Publications

Case study of the Australian beef and wheat sectors

Will be released on 2 April 2025
Authors: Annelies Deuss, Alison Watson, Olivia du Bois
Language: English
Number of pages: 80

Increasing demands in the global marketplace for agricultural products with environmental sustainability credentials has created growing expectations for producers and exporters to demonstrate to trading partners actions to improve sustainability. This report examines how two trade-intensive sectors in Australia, the beef and wheat sectors, are responding to these demands through a range of public, public-private, and private environmental sustainability initiatives. A total of 17 key initiatives were identified, mostly in the beef sector, illustrating the relatively stronger sustainability demands in that sector. Over half of the initiatives are private, highlighting a key feature of the Australian approach: the development of sector-led frameworks to provide leadership on environmental sustainability for sector stakeholders, including farmers. Public initiatives emphasise economic, information, and investment instruments, with trading systems emerging as an important part of Australia’s approach. Public-private partnerships are strong, and the government supports industry efforts to voluntarily improve environmental performance and self-report.

Do different methods for measuring non-market output affect international comparability?

Will be released on 2 April 2025
Authors: Rachida Dkhissi, Jorrit Zwijnenburg, Sofía Sacks Ferrari
Language: English
Number of pages: 48

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a large-scale disruption to economies worldwide, including the provision of health and education services. As the latter often concern non-market output, the question has been raised whether differences in the method used for measurement of non-market output and gross value added (GVA) may have affected cross-country comparability of economic growth rates. A joint study by the UK ONS and the OECD in 2022 based on preliminary data for a small number of countries already found that methodological differences only seem to play a minor role. This paper builds on this analysis, focusing on results up to 2023, incorporating more information at more granular levels of detail and expanding it to a wider range of countries. Using a regression analysis and analyses of variance, this research finds that the estimation method used to measure volume estimates of non-market health care services affected cross-country comparability of gross value added of the health care industry during the COVID-19 years. Similar results are not found for education services nor for total economic growth, suggesting that differences in methods for non-market output did not affect international comparability at an aggregated level.

Will be released on 2 April 2025 at 07:00 CET
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 36

Will be released on 2 April 2025 at 11:40 CET
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 142

Will be released on 3 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 120

Career trajectories are becoming increasingly diverse due to structural labour market transformations such as the green transition, digitalisation and demographic change. Voluntary job mobility can allow workers to reap the benefits of increased longevity by enabling longer labour market participation in better jobs. However, mobility tends to decline with age and older workers are less likely to make voluntary, upward transitions. This report develops policy recommendations for enhancing career progression opportunities at older ages in Austria. It discusses the importance of workplace practices for enabling mid-career transitions and developing working conditions that suit workers at all ages. Health at work is highlighted as a key area for age management in the workplace. The report also looks at skills development as a key means to enhancing labour market mobility, with a focus on improving access to training for mid-career and older workers. Finally, the report examines transitions into and out of part-time work. It outlines the opportunities and barriers part-time work presents for different labour market groups, including women, workers at the end of their career and workers with chronic illnesses.

Will be released on 3 April 2025 at 09:00 CET
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 244

Trends and Implications

Will be released on 7 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 150

General shareholder meetings play an important role in protecting and facilitating the rights, engagement and equitable treatment of all shareholders. This report examines how recent evolutions in policies and practices for the preparation and conduct of general shareholder meetings – including the growing use of virtual platforms – may be impacting these essential elements of sound corporate governance. Covering 50 major economies, it includes five case studies on the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. The report highlights emerging trends, areas of convergence and opportunities for improvement.

Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters

Will be released on 7 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 100

Will be released on 9 April 2025 at 09:00 CET
Author: OECD
Languages: French-English
Number of pages: 233

Current global challenges require governments to improve the way they design and deliver rules, to ensure they remain smart, simple and streamlined, reflecting rapidly changing conditions. The fourth edition of the Regulatory Policy Outlook critically examines regulatory quality across the OECD with a specific focus on how governments can better regulate for people, the planet, and the future. It tracks OECD Members' efforts over the past decade to fully embed the 2012 OECD Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance, and provides good regulatory practices to help close identified gaps. The Outlook provides a pragmatic pathway for governments to better engage citizens and businesses in the laws and regulations that affect their daily lives.

