Reports

The rise of remote working in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic may have reshaped people’s preferences on residential locations, thus generating a new geography of housing demand. So far, the literature has mainly focused on what has become known as the 'doughnut effect', the hollowing out of large metropolitan centres towards their respective suburban areas ('commuting zones'). However, changes in residential preferences might have affected urban and rural living in more nuanced ways. This paper shows that changes in relative house prices – a proxy for short-term changes in demand for home ownership ('housing demand') – have gone beyond the metropolitan boundaries, consistent with the idea of longer but less frequent home to work commuting. Interestingly, we are not seeing a re-emerging preference for rural life as such but, rather, a desire to move to places that combine the benefits of rural and urban life. In the areas outside the main metropolitan centres but within the commuting zones, housing demand has increased the most in low density, more affordable, settlements (rural). In contrast, beyond the boundaries of large metropolitan areas, where most space tends to be rural, housing demand has increased the most in high-density settlements (cities).

Located in the state of Western Australia, the Pilbara is a large region and one of the least densely populated within the OECD. The Pilbara's mining sector is a top supplier of iron ore in the world, which has fuelled the economic growth of both the state and the country. While Pilbara’s industrialisation is relatively recent, dating back to the 1960s, First Nations peoples have inhabited the region for approximately 50 000 years. Despite the wealth generated by mining and extractive industries, the Pilbara faces important challenges to improve its attractiveness and well-being standards, especially for First Nations and non-mining workers. Well-being challenges also stifle growth opportunities and responsible mining investments in the region. The green transition presents the Pilbara with an opportunity to diversify its economy and improve well-being conditions of its communities, while becoming a strategic player in the global shift towards more sustainable mining. This study offers guidance on how the Pilbara can shape a more inclusive and sustainable development model that supports economic diversification and prioritises improving the living conditions of its communities, particularly First Nations.

In recent years, international development co-operation has undergone a transition from a conventional donor-recipient model to a partnership-centred approach, including with regions and cities. Friuli Venezia Giulia, a small region in north-eastern Italy with extensive policy autonomy, has been active in international co-operation and is seeking to get more out of its actions both for the region and with its co-operation partners around the world. This paper evaluates its strategy on international partnership and co-operation and proposes recommendations, including more targeted initiatives that leverage the expertise of the region for greater impact in partner countries and for local benefits.

Antofagasta is a world leader in copper and lithium production, with strategic importance for the global energy transition and for the economic development of Chile. Located in north Chile, Antofagasta is carved by the natural contours of the Atacama Desert and home to diverse Indigenous communities. Despite the wealth brought by mining, communities in Antofagasta lag on a number of well-being dimensions. At the same time, Antofagasta’s mining industry is entering a new phase of development, driven by the expected surge in global demand for its minerals and the imperative to adapt to the green and digital transitions. Against this backdrop, a new development vision with a long-term strategy is warranted in the region to leverage mining benefits to improve well-being standards and take advantage of the opportunities brought by the digital and green transition in mining. This study presents the diagnosis, rationale and building blocks for a new mining strategy in the region of Antofagasta, Chile that prioritises well-being standards and opportunities for local communities. This medium and long-term strategy aims to create a new pact amongst different societal stakeholders to build trust and unite efforts for more inclusive and sustainable growth in the region.

Over the last two decades, regional inequalities have remained significant, and have grown within many OECD countries. Impacts of recent shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and megatrends, threaten to widen these gaps between regions, deepening the longstanding geography of inequalities. This report, Regional Outlook 2023 – The Longstanding Geography of Inequalities, provides novel evidence on the evolution of inequalities between OECD regions across several dimensions (including income and access to services) over the past twenty years. It sheds light on the role of productivity to address regional inequalities. It also looks at the costs of regional inequalities, which can weaken the economic, social, and political fabric, and lead to a geography of discontent. Furthermore, the report explores forward-looking scenarios for regions as part of ongoing reflections to future-proof regional development policy and secure social cohesion. Finally, it provides a policy roadmap to guide governments’ efforts to reduce persistent regional inequalities now and in the future.

Platform cooperatives refer to cooperatives that are directly owned and managed by their members and that use websites and/or mobile apps to sell goods and/or services. They have emerged in large part as alternatives to digital labour platforms to promote better working conditions with evidence of significant growth in recent years. This paper provides an overview of employment in platform cooperatives and offers insights on their distinctive features. In particular, it provides i) insights on working conditions associated with such platforms; ii) an overview on the challenges they face in creating jobs as well as scaling up, developing and expanding their activity; and iii) policy recommendations and examples of policy actions that could help policy makers best support them to generate work opportunities and enhance job quality. This paper was produced as part of the OECD Global Action on Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems, funded by the European Union’s Foreign Partnership Instrument.

This report builds on work presented in the OECD’s 2019 report Regions in Industrial Transition: Policies for People and Places. It considers industrial transition as a complex and enduring challenge in regional development that traditional policy levers have not always been able to satisfactorily address. Beginning with an overview of how to characterise these regions, it then explores why they require tailored policy approaches and posits whether adopting a more experimental path in governance arrangements and policy initiatives could make inroads in meeting industrial transition objectives. The report shares findings emanating from the experiences of eight regions and two countries that designed and implemented experimental initiatives to advance their industrial transition process and Smart Specialisation Strategies, with the support of the European Commission. It features a framework of governance and policy areas that influence industrial transition, and applicable to experimentation. Combining this with insights from each experiment studied, the report presents a toolkit of policy levers for policy makers grappling with industrial transition, and a checklist for those wishing to apply an experimental approach to industrial transition initiatives. Finally, the report contains a synopsis of the initiatives designed and implemented by the regions and countries participating in this project.

Produced as part of the OECD Global Action on Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems, funded by the European Union’s Foreign Partnership Instrument, this paper provides a framework to clarify the core notions of the social and solidarity economy, along with social economy, social enterprise, social innovation and other related notions. The objective is to explain what they are and understand how these notions have evolved in recent decades. It also aims to capture and document the great diversity within social and solidarity economy organisations in terms of purposes, legal entities, business models and practices to help better characterise the 'population' of social and solidarity economy entities.

Produced as part of the OECD Global Action 'Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems' funded by the European Union, this paper explores the role of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) in implementing and complementing public systems for refugee protection, reception and integration. In particular, it reviews the different activities SSE entities can deploy in support of forcibly displaced populations, asylum seekers and refugees, along their journey from origin through to destination countries. Finally, it offers some policy considerations on how the SSE can help national and local governments identify win-win solutions for refugee and host communities.

This policy paper explores the contribution of platform cooperatives to local development as an alternative model to conventional digital platforms. It considers their role in reducing potential negative effects of the digital transition on local communities and places, as well as the new opportunities they present to provide greater quality of life for local residents. The paper introduces the main features of platform cooperatives, explores their contributions to local development and identifies the challenges to their emergence and expansion. It then provides policy orientations that could support the development of platform cooperatives and enhance their contributions to local development. This paper was produced as part of the OECD Global Action on Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems, funded by the European Union’s Foreign Partnership Instrument.