OECD Economic Surveys: European Union 2012

OECD’s Economic Survey of the European Union for 2012 examines recent economic developments, policies and prospects. It also includes special chapters covering the single market and labour market mobility.

Table of contents:

 Executive summary

Assessment and recommendations
-The EU needs to tackle the economic crisis and reach a stronger sustainable growth path
-The new growth model should support a fairer and greener economy
-The Europe 2020 strategy sets out ambitious EU reform targets, but will they be achieved?
-The completion of the Single Market is a strong EU-level tool to boost growth
-Europe needs to innovate more and better
-Further progress in trade liberalisation and agriculture would boost growth and raise living standards
-Labour market reforms and removing barriers to intra-EU labour mobility would boost employment, growth and ease adjustments
-An EU-level immigration policy could ease skill shortages due to demographic changes
-Regional policy can contribute more to growth
-Bibliography
Chapter 1. A Single Market for Europe
-How far is the Single Market a single market?
-Deeper integration would have a large impact on growth and living standards
-EU policy to complete the Single Market is moving forward, but slowly
-The Single Market needs to move closer to a Single Rule Book
-Targeted sector-specific measures policies are needed to open some markets fully
-Bibliography
Chapter 2. Mobility and migration in Europe
-EU labour markets are fragmented between and within countries and overall mobility is low
-Mobility is held back by Europe’s diversity but also by administrative obstacles
-Migration from outside Europe can reduce labour market imbalances
-Bibliography
Glossary

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Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics: UNRISD Flagship Report

Poverty reduction is a central feature of the international development agenda and contemporary poverty reduction strategies increasingly focus on “targeting the poor”, yet poverty and inequality remain intractable foes.

Combating Poverty and Inequality argues that this is because many current approaches to reducing poverty and inequality fail to consider key institutional, policy and political dimensions that may be both causes of poverty and inequality, and obstacles to their reduction. Moreover, when a substantial proportion of a country’s population is poor, it makes little sense to detach poverty from the dynamics of development. For countries that have been successful in increasing the well-being of the majority of their populations over relatively short periods of time, the report shows, progress has occurred principally through state-directed strategies that combine economic development objectives with active social policies and forms of politics that elevate the interests of the poor in public policy.

The report is structured around three main issues, which, it argues, are the critical elements of a sustainable and inclusive development strategy:

• patterns of growth and structural change (whether in the agricultural, industrial or service sectors) that generate and sustain jobs that are adequately remunerated and accessible to all, regardless of income or class status, gender, ethnicity or location;
• comprehensive social policies that are grounded in universal rights and that are supportive of structural change, social cohesion and democratic politics; and
• protection of civic rights, activism and political arrangements that ensure states are responsive to the needs of citizens and the poor have influence in how policies are made.

The report seeks to explain why people are poor and why inequalities exist, as well as what can be done to rectify these injustices. It explores the causes, dynamics and persistence of poverty; examines what works and what has gone wrong in international policy thinking and practice; and lays out a range of policies and institutional measures that countries can adopt to alleviate poverty.

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Contents, acknowledgements, foreword and preface
Overview

Section 1: Socially Inclusive Structural Change
Chapter 1 – Towards Employment-Centred Structural Change
Chapter 2 – Income Inequality and Structural Change
Chapter 3 – Tackling Ethnic and Regional Inequalities
Chapter 4 – Gender Inequalities at Home and in the Market

Section 2: Transformative Social Policy and Poverty Reduction
Chapter 5 – Towards Universal Social Protection
Chapter 6 – Universal Provision of Social Services
Chapter 7 – Care and Well-Being in a Development Context
Chapter 8 – Financing Social Policy

Section 3: The Politics of Poverty Reduction
Chapter 9 – Business, Power and Poverty Reduction
Chapter 10 – Building State Capacity for Poverty Reduction
Chapter 11 – Democracy and the Politics of Poverty Reduction

Concluding Remarks
References, acronyms and list of boxes, figures and tables

World Economic Outlook : 2011

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) presents the IMF staff’s analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups (classified by region, stage of development, etc.), and in many individual countries. It focuses on major economic policy issues as well as on the analysis of economic developments and prospects. It is usually prepared twice a year, as documentation for meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, and forms the main instrument of the IMF’s global surveillance activities.