Will be released on 10 April 2025 at 07:00 CET
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 200

Will be released on 10 April 2025 at 10:30 CET
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 131

Will be released on 14 April 2025 at 14:00 CET
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 79

As cities across the OECD continue to grow and attract young residents, the share of older adults is also rising fast. Without age-inclusive policies, cities risk significant social and economic consequences, ranging from poorer health outcomes and higher isolation to workforce loss, increased public spending, and brain drain. The Cities for All Ages report explores how local and national government can address these challenges and make cities work for all generations. It highlights strategies such as adapting urban design and land use planning for more accessible cities, providing age-friendly housing, and engaging both young and older people in work and consumer markets. To drive progress, the report offers a checklist of nine policy actions across three key areas – strategy setting, resource development and stakeholder co-ordination – to help local and national governments shape cities for all ages.

Lessons from 14 Northern Sparsely Populated Areas

Will be released on 15 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 150

Will be released on 15 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: French
Number of pages: 46

Au cours de la dernière décennie, la Suède a réussi à découpler les principales pressions environnementales de la croissance économique. Le pays se classe en tête sur de nombreux indicateurs environnementaux. Cependant, un certain nombre d'objectifs environnementaux ne devraient pas être atteints d'ici 2030. Malgré des réductions significatives des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, les réorientations politiques récentes ont créé de l’incertitude. Il s'agit du quatrième examen environnemental de la Suède. Il fournit une évaluation factuelle des progrès du pays vers ses objectifs environnementaux au cours de la dernière décennie. Les 28 recommandations visent à aider la Suède à améliorer ses performances environnementales, en mettant l'accent sur l'atténuation du changement climatique et la promotion des émissions négatives.

Will be released on 15 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: Romanian
Number of pages: 90

Ghidul OCDE privind guvernanța corporativă a întreprinderilor de stat oferă îndrumări concrete care să îi ajute pe decidenți să evalueze și să îmbunătățească cadrul legal, instituțional și de reglementare pentru proprietatea și guvernanța întreprinderilor de stat. Ghidul identifică principalele elemente constitutive pentru a asigura profesionalizarea proprietății și guvernanței, și oferă îndrumări practice care să fie implementate la nivel național. Scopul Ghidului este să se asigure că întreprinderile de stat contribuie la sustenabilitate, securitate economică și reziliență, prin menținerea unor condiții de concurență echitabile și a unor standarde înalte globale de integritate și conduită profesională.

Will be released on 15 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 67

The report investigates the state of the art, challenges and opportunities of the circular water economy in 10 Latin American countries, namely: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. The circular approach to water management consists of reducing water use in production and consumption processes, enhancing water efficiency, promoting water re-use and recycling, and recovering energy and materials from wastewater treatment. Guided by the OECD Principles on Water Governance, the report evaluates governance gaps and offers policy recommendations to establish regulatory frameworks, financing mechanisms, and capacity-building measures necessary to transition from a linear to a circular water economy.

Will be released on 15 April 2025 at 08:00 CET
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 190

The transition to a circular economy is critical for achieving sustainable development, resource efficiency, and building a resilient future for all. Over the past decade, the European Union (EU) has demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to advancing the transition to a circular economy at all levels of government, advocating for action at a national, regional and local level. Nevertheless, the economy in the EU remains predominantly linear. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of circular economy practices, challenges, and opportunities in EU cities and regions, drawing on a survey of 64 cities and regions, insights from 10 place-based policy dialogues, and desk research. The report concludes with policy recommendations to accelerate a territorial approach to the circular economy for place-based policies that are aligned with EU-wide goals.

Diversifying Instruments and Leveraging Private investment

Will be released on 17 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 130

Countries around the world are rapidly urbanising. The global population living in cities has more than doubled over the last 40 years and is projected to reach 55% by 2050. Financing sustainable urban development has never been more important, but traditional funding and financing mechanisms are proving inadequate to meet growing demand. Drawing on the 2023 OECD-G20 report Financing Cities of Tomorrow, this report aims to improve understandings of how sustainable urban development is funded and financed in the rapidly urbanising ASEAN-5 countries of Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam). This report identifies ongoing challenges and emerging opportunities through analysis of 129 sustainable urban development projects (both public and private) across four sectors (integrated urban development; urban transport; water, wastewater and waste management; and buildings), and a desk-based review of institutional and legal frameworks. Key findings and future policy directions focus on (i) creating financial, regulatory, and institutional conditions to maximise private investment, (ii) diversifying funding sources and financing instruments, and (iii) refining and integrating planning and legal systems to guide private investment towards urban sustainability.

