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In an empirical investigation, the paper identifies the main political economy drivers of structural policy changes in OECD countries' labour and product markets over the 1985-2003 and 1975-2003 periods respectively. [...]

This paper explores the impact of policies and institutions on unemployment in OECD countries over the past decades. Reduced-form unemployment equations, consistent with standard wage setting/price-setting models, are estimated using [...]

1991 February The base rate is cut twice by 1/2 per cent, reducing it to 13 per cent. The public expenditure White Paper is replaced by the publication of a [...]

Whalley, J. and R. Wigle (1992), 'Results for the OECD comparative modelling exercise from the Whalley-Wigle model', OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 121 (July). INTRODUCTION As evidence about the [...]

INTRODUCTION The threat of global warming confronts the world economy with the potential need for a major restructuring of energy markets. The preceding paper by Martin et al. illustrated that [...]

STOCK MARKET VOLATILITY IN OECD COUNTRIES: RECENT TRENDS, CONSEQUENCES FOR THE REAL ECONOMY, AND PROPOSALS FOR REFORM INTRODUCTION This paper characterises the historical experience of volatility in major equity markets [...]

Austria's growth performance hinges inter alia on the quality of its education system. While the latter has long equipped the Austrian labour force with good vocational skills, it now faces [...]

During the economic expansion, Austria made progress with fiscal reform, notably on pensions and with respect to the spending framework, although there was also some backtracking. However, much remained to [...]

Austria has one of the higher GDP per capita levels in Europe, but owes this position to a strong pace of convergence until the early 1990s. Over the past decade [...]

The global financial crisis put an end to Austria's economic expansion. By late 2008, Austria had entered recession, albeit less abruptly than some of the euro area countries, and the [...]

The Greek economy has not escaped the consequences of the global economic crisis, but, it has so far weathered the storm relatively well. It nevertheless remains vulnerable going forward because [...]

Putting public finances on a sound footing is a major policy challenge for Greece. The high public debt, at about 100% of GDP, and repeated fiscal slippages limit the room [...]

Even prior to the recent financial turmoil, Italy was being left behind by economic growth in many other countries. Low productivity growth has a number of causes, some of which [...]

1. Empirical analysis of educational outcomes: methodological background and findings from the literature The literature on the determinants of educational outcomes has expanded significantly in recent years, placing an increasing [...]

Since the beginning of the decade, France has seen a marked decline in its export performance, leading to growing concerns on the part of the authorities and of civil society [...]

Despite the great progress France has made in opening its markets for goods and services, and in strengthening the overall framework for competition, there are still regulatory barriers to entry [...]

Despite a solid growth performance there is both scope and need for further improvements Growth over the past decade has been among the strongest in the OECD. Finland also ranks [...]

A strong macroeconomic performance to build upon but some important challenges to address Over the last decade, macroeconomic performance has been impressive: GDP growth has been robust and cyclical fluctuations [...]

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Apparent labour productivity in the major industrialised countries Labour productivity, employment rates and hours worked: an aggregate approach Estimated relationship Estimation results using the OLS method [...]

This chapter outlines the key challenges facing the French economy. Although a modest economic upturn seems to be established, low growth and, especially, high unemployment characterise recent economic performance. The [...]

Turkey is at a crossroads After hitting the most severe crisis of its recent history in 2000-01, the Turkish economy bounced back and is now among the fastest growing economies [...]

Turkey at a cross-roads Turkey is undergoing a period of fundamental change. In the wake of the economic crisis and deep recession of 2001, a number of policy measures were [...]

This chapter consists of three essays on current policy issues: the global house price boom, the experience with greater exchange rate flexibility in emerging market countries, and fiscal policy in [...]

Introduction 264. In recent decades, Norway has been in the forefront of OECD growth performance, and has managed to boost growth in the mainland over the last decade. To a [...]