Assumptions and Conventions

Preface

Foreword

Executive Summary

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World Development Report 2011

The World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development examines the changing nature of violence in the 21st century, and underlines the negative impact of repeated cycles of violence on a country or region’s development prospects. Preventing violence and building peaceful states that respond to the aspirations of their citizens requires strong leadership and concerted national and international efforts. The Report is based on new research, case studies and extensive consultations with leaders and development practitioners throughout the world.

Overview (multilingual)

English,  Arabic, Chinese,  French,  Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Complete Report

Complete Report as on File (File as of April 11, 2011)

Report Synopsis (multilingual)

English,  Arabic,  Chinese,  French,  Portuguese,  Russian, and  Spanish

Facts and Figures (multilingual)

English,  Arabic,  Chinese,  French,  Portuguese,  Russian, and  Spanish

Society at a Glance 2011: OECD Social Indicators

This is the sixth edition of Society at a Glance, the OECD’s biennial overview of social indicators. As with its predecessors, this report addresses the growing demand for quantitative evidence on social well-being and its trends across OECD countries. It updates some indicators included in the previous five editions and introduces several new ones.

The 2011 report heralds the arrival of four new OECD member countries: Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia. These countries are included in Society at a Glance for the first time. Data on Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation, and South Africa are also included separately where available.

This report features a special chapter on unpaid work (Chapter 1.). It also provides a guide to help readers in understanding the structure of OECD social indicators (Chapter 2.), and a summary of the main trends (Chapter 3.). Indicators are then considered. More detailed information on indicators, including some not included in this print edition, can be found on the OECD web pages (www.oecd.org/els/social/indicators/SAG).

This report was prepared by Simon Chapple and Maxime Ladaique. Nabil Ali, Michael De Looper, Michael Förster, Pauline Fron, Herwig Immervoll, Gaetan Lafortune, Thomas Liebig, Pascal Marianna, Veerle Miranda (special chapter), Marlène Mohier, Dominique Paturot, Andrew Reilly, Dominic Richardson, Kim Robin and Olivier Thévenon all made valuable contributions. Monika Queisser, Head of the OECD Social Policy Division, supervised the report.

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Social data and indicators:

1. Cooking and caring, building and repairing: Unpaid work around the world: Chapter1.pdf

See Methodological documentation of national time-use surveys in Table A1.2 pp36-39 in Miranda (2011)

See also the special Chapter on Measuring Leisure in OECD Countries  from Society at a Glance 2009

2. Interpreting OECD social indicators3. Society at a Glance: An overview 4. General Context Indicators Household income Fertility Migration Family Old age support rate 5. Self-sufficiency Indicators Employment Unemployment Student performance Pensionable year Education spending 6. Equity Indicators Income inequality Poverty Income difficulties Leaving low income from benefits Social spending 7. Health Indicators Life expectancy Infant mortality Positive and negative experiences Water and air quality Health spending 8. Social Cohesion Indicators Trust Confidence in social institutions Pro- and anti-social behaviour Voting Tolerance

Table 3.1.XLSGE1.XLS GE2.XLS GE3.XLS GE4.XLS GE5.XLS SS1.XLS SS2.XLS SS3.XLS SS4.XLS SS5.XLS EQ1.XLS EQ2.XLS EQ3.XLS EQ4.XLS EQ5.XLS HE1.XLS HE2.XLS HE3.XLS HE4.XLS HE5.XLS CO1.XLS CO2.XLS CO3.XLS CO4.XLS CO5.XLS

Global Competitiveness Report 2010-11

The Global Competitiveness Report remains the flagship publication within the Forum’s Centre for Global Competitiveness and Performance, which produces a number of research studies that truly mirror the increased integration and complexity of the world economy. Additional regular publications include The Global Enabling Trade Report, The Global Gender Gap Report, The Global Information Technology Report, and The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, as well as various regional and country studies.

