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This paper offers a comparative analysis of regions in the United States (US) and European Union (EU) countries before and during the aftermath of the global financial crisis. By using a regional taxonomy approaching a functional definition, we can compare in a more meaningful way the regions in EU countries and the US. We use of a newly developed OECD functional typology of TL3 (Territorial Level 3) regions, which classifies regions into five categories: two are metropolitan regions (with a very large or large city) and three are regions with accessibility to cities of different sizes. Over the period 2000–17, we assess which types of regions have been most resilient or vulnerable to the effects of the crisis. To identify structural factors, we analyse the evolution of the contributions of regions to aggregate GDP and productivity growth. Some structural patterns emerge, which are then related to the evolution of regional inequalities between 2000 and 2017. Overall, we found that regional inequalities seem mainly related to structural factors rather than macroeconomic shocks, such as the global financial crisis.

Using a large panel for 95 countries and the 1972–2014 period, this paper analyses the interactions among globalization, political & civil rights and economic convergence, through a simultaneous estimation technique. We use a multi-dimensional, de facto, and continuous measures of Freedoms and Globalization. We find a two-way positive relationship between civil liberties & political rights and economic, political and social Globalization, as well as significant two-way relationships with the economic convergence (using as a proxy the ratio of GDP per capita to the US). In this way, we extend the test for the two-way relationship between Democracy and Globalization put forward by Eichengreen and Leblang (Econ Politics 20(3):289–334, 2008). Overall, we also find a virtuous cycle between Globalization, Freedoms and Economic convergence, except for non-OECD countries at early intermediate stages of development. This positive systemic effect can be put into question by the recent negative shocks on Globalization and Freedoms related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this chapter, we discuss possible interactions across structural policy domains. While relatively more studied in the context of the post-communist transition literature, our survey suggests that relationships of this type hold more generally and can be important to improve our understanding of the relationship between structural reforms and long-run economic growth. Given its potential relevance for the design of successful reform packages, exploring in a more exhaustive way the notion that the effect of a given reform on economic growth depends on the progress made in other policy areas should be a priority point for future research. This may be particularly relevant to help unlock the growth potential of many developing and emerging countries, namely concerning their integration in the global economy.

Using a panel of 265 regions from 24 OECD countries from 1997 to 2007, we explore the impact of nation-wide macroeconomic and structural policies on the productivity growth of subnational regions. We find that average relationships between nation-wide policies and regional productivity growth can hide strong differentiated effects according to the distance to the frontier: relaxing employment protection legislation on temporary contracts, lowering barriers to trade and investment and increasing trade openness enhances productivity growth in lagging regions, whereas reducing barriers to entrepreneurship or higher levels of government debt has a positive effect on regions closer to the productivity frontier.

This working paper offers a synthesis of the current knowledge on the determinants of productivity. It carefully reviews both “spatial” (e.g. agglomerations, infrastructure, geography) and “aspatial” (e.g. human capital, labour regulations, industry-level innovation and dynamism) productivity drivers and demonstrates how the underlying spatial dynamics behind the latter group makes all productivity determinants “spatial” in nature. The paper demonstrates that productivity is inherently a spatial phenomenon and its understanding without a local/regional dimension is incomplete.

In the context of the debate on the future of Europe, this book makes the case for a new approach to structural transformation, growth and cohesion in the EU. It explores both the opportunities and challenges from globalisation and technological change, the widening differences in productivity between leading and lagging regions, and the need for a new policy framework capable of delivering inclusive growth. The Regional Studies Association’s Policy Impact Books form a series of punchy, policy facing books addressing issues of contemporary concern. There is a consistent focus on the impact of policy research both in terms of its reach to policy, academic and practitioner communities and also in its significance, to show how evidence can inform policy change within regional and urban studies.