Introduction Over the last couple of years the housing market has been a major consideration in the setting of monetary policy as demonstrated by numerous references in the minutes of [...]

Introduction Since the mid-1990s, GDP growth, inflation and unemployment have been remarkably stable in the United Kingdom (Figure 1.1). Nowhere else in the OECD has economic activity remained so consistently [...]

Activity has slowed in the past 18 months, following several years of strong employment and output growth. Although GDP increased by only 1.2 per cent in 2002, the labour market [...]

1. For 2002, a decline in profits of Irish companies operating abroad was an additional factor. 2. Congestion, as measured by the weighted average of the time taken to travel [...]

Immigration could offer one way for Denmark to expand its labour supply, thereby lowering the dependency ratio, at least for some time, and easing the task of ensuring fiscal sustainability [...]

Introduction For much of the 20th century, Spain experienced significant net emigration. But over the last decade, the net flow has reversed and Spain has become an immigration country. A [...]

Introduction Migration has played a crucial role in the development of Australia's society and economy. The nature of migration flows has for a long time been the subject of deliberate [...]

Overview The Australian economy has continued to grow strongly, despite the cyclical downturn which hit most OECD countries in the second half of 2001 and in 2002. GDP is estimated [...]

Ageing occurs earlier and is more rapid in Finland than in most other OECD countries. Recognising the urgent need to act, Finland is among the few OECD countries to introduce [...]

In the absence of a minimum wage floor, an increase in the labour tax wedge raises labour costs to employers and reduces net wages to employees and employment. This occurs [...]

Financial markets are being transformed, nationally and internationally, under the pressure of common factors, such as new technologies, lower communication costs, product standardisation and the euro. In Germany, this transformation [...]

This chapter takes up some key regulatory issues concerning the network sectors as well as policy questions more directly linked to growth, including human capital formation and the arrangements for [...]

Despite continuing deflation and weakness in the financial sector, the Japanese economy has recovered at a moderate pace since early 2002, led by a sharp increase in exports. The weak [...]

Capital markets in Turkey remain shallow and volatile, despite their rapid growth over the past decade (Table A.8). Recent research points to a strong link between contractual savings and equity [...]

A weak banking system was a root cause of the crisis that ended the December 1999 stabilisation programme and led to a new series of IMF packages. The quasi-currency board [...]

The consensus, among academics, policy-makers and international institutions on the effects of deposit insurance is that there are benefits from the contribution of deposit insurance to overall financial stability [the [...]

After a severe financial crisis and deep recession in 2001, Turkey's policy goal is to enter a sustained recovery while taking measures to address the root causes of the crisis. [...]

A crucial and often-overlooked feature of globalization is that trade and financial integration typically go hand in hand (Table 3.1). This is true both over time and across countries, reflecting [...]

The government's recovery programme places a great deal of emphasis on the need for structural reform, which should be implemented over the next two to three years. The policy objectives [...]

The Japanese healthcare system has provided necessary care services to the whole population at a relatively low cost, while offering a free choice of service providers by patients as well [...]

After a brief economic recovery from 1999 that peaked in the third quarter of 2000, the Japanese economy is now experiencing another period of contraction. This is not simply a [...]

Introduction Norway, like most OECD countries, will experience a significant ageing of its population, although it will be less dramatic than elsewhere. Ageing will affect public finances through rising spending [...]

Since the finalization of the May 1998 World Economic Outlook, the recessions in the east Asian emerging market economies suffering from financial crisis and in Japan have deepened. And the [...]

Assessment and recommendations Overview of current policy issues When the German economy was last reviewed in June 1997, there were signs that export growth was leading to a pick up [...]

The Finnish economy has comfortably recovered the 11 per cent fail in economic activity of the 1991-93 recession and has also been making up steadily the ground lost against other [...]

Assessment and recommendations The economy is growing fast... When the OECD reviewed the Icelandic economy a year ago, there were clear signs that the economic recovery was proceeding rapidly. In [...]