Publications

This Glossary defines concepts and terms commonly used in evaluation and results-based management. It provides a shared understanding to support the design, management, monitoring and evaluation of interventions for sustainable development. As a reference document, it is helpful for those commissioning, managing, or conducting evaluations, as well as people involved in strategy or programme development, management and implementation. While originally developed for international development co-operation, the Glossary can be applied in any field of public policy and is also useful for civil society, academia, and other non-state actors. This second edition includes updated content, including new definitions for the widely used evaluation criteria – relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability – endorsed by the OECD Development Assistance Committee in 2019. It also provides minor updates to the original text to reflect current good practice. As concepts and language are constantly evolving, the document will be revisited and updated in due course.

Social and Emotional Skills for Better Lives presents results from the OECD’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2023. SSES is the largest international effort to collect data on these skills among 10- and 15-year-old students. The report explores how the following skills differ by socio-demographic groups and how they relate to key life outcomes: task performance skills (persistence, responsibility, self-control and achievement motivation); emotional regulation skills (stress-resistance, emotional control and optimism); engaging with others skills (assertiveness, sociability and energy); open-mindedness skills (curiosity, creativity and tolerance); and collaboration skills (empathy and trust). The results show that students’ social and emotional skills – or 21st century skills – are linked to better life outcomes, including academic success, greater life satisfaction, healthier behaviours, less test and class anxiety, and more ambitious career plans. The Survey also finds that these skills are inequitably distributed among students by age, gender, and socio-economic background. SSES 2023 was conducted in Bulgaria, Chile, Peru, Spain, Mexico, Ukraine, Bogotá (Colombia), Delhi (India), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Gunma (Japan), Helsinki (Finland), Jinan (China), Kudus (Indonesia), Sobral (Brazil) and Turin (Italy). Results are compared to SSES 2019, which took place before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students face a future filled with uncertainty and change. For education systems to continue to remain relevant, they must empower students to navigate these changes and succeed in the future by equipping them with the requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. Teachers are key enablers of this endeavour, and it is imperative that governments and teacher organisations collaborate to support teachers in exploring and enacting pedagogies, and designing learning environments that support student attainment of future-ready competencies, through policies, processes and teacher professional development.

Waste crimes create social and economic issues. Offenders commit crime due to either a lack of awareness of waste law or the belief that there is a low risk of being caught and punished. OECD countries are using digital tools to improve their use of resources with the aim to promote compliance and detect violation of waste law. This paper reviews the types of waste crimes, their motivations, and opportunities for governments to use digital tools for their enforcement efforts. It finds that governments have thus far mainly focused on digitalising their data collection and their exchange of information with the public and partners. Further application of digital tools can improve the connection of these tools and test predictive analytical tools such as artificial intelligence systems.

This policy brief brings together key reflections from the Policy Dialogues in Focus: International Insights for Digital Education Reform in Brazil. This seminar series from the Education Policy Outlook offered federal and subnational policy makers, civil society actors and researchers in Brazil the opportunity to learn from the experiences of six peer education systems (New South Wales (Australia), Chile, Colombia, Ireland, Korea and Mexico). The seminars also provided insights into other relevant international comparative and empirical work from the OECD. The policy brief builds on the main reflections and insights shared by presenters and participants in the seminars, covering four key topics: digital education governance, infrastructure and resources, capacity building and digital learning resources. The brief proposes pointers for policy makers in Brazil to consider when pursuing the design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of digital education reforms.