This paper investigates the impact of policies and institutions on health expenditures for a large panel of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for the period of 2000-2010. A set of 20 policy and institutional indicators developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are integrated into a theoretically motivated econometric framework, alongside control variables related to demographic (dependency ratio) and non-demographic (income, prices and technology) drivers of health expenditures per capita. Although a large share of cross-country differences in public health expenditures can be explained by demographic and economic factors (around 71%), cross-country variations in policies and institutions also have a significant influence, explaining most of the remaining difference in public health spending (23%). Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper proposes a new set of public health and long-term care expenditure projections until 2060, following up on the previous set of projections published in 2006. It disentangles health from long-term care expenditure as well as the demographic from the non-demographic drivers, and refines the previous methodology, in particular by better identifying the underlying determinants of health and long-term care spending and by extending the country coverage to include BRIICS countries. A cost-containment and a cost-pressure scenario are provided together with sensitivity analysis. On average across OECD countries, total health and long-term care expenditure is projected to increase by 3.3 and 7.7 percentage points of GDP between 2010 and 2060 in the cost-containment and the cost-pressure scenarios, respectively. For the BRIICS over the same period, it is projected to increase by 2.8 and 7.3 percentage points of GDP in the costcontainment and the cost-pressure scenarios, respectively.

Ce papier analyse l’impact des politiques et des institutions sur les depenses de sante pour un large ensemble de pays de l’OCDE durant la periode 2000-10. Nous utilisons un groupe de 20 indicateurs politiques et institutionnels developpes par l’OCDE et qui caracterisent principalement l’offre, la demande, la gestion publique, la coordination et le financement des systemes de sante. L’incidence de ces indicateurs est evaluee conjointement avec des variables de controle en lien avec les determinants demographiques (taux de dependance) et non demographiques (revenu, prix et technologie) des depenses de sante par tete. Globalement, il existe une adequation satisfaisante entre les signes attendus des coefficients des indicateurs institutionnels et les estimations. En integrant le role des politiques et des institutions avec les autres determinants principaux, notre analyse reussit a expliquer la majorite de la variation entre pays des depenses publiques de sante.

This paper brings together the latest data and OECD productivity indicators in different areas with the aim of reviewing the main productivity trends over the past decade, comparing the United States, Europe and to some extent Japan. Concerning economy wide indicators of productivity, the slowdown appears to be due to a significant slowdown in investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) followed by a decrease in multi-factor productivity (MFP). However, a new set of indicators of MFP growth by industry shows that the decline of productivity is particularly marked in sectors such as construction and market services. Looking for possible explanations of the decline, a marked slowdown in innovation emerged as the most likely cause. It concludes that, if no new wave of innovation materialises, comparable in size to the one of the late 1990s (around notably the Internet), the OECD trend productivity growth is not likely to resume at its end-1990s level. Only a recovery in innovation itself could trigger a sustainable recovery in productivity in the major OECD countries.

The purpose of this article is to discuss how policies can affect investment in tertiary education in ways that would eliminate some of the perceived shortcomings of existing systems, while preserving or (preferably) enhancing equality of access to higher education. To this end, the analysis focuses on the institutional set-up of tertiary education that provides incentives for supplying quality educational services; the private returns from higher education which act to attract prospective students; and, individual funding mechanisms to help overcome the liquidity constraints that may restrict participation in higher education. These mechanisms should also be designed so as to prevent uncertainty about future incomes from unduly deterring investment in tertiary studies by risk-averse individuals. Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Romina Boarini, Hubert Strauss and Christine de la Maisonneuve

Many OECD countries are aiming to reform their tertiary education (TE) systems. This work explores the determinants of the investment in TE, with a focus on institutional setting of TE systems and private incentives to undertake years of schooling beyond upper-secondary degree level. For this purpose the article first develops estimates of three main drivers of graduation patterns, namely institutional arrangements of TE supply, availability of funding for TE students and private returns to tertiary studies. Second, the article empirically assesses how these three factors affect graduation ratios. Based on this analysis, the article then discusses policy-levers of TE investment and explores possible routes of reform for TE systems in OECD countries. The main findings are as follows: graduation ratios increase with private returns to TE as well with the autonomy and accountability of the supply of education. Lack or insufficient financial help to tertiary students negatively affects graduation ratios. There is a number of policy-levers to stimulate investment in TE. They include policies affecting labour market premia, the degree of flexibility of TE provision and the availability of funding for students. (JEL codes: I21, I22, I28, J24) Copyright , Oxford University Press.