Will be released on 22 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 95

The economy of Panama has exhibited strong growth since the turn of the century, and despite shrinking by 18% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recovered quickly in subsequent years. This recovery reflects the country’s economic resilience, buttressed by a fiscal response to the crisis commensurate with the dimension of the challenge, mobilising 3% of GDP to fight the pandemic. The crisis also highlighted significant vulnerabilities in Panama’s development model, including the dual nature of its labour market, where less productive informal work remains widespread, and the limited reach of its social protection system. In contrast to the rapid economic rebound, the social consequences of the pandemic are likely to be more long-lasting effects. The response and stimulus packages found new ways to address these issues innovating in social protection, in support to the productive sector and in mobilisation of resources. This report draws lessons from policy measures implemented during the pandemic and recovery phase and applies them to current strategic challenges. In doing so, it highlights policy priorities to make Panama’s development path more inclusive, stronger and more resilient.

Will be released on 22 April 2025
Authors: OECD, European Commission, Joint Research Centre
Language: English
Number of pages: 300

This Handbook is a step bridging the gap between macroeconomic (national accounts) and microeconomic (business statistics and trade statistics, at enterprise level or by type of enterprise). It provides methodological guidance to combine the strengths of both. The macroeconomic statistics relate to GDP and employment, and they are internally consistent. They are also complete, containing estimates for difficult to survey production such as some activities of micro enterprises and illegal activities. The microeconomic statistics provide a wealth of detail, with all kinds of types of enterprises such as small- and medium sized enterprises, multinationals, and exporters/non-exporters that policymakers are interested in. Combining macroeconomic and microeconomic statistics has many benefits. It relates production, value added, imports, and exports of types of enterprises to GDP, total employment and other macroeconomic data in a proper way. It adds heterogeneity to statistics and indicators such as the domestic value added content of exports. This is desirable, since the aggregate might mask important information related to the diversity of the components. It also provides new indicators about direct and indirect linkages, of types of enterprises with each other and of types of enterprises with foreign and domestic supply and use. For example, it is well-known that SMEs generally have a lower propensity to export than large enterprises. The new information shows that due to their sizeable indirect exports, supplying large exporters with goods and services, SMEs still benefit from foreign markets.

Will be released on 24 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 84

Bulgaria has made notable labour market and social progress in recent years. However, the country faces a pressing demographic challenge, with a rapidly declining and ageing population, which will have significant repercussions on its labour market and economy. In addition, large labour market disparities across different population groups persist and informal employment remains widespread. Poverty is still common in Bulgaria despite rising living standards, and particularly minorities, including immigrants, face social disadvantage. This report provides an overview of the main labour market and social challenges facing Bulgaria and a comprehensive analysis of Bulgaria’s policies and practices compared with best practices in OECD countries in the fields of labour, social and migration policy. It also includes recommendations on how Bulgaria can tackle key challenges. The report will be of interest to Bulgaria as well as to other countries that are looking to promote more inclusive labour markets and societies.

Reinforcing an Effective Regulatory Environment

Will be released on 24 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 77

Thailand has introduced important reforms to strengthen its regulatory policy framework, but certain challenges remain. This report assesses the country’s regulatory management capacity by taking stock of regulatory policies, institutions and tools; ex ante and ex post evaluation of regulations; stakeholder engagement practices; and regulatory enforcement and inspections. The review describes trends and recent developments, identifies gaps in relation to good practices, and offers policy recommendations based on best international practices to strengthen the government’s capacity to manage regulatory policy. Improving the entire regulatory policy cycle will ensure that regulations are built on a foundation of solid evidence and public participation and are designed to improve the security, health and well-being of citizens at a reasonable cost. The recommendations are based on an analysis of the strengths and challenges, as well as on extensive engagement with stakeholders, within and external to the Thai administration. They also draw on lessons learnt from the implementation of regulatory impact assessment (RIA) in a range of countries, a benchmarking of RIA-related best practices, and guidance material from relevant jurisdictions.