Cette publication annuelle contient des informations détaillées sur les impôts payés sur les salaires dans les pays de l’OCDE. L'édition de cette année se concentre sur les incitations fiscales pour les seconds apporteurs de revenus dans l'OCDE et sur la façon dont la politique fiscale peut contribuer aux écarts entre les hommes et les femmes sur le marché du travail. Pour l'année 2023, le rapport couvre également les impôts sur le revenu et les cotisations de sécurité sociale payés par les salariés, les cotisations de sécurité sociale et taxes sur les salaires versés par leurs employeurs, et les transferts en espèces perçus par les travailleurs. L’objectif est de montrer comment ces taxes et prestations sont calculées dans chaque pays membre et d’examiner leurs impacts sur le revenu des ménages. Les résultats permettent aussi de faire des comparaisons internationales quantitatives des coûts de main-d’œuvre et de la situation globale vis-à-vis de l’impôt et des prestations des célibataires et des familles à différents niveaux de revenus. Cette publication présente des taux effectifs moyens et marginaux d’imposition sur les coûts de main-d’œuvre pour huit types de ménages représentatifs dont le niveau du salaire et la composition diffèrent (célibataires, parents isolés, couples avec un ou deux salaires et avec ou sans enfant). Les taux moyens d’imposition mettent en évidence le pourcentage de la rémunération brute ou des coûts de main-d’œuvre représenté par les impôts et les prélèvements sociaux, avant et après transferts en espèces, et les taux marginaux d’imposition correspondent à la partie d’une augmentation minime de la rémunération brute ou des coûts de main-d’œuvre reversée sous la forme d’impôts. Les informations détaillées par pays sont disponibles en anglais seulement.

Decentralised exchanges (DEXs) are on-chain platforms where traders can exchange one crypto-asset for another. DEXs play an increasingly important role in the decentralised finance (DeFi) market, particularly in the aftermath of the recent downturn in the crypto-asset market. This working paper explores the characteristics of DEXs and identifies areas of possible concentration in decentralised exchanges activity and potential associated risks. To substantiate the analysis, it uses an original on-chain dataset covering the largest DEXs. The paper reveals an increased concentration within DeFi trading in the sample observed, which could exacerbate vulnerabilities already present in DeFi markets.

A key part of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project is addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. In October 2021, over 135 jurisdictions joined a ground-breaking plan to update key elements of the international tax system which is no longer fit for purpose in a globalised and digitalised economy. The Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) Rules are a key component of this plan and ensure large multinational enterprise pay a minimum level of tax on the income arising in each of the jurisdictions where they operate. More specifically, the GloBE Rules provide for a co-ordinated system of taxation that imposes a top-up tax on profits arising in a jurisdiction whenever the effective tax rate, determined on a jurisdictional basis, is below the minimum rate. The Commentary to the GloBE Rules was originally released by the Inclusive Framework in March 2022. The Commentary explains the intended outcomes under the GloBE Rules, clarifies the meaning of certain terms and illustrates the application of the rules to certain fact patterns. This Consolidated Commentary incorporates Agreed Administrative Guidance that has been released by the Inclusive Framework since March 2022 up until December 2023. It provides tax administrations and taxpayers with guidance on the interpretation and application of the GloBE Rules in order to promote a consistent and common interpretation and application of those that will facilitate coordinated outcomes for both tax administrations and MNE Groups.

Given the fast pace of global socio-economic development, more tailored, focused, and localised efforts to strengthen public sector capacity in small island developing states (SIDS) is increasingly important. SIDS have unique vulnerabilities, rich histories and contexts, and strengths that can be harnessed for sustainable development. Development partners need to adapt how they provide capacity-strengthening support, taking individual SIDS’ circumstances and needs into account to better help them achieve their ambitions. This report summarises perspectives from small island developing states (SIDS) on current experiences and opportunities to improve capacity-strengthening support to make it more tailored, impactful, and sustainable. The report uses the broad definition of capacity-strengthening as activities that improve the competencies and abilities of individuals, organisations, and broader formal and informal social structures in a way that boosts organisational performance. It concentrates on public sector capacity, including interactions with other stakeholders across sectors.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented global economic downturn, affecting productivity, business dynamics, and digital technology adoption. Using a comprehensive commercial database from Spiceworks Ziff Davis, this study analyses the firm-level drivers of digitalisation during the pandemic across 20 European countries. The findings show that a considerable share of firms introduced new digital technologies during the COVID-19 crisis. Notably, firms that were larger, more digitalised, and more productive before the pandemic were more likely to introduce new digital technologies in 2020 and 2021. Additionally, firms with pre-existing complementary technologies had a higher likelihood of adopting digital applications that gained momentum during the pandemic (such as digital commerce, collaborative software, cloud, and analytics). These patterns may increase polarisation among the best-performing firms and the rest of the business population. Public policy can play a key role in fostering an inclusive digital transformation in the post-pandemic era.