Les depenses publiques consacrees a la sante et aux soins de longue duree (SLD ci-apres) sont un sujet de preoccupation pour les gouvernements de la plupart des pays de l’OCDE. Leur acceleration recente exerce une pression sur les budgets publics, qui s’ajoute a celle resultant de la reforme incomplete des regimes de retraite et d’autres formes de depenses sociales. Depuis un certain temps, les pays de l’OCDE limitent la croissance de ces charges en appliquant des politiques de maitrise des couts. Il s’agit surtout d’une moderation des salaires, de controles des prix et d’un report des investissements concernant les soins de longue duree. Une large part de ces derniers est assuree par les familles hors des circuits officiels. Toutefois, les possibilites de contenir de cette facon les depenses pour la sante et les soins de longue duree se reduisent.

This paper investigates the impact of policies and institutions on health expenditures for a large panel of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for the period of 2000-2010. A set of 20 policy and institutional indicators developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are integrated into a theoretically motivated econometric framework, alongside control variables related to demographic (dependency ratio) and non-demographic (income, prices and technology) drivers of health expenditures per capita. Although a large share of cross-country differences in public health expenditures can be explained by demographic and economic factors (around 71%), cross-country variations in policies and institutions also have a significant influence, explaining most of the remaining difference in public health spending (23%). Copyright © 2016 John WileySons, Ltd.

Cet article décrit les principales tendances qui se dégagent en termes de croissance et de convergence entre les régions de l’OCDE. Il discute ensuite les facteurs de croissance au niveau régional et les principaux changements en termes de politique territoriale mise en œuvre dans les pays de l’OCDE. Il termine par une discussion sur l’utilisation des politiques régionales pour un objectif élargi de bien-être.

In this article we investigate the role both the old large enterprises sector and the new SME sector have played during transition in Romania. In the first part, based on micro data for the large SOE sector, we document how heavily loss-making enterprises have been able to survive for a decade, through initially direct and later increasingly indirect subsidies from the state. We show concretely how the 'survival of the unfittest' has led to the emergence of pervasive chains of arrears in the economy, with large negative consequences not only for the budget and state-owned energy suppliers but also for general economic efficiency. We thus show that the lagging privatisation of large SOEs has had negative systemic effects on the Romanian economy, well beyond the question of increased enterprise efficiency. In the second part we show that--in spite of the drain of resources from the large SOEs and a difficult business climate--a sector of SMEs has emerged that has been the main contributor to employment and ...

This paper presents estimates of the cyclical fluctuations of price-cost margins, following an extended version of the Rotemberg and Woodford (1991) approach. The results support the hypothesis of counter-cyclical price margins in most manufacturing industries, especially in the presence of downward rigidities of labour inputs. This is consistent with a growing body of empirical literature showing that economic booms tend to increase competition or decrease the incentives for collusion, thereby creating downward pressures on price margins. It also offers an appealing interpretation of the otherwise puzzling pro-cyclicality of real wages.

Cette etude presente des estimations des fluctuations cycliques des taux de marge, suivant une generalisation de la methode de Rotemberg et Woodford (1991). Les resultats confortent l’hypothese que les taux de marge sont anticycliques dans la plupart des secteurs, notamment en presence de rigidites a la baisse de l’emploi. Cela s’accorde avec les nombreuses etudes empiriques selon lesquelles, lors des periodes d’expansion, la concurrence s’accroit ou les incitations a la collusion diminuent, ce qui engendre une pression a la baisse sur les taux de marge. En outre, ce resultat offre une interpretation interessante pour le comportement procyclique des salaires reels.

Convergence of transition countries will have an impact on their external competitiveness. However, small open economies can grow faster than their partners without being constrained by the balance of payments if they succeed in increasing the supply of differentiated goods produced domestically (variety effect). This will require extensive economic restructuring as production is still largely focused on homogeneous goods with little differentiation and business density is significantly lower than in Western Europe. This paper introduces a simple open-economy model that can account for these stylised facts of transition and provides numerical simulations to evaluate the potential impact of the economic restructuring process on employment, production and start-up costs for new businesses., Boeri Tito, Oliveira Martins Joaquim. Transition, variété des produits et intégration économique. In: Économie & prévision, n°152-153, 2002-1-2. Commerce international. pp. 55-69.