The Global Competitiveness Report’s competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin and first introduced in 2004. The GCI is based on 12 pillars of competitiveness, providing a comprehensive picture of the competitiveness landscape in countries around the world at all stages of development. The pillars are: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.

• Full Report (PDF)
• Country Highlights (PDF)
• Full Rankings (Excel)
• Browse the Interactive Report

 

OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2010

The STI Outlook reviews key trends in science, technology and innovation in OECD countries and a number of major emerging economies including Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa.

In the search for a rapid, sustainable and lasting recovery from the economic crisis, science, technology and innovation are expected to play a driving role. But what are the implications for science and innovation policy? What steps are countries taking to boost their capabilities in these areas? What place are emerging economies likely to occupy in the science, technology and innovation landscape?

The OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2010 uses the latest available data and indicators to examine topics high on the agenda of economic policy makers, including:

• performance in science and innovation,
• trends in national science, technology and innovation policies,
• design and assessment of innovation policy, including policy interactions and the “policy mix”.

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The Global Competitiveness Report 2010–2011

The global competitiveness Report is published by World Economic Forum.

Description of the report

Switzerland tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011 released by the World Economic Forum. The United States falls two places to fourth position, overtaken by Sweden (2nd) and Singapore (3rd). The Nordic countries continue to be well positioned in the ranking, with Sweden, Finland (7th) and Denmark (9th) among the top 10, and with Norway at 14th.  Sweden overtakes the US and Singapore this year to be placed 2nd overall. The United Kingdom, after falling in the rankings over recent years, moves back up by one place to 12th position.

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the Report.

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Press release

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PAST REPORTS

The Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010 Browse the Report View the Interactive Report Country Highlights Download the full Report Interviews with the Report’s co-authors

The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 Browse the Report View the Interactive Report Country Highlights (9 pg; 348 kb) Rankings in full (1 pg; 221 Kb) Interviews with the Report’s co-authors

The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 Browse the Report View the Interactive Report Country Highlights (9 pg; 348 kb) Rankings in full (1 pg; 221 Kb) Interviews with the Report’s co-authors

World Development Indicators 2010

The World Development Indicators (WDI) 2010 is a comprehensive overview of development. It is the statistical benchmark that helps measure the progress of development.

The 2010 WDI includes more than 900 indicators and they are available through data.worldbank.org, in print, or on CD-ROM. The print edition has more than 90 tables organized in 6 sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links.

• Complete Report as One File (18mb pdf)
• Preface, Acknowledgments, Table of Contents, Partners, Users Guide (1.27 mb pdf)
• World View (3.14 mb pdf)
• People (3.03 mb pdf)
• Environment (2.52 mb pdf)
• Economy (3.69mb pdf)
• States and Markets (2.35mb pdf)
• Global Links (2.84mb pdf)
• Primary Data Documentation, Statistical Methods, Credits, Bibliography, Index of Indicators (521k pdf)

The Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010

The report highlights the key role of ICT as an enabler of a more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable world

Sweden tops the rankings of The Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010, released today for the ninth consecutive year by the World Economic Forum. Sweden is followed by Singapore and Denmark, which was in the number one position for the last three years. Switzerland (4), the United States (5) and the other Nordic countries together with the Canada, Hong Kong and the Netherlands complete the top 10.

With an extensive coverage of 133 economies worldwide, the report remains the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations.

The report is produced by the World Economic Forum in cooperation with INSEAD, the leading international business school, within the framework of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Network and the Industry Partnership Programme for Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries.