and economic development policies. Co-ordinated policies can help workers find suitable jobs, while also stimulating entrepreneurship and productivity, which increases the quality of life and prosperity within a community as well as throughout the country.

Governing multi-level education systems requires governance models that balance responsiveness to local diversity with the ability to ensure national objectives. This delicate equilibrium is difficult to achieve given the complexity of many education systems. Countries are therefore increasingly looking for examples of good practice and models of effective modern governance that they can adapt to their own needs.Education Governance in Action: Lessons from Case Studies bridges theory and practice by connecting major themes in education governance to real-life reform efforts in a variety of countries. It builds upon in-depth case studies of education reform efforts in Flanders (Belgium), Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. The case studies are complemented by country examples of efforts to restore and sustain trust in their education systems. Together they provide a rich illustration of modern governance challenges - and successes.The volume highlights the importance of the interdependence between knowledge and governance and focuses on essential components for modern education governance: accountability, capacity building and strategic thinking. It sets the agenda for thinking about the flexible and adaptive systems necessary for governing education in today's complex world. This publication will be of interest to policy makers, education leaders, teachers, the education research community and all those interested in education governance and complexity.