This paper investigates the impact of complementarity reforms on growth and how it depends on GDP per capita. Based on reform data for six policy areas compiled from various sources during the period 1994–2006 for over 100 countries, we compute composite indicators of reform level and complementarity. We provide qualitative justification for the existence of pair-wise complementarities among policy areas. We then use cross-section and panel data estimates to test the effect of reform level and complementarity on GDP per capita growth. We found reforms to be positively related and their dispersion (or the inverse of complementarity) negatively related to growth, controlling for initial conditions, monetary stability and other structural and institutional variables, as well as endogeneity of reform level and complementarity. We show that the effect of policy complementarity is a stronger condition for sustainable growth in developing than in advanced countries, to conclude that complementary reforms are not a ‘luxury’ for developing countries.

International audience; This paper analyses the impact of health, pension systems and longevity on savings. It uses a simple life-cycle model embodying social transfers (health care and pension expenditures) and changes in longevity to determine the level of household savings. From this model, we derived an econometric specification, augmented with the effects of public budget balances. The model is estimated for a panel of 22 OECD countries for the period 1970-2009. Our principal result is that, from the point of view of incentive to save, health transfers have a similar impact as pension replacement rates. Therefore, welfare reforms that reduce replacement rates without reforming health system may not have all the expected impact on household savings. In line with life-cycle theory, we found that longevity increases saving ratios.

This paper investigates the contribution of regions to aggregate growth in the OECD. We find a great degree of heterogeneity in the performance of OECD TL3 regions and among the OECD regional typology (urban, intermediate and rural). While the distribution in GDP and GDP per capita growth rates follows an approximately normal distribution, the regional contributions to aggregate growth follow a power law, with a coefficient around 1.2 (in absolute terms). This implies that Few-Large (FL) regions contribute disproportionately to aggregate growth whereas Many-Small (MS) individual regions contribute only marginally. Nevertheless, because the number of these smaller regions is very large and the decay of their contribution to growth is slow (generating a fat tail distribution), their cumulated contribution is actually around 2/3 of aggregate growth. For the period 1995-2007, only 2.4% of OECD TL3 regions contribute to 27% of OECD GDP growth, but the remaining 97.6% corresponds to 73%. We also found that the distribution of growth rates by size follows a non-monotonic pattern, with the largest concentration of above average regional growth rates being concentrated for middle-sized regions. This heterogeneity suggests that the possibilities for growth seem to exist in many different types of regions.

This paper addresses the interactions between globalization, the quality of democracy, and economic convergence using simultaneous estimation techniques. To reflect process, we use multi-dimensional, de facto, and continuous measures of democracy and globalization. To reflect context, as defined by space (geography) and time (history), we control for the distance to the income frontier. Using this measure of development, we extend the test for the two-way relationship between democracy and globalization put forward by Eichengreen and Leblang (2008) for the period 1870-2000. Focusing on the more recent wave of globalization (1970-2005), we find a two-way relationship between democracy and globalization and also significant two-way relationships with development. In the restricted sample of non-OECD countries, however, democracy hurts development.

This paper addresses the interactions between globalization, the quality of democracy, and economic convergence using simultaneous estimation techniques. To reflect process, we use multi-dimensional, de facto, and continuous measures of democracy and globalization. To reflect context, as defined by space (geography) and time (history), we control for the distance to the income frontier. Using this measure of development, we extend the test for the two-way relationship between democracy and globalization put forward by Eichengreen and Leblang (2008) for the period 1870-2000. Focusing on the more recent wave of globalization (1970-2005), we find a two-way relationship between democracy and globalization and also significant two-way relationships with development. In the restricted sample of non-OECD countries, however, democracy hurts development.