Will be released on 25 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 100

Peru has made remarkable progress in delivering healthcare services over the past decades, leading to large improvements in most general population health indicators. Health insurance coverage has increased steadily since the 2009 health reforms. The country is now close to achieving universal health coverage, with the Integral Health Insurance (Seguro Integral de Salud) playing a crucial role in reaching poor and underserved rural communities. However, Peru continues to grapple with a health system that remains both segmented and fragmented, with multiple public sub-systems serving different population groups. The health system still lacks the integration and co-ordination needed to ensure equitable access to high-quality care for all Peruvians. Addressing these challenges requires strengthening quality governance, investing in high-impact healthcare service improvements, and curbing inefficiencies. This review assesses the performance of Peru’s health system and provides key recommendations for achieving a more equitable, efficient, and sustainable healthcare system aligned with OECD standards.

Institutional Framework and Trends

Will be released on 29 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 65

Sweden has one of the largest and most active equity markets in the European Union. Small companies use public markets to a much larger extent than in comparable countries and the level of household engagement in domestic capital markets is high. This report assesses the Swedish equity market, drawing from original data and in-depth interviews with market participants. It also discusses the policy initiatives that have promoted the growth of the Swedish market, including the local regulatory and corporate governance models.

Ensuring Integrity and Efficiency

Will be released on 30 April 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 70

Decomposition of Personal Income Taxes and the Role of Tax Reliefs

Will be released on 30 April 2025 at 11:00 CET
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 650

This annual publication provides details of taxes paid on wages in OECD countries. This year’s edition focuses on the decomposition of personal income taxes and the role of tax reliefs, which can take the form of tax allowances or tax credits on the taxes levied by different levels of government. For the year 2024, the report also examines personal income taxes and social security contributions paid by employees, social security contributions and payroll taxes paid by employers, and cash benefits received by workers. It illustrates how these taxes and benefits are calculated in each member country and examines how they impact household incomes. The results also enable quantitative cross-country comparisons of labour cost levels and the overall tax and benefit position of single persons and families on different levels of earnings. The publication shows average and marginal effective tax rates on labour costs for eight different household types, which vary by income level and household composition (single persons, single parents, one or two earner couples with or without children). The average tax rates measure the part of gross wage earnings or labour costs taken in tax and social security contributions, both before and after cash benefits, and the marginal tax rates the part of a small increase of gross earnings or labour costs that is paid in these levies.

Will be released on 2 May 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 120

Ageing will be very fast in Southeast Asia and most ASEAN countries have a very large share of informal employment. Promoting active ageing aims to ensure that older people can age healthily and independently and avoid feeling insecure, in particular in terms of income. This could be achieved by putting into action policies that foster the well-being of older people through their participation in the labour market and their engagement in various aspects of life, such as volunteering. Key active ageing policies in the ten ASEAN countries should focus on: tackling labour market informality; reducing gender inequalities in old age and improving care provision; providing inclusive access to health care; enhancing social protection in old age; and, promoting the social participation of older people. This report highlights the main measures to be taken in these five areas.

Will be released on 2 May 2025
Author: OECD
Languages: French-English-Thai
Number of pages: 75

Peer reviews of competition law and policy are a valuable tool to reform and strengthen a country’s competition framework. This peer review of Thailand presents the evolution of its competition regime over the last few years and assesses the effectiveness of its current competition law and policy. It provides recommendations to help Thailand strengthen its competition regime and institutions, developed and discussed at the peer review examination carried out during the 2024 Global Forum on Competition.

Will be released on 7 May 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 180

The New Professionalism and the Future of Teaching project has devised a theoretical framework that allows stakeholders in education to construct a shared vision on what the teaching profession could look like in the future. This study in Austria seeks to anticipate and increase deeper, structured thinking about medium- and long-term scenarios for teacher professionalism and empowerment. Potential benefits for the system include long-term strategic thinking regarding the Austrian teacher workforce and finding solutions to issues that transcend the short-term. The results of the study point to a focus on collaborative school cultures, teacher autonomy and professional identity, leadership (on various levels) and an innovation culture with a diversity of roles within the teacher workforce, as elements of specific importance in thinking about the possible future of the teaching profession in Austria.

Will be released on 7 May 2025
Author: OECD
Language: English
Number of pages: 100