Ce papier presente une nouvelle serie de projections des depenses publiques de sante et de soins de longue duree jusqu’en 2060, faisant suite a une premiere serie de projections publiees en 2006. Le papier etudie la sante et les soins de longue duree separement ainsi que les determinants demographiques et non-demographiques et il affine la methodologie adoptee precedemment, en particulier, en identifiant de maniere plus approfondie les determinants sous-jacents des depenses de sante et de soins de longue duree et en augmentant le nombre de pays couverts afin d’inclure les BRIICS. Un scenario de maitrise des couts et un scenario de tension sur les couts sont elabores ainsi qu’une analyse de sensibilite. En moyenne sur l’ensemble des pays de l’OCDE, entre 2010 et 2060, le total des depenses de sante et de soins de longue duree devrait augmenter de 3.3 points de pourcentage de PIB dans le scenario de maitrise des couts et de 7.7 points de pourcentage de PIB dans un scenario de tension sur les couts. Pour les BRIICS sur la meme periode, il devrait augmenter de 2.8 points de pourcentage du PIB dans le scenario de maitrise des couts et de 7.3 points de pourcentage dans un scenario de tension sur les couts.

This paper proposes a new set of public health and long-term care expenditure projections till 2060, following up on the previous set of projections published in 2006. It disentangles health from longterm care expenditure as well as the demographic from the non-demographic drivers, and refines the previous methodology, in particular by better identifying the underlying determinants of health and long-term care spending and by extending the country coverage to include BRIICS countries. A costcontainment and a cost-pressure scenario are provided together with sensitivity analysis. On average across OECD countries, total health and long-term care expenditure is projected to increase by 3.3 and 7.7 percentage points of GDP between 2010 and 2060 in the cost-containment and the cost-pressure scenarios respectively. For the BRIICS over the same period, it is projected to increase by 2.8 and 7.3 percentage points of GDP in the cost-containment and the cost-pressure scenarios respectively.

This paper proposes a new set of public health and long-term care expenditure projections until 2060, seven years after a first set of projections was published by the OECD. It disentangles health from longterm care expenditure, as well as the demographic from the non-demographic drivers, and refines the previous methodology, in particular by extending the country coverage. Regarding health care, nondemographic drivers are identified, with an attempt to better understand the residual expenditure growth by determining which share can be explained by the evolution of health prices and technology effects. Concerning LTC, an estimation of the determinants of the number of dependants (people needing help in their daily life activities) is provided. A cost-containment and a cost-pressure scenario are provided, together with sensitivity analysis. On average across OECD countries, total health and long-term care expenditure is projected to increase by 3.3 and 7.7 percentage points of GDP between 2010 and 2060 in the cost-containment and the cost-pressure scenarios respectively. For the BRIICS over the same period, it is projected to increase by 2.8 and 7.3 percentage points of GDP in the cost-containment and the costpressure scenarios respectively.

This papers aims to understand the impact of nation-wide structural policies such as product market regulation in six upstream sectors and employment protection legislation and that of macroeconomic factors on the productivity growth of OECD regions. In particular we explore how this effect varies with the productivity gap of regions with their country’s frontier region. We use a policy-augmented growth model that allows us to simultaneously estimate the effects of macroeconomic and structural policies on regional productivity growth controlling for region-specific determinants of growth. We estimate our model with an unbalanced panel dataset consisting of 217 regions from 22 OECD countries covering the period 1995 to 2007. We find a strong statistical negative effect of product market regulation on regional productivity growth in five of the six upstream sectors considered and the effects are differentiated with respect to the productivity gap. Our estimates also reveal that dispersion of policies hurts regional productivity growth suggesting that policy complementarity can boost productivity growth. The effects of employment protection legislation are negative overall and are especially detrimental to productivity growth in lagging regions. The three macroeconomic factors we consider also influence regional performance: inflation has a negative effect on regional growth and government debt has a positive effect on average. When differentiating the effects by the distance to the frontier, trade-openness is more beneficial to lagging regions and the negative effects of inflation are less negative in lagging regions. These results reveal a strong link between nation-wide policies and the productivity of regions, which carries important policy implications, mainly that these effects should be taken into account in the policy design.

This paper examines the spatial patterns in service sector activities and links them to the overall trends in the service sector among OECD countries. We find that services have a strong spatial dimension linked to non-tradable activities which depend on local conditions. In particular we observe a decrease in the geographic concentration of service sector activities among all OECD regions but an increase in concentration among regions within countries making service sector activities more heterogeneous in space over time. Financial and business services are particularly concentrated amongst service subsectors. Specialisation in financial and business services appears to be higher in capital regions or regions with large cities, and have particularly increased among OECD regions. Within countries, regions have specialised more in public administration and in social services. This latter trend is important given that productivity in public administration and social services and in wholesale and retail trade has a strong growth potential due to forces of convergence.

We aim to understand the impact of nation-wide structural policies such as product market regulation and employment protection legislation and that of macroeconomic factors such as trade exposure, inflation and the level of government debt on the economic growth of regions in the OECD. In particular we seek to explore how the impact of these nation-wide factors might vary across regions depending on their productivity gap with the most productive region in their country. Our hypothesis is that regional productivity growth is positively related to the productivity growth of the leading region within the country and positively related to the productivity gap with the region that has the highest level of productivity in the country (in other words productivity growth increases with distance to the productivity frontier as lagging regions catch up). We use a policy-augmented growth model in which the effects of macroeconomic and structural policies are estimated in addition to the usual determinants of regional growth, physical and human capital and regional labour market density. Our methodology enables us to test simultaneously the catching-up effect, the influence of the productivity growth of the leading region, and the effect of nation-wide policies and how this might vary with distance to the frontier. We use panel data on 335 regions in 30 OECD countries defined at territorial level 2, taken from the OECD Regional Database, between 1996 and 2007. We first find that the growth of frontier regions in OECD countries has a positive effect on regional growth. Secondly, regional growth increases in the productivity gap with the frontier region within the country. Thirdly, we find that nation-wide factors do affect regional growth, and sometimes differentially according to the productivity gap with the frontier region, advocating in favour of place-based policy responses. We consistently identify a negative effect of product market regulation on regional growth, which is larger for lagging regions than for leading regions. The negative effect of regulation on economic indicators has been empirically demonstrated, however we show that this effect is more detrimental to lagging regions. Employment protection legislation and inflation have a negative impact on regional growth overall, while trade exposure and government debt have a positive effect on regional growth on average. Key words: regional economic growth; structural policies; catching-up; lagging regions. JEL codes: R10; R11.

Global effects of the european ecotax The aim of this paper is to analyse the implications of the European Commission proposal of a mixed energy cum carbon tax to curb CO2 emissions from a global perspective. The paper deals with the effects of this proposai on emissions and welfare in both the EC and the rest of the world by concentrating on three main issues : i) the effectiveness of the proposed tax measures in terms of curbing EC and global CO2 emissions ; ii) the implied costs for the EC and the other countries/regions of the worlds ; and iii) the impli­cations of the EC proposai for the world distribution of emissions and the competitive-ness of the EC economy. In this connection, the relevance of the so-called "carbon leakages" — i.e. the displacement of polluting activities from countries participating in an emission reduction agreement to countries not concerned by the agreement — is examined. The paper provides quantitative answers to these issues using simulations with GREEN, the global dynamic applied general equilibrium (AGE) model developed by the OECD Secretariat in order to study the costs of policies aimed at reducing CO2 emis, Effets globaux de l'exotaxe européenne L'objet de cette étude est d'analyser d'un point de vue global les effets de la proposition de la Commission européenne d'une taxe mixte sur l'énergie et le contenu en carbone, pour réduire les émissions de CO2. Les effets de cette propositions sur les émissions et le bien-être collectif de la CEE et du reste du monde sont abordés selon trois perspectives : l'impact des mesures fiscales proposées sur les émissions globales et celles de la CEE ; les coûts induits pour la CEE et les autres pays/régions du monde ; les effets de cette proposition de la Commission sur la répartition des émissions dans le monde et sur la compétitivité de l'économie européenne. À ce titre, la pertinence des « fuites de carbone » — c'est-à-dire le déplacement des activités polluantes de pays signataires d'un accord de réduction des émissions vers des pays non concernés par cet accord — est exa­minée. Cette étude propose des réponses quantifiées à ces questions au moyen de simulations effectuées avec GREEN, le modèle global dynamique d'équilibre général appliqué (EGA) mis au point par le secrétariat de l'OCDE pour évaluer les coûts des politiques visant à réduire les émissions de CO2., Nicoletti Giuseppe, Oliveira-Martins Joaquim, Zagamé Paul. Effets globaux de l'exotaxe européenne. In: Revue économique, volume 45, n°3, 1994. pp. 931-946.

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