Estonia: Policy action is needed for stronger and more inclusive growth

Financial globalisation has given international capital flows a central role in the functioning of the global economy and has therefore led to considerable economic research over the past 30 years.

The world economy has picked up momentum, as expanding investment, employment and trade support synchronised growth across most countries, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Outlook.

Economic growth is strengthening in France, supported by consumption and investment, and the labour market is gradually recovering, as past reductions of comparatively high labour and business taxes are starting to take effect. However, GDP and employment growth are still lagging relative to the euro-area average.

Estonian growth is picking up again strongly in 2017 and the level of activity has finally surpassed its pre-crisis level, almost 10 years after the outset of the financial crisis. However, poverty remains among the highest in the OECD.

Never in the past 30 years has productivity growth been lower than since the 2008 global financial crisis, and never has income inequality been higher than it is today in Japan, and in the OECD area

Luxembourg’s workforce is highly skilled, reflecting the concentration in the country of sophisticated firms in the financial sector and other top-end international services.

A key priority in China’s "new normal" period -- where returns on investment are slackening -- is corporate governance, which could lead to enhanced productivity by a better management of resources at the firm level.

Over the past decade, sound macroeconomic policies and an improved business environment have helped generate relatively strong GDP growth.

The peace agreement will boost economic growth, but to share it fairly Colombia must also achieve better educational outcomes and bring more people into the more productive formal economy.

The database contains indicators capturing structural policies (including institutions, framework condition policies and policies specifically related to labour markets and drivers of productivity and investment such as trade, skills and innovation).

OECD sees global economy strengthening, but says further policy action needed to catalyse the private sector for stronger and more inclusive growth

This paper estimates and quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income for a large set of OECD and non-OECD countries.

Weak productivity growth is a major problem afflicting most societies. It curbs growth in incomes and endangers the sustainability of social security systems. An important, but often ignored, source of the productivity slowdown is the increasing prevalence of weakly productive firms and, among them, “zombie firms” – in essence firms that would typically exit or be forced to restructure in a competitive market.

Switzerland is among the leaders in many global rankings including on R&D, innovation, infrastructure, universities and competitiveness. It is well integrated in global value chains, specialised in some high-value-added activities and home of many large multinationals. These factors should contribute to high, and rising, labour productivity.

Vacancy for Economist, OECD Economics Department

Vacancy for Senior Economist, OECD Economics Department

This paper investigates if higher public spending in education and better teacher qualifications are related to student’s performance, using data from Saber 11, a national standardized test conducted by Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Educación.

Brazil is emerging from its long recession and is headed for solid growth in 2018 and 2019 as recent structural reforms start to bear fruit. Sustaining this recovery, unleashing Brazil’s full economic potential and spreading the benefits fairly will require additional efforts to rein in public spending, increase trade and investment, and further focus social spending on those most in need, according to a new OECD report.

In Finland, as elsewhere, income taxation and the withdrawal of benefits reduce the pay-off for individuals who go from benefits to work.

After a long period of lacklustre economic performance, robust growth has resumed.

Governments must implement comprehensive structural reform programmes to sustain stronger, greener and more inclusive growth that will extend beyond the current cyclical upswing, according to the OECD’s annual Going for Growth report.

Today’s excellent outlook offers Israel a unique opportunity to prepare for the challenges of the future which require stronger social cohesion. Israeli society is indeed marked by large inequalities.

The Tunisian economy is recovering, driven by good harvests and strong performance in the tourism sector, but further reforms are needed to ensure sustainable growth and higher living standards for all Tunisians, according to a new report from the OECD.

Over the last decades Argentina’s living standards have lost ground relative to other developed and emerging economies. Putting Argentina on a path to stronger, inclusive and job-rich growth requires boosting productivity and strengthening investment through wide-ranging structural reforms.

This paper compares Finland’s benefit system with two benefit reform scenarios: a uniform benefit for all ("basic income") and a universal tapering rule ("universal credit").

Tunisia is firmly committed to a process of democratisation that needs underpinning by economic reforms in order to guarantee an improved standard of living for all Tunisians.

Chile’s export growth has disappointed over the past two decades. In particular, exports of goods and services - in volume - have only grown at 1.1% annually over 2009-17 and at around 2.0% for non-copper products and services, compared to 4.2% in the average Latin American country.

Reforming the public sector, long a priority for Thailand, involves several challenges. Among these, insufficient public participation in policy-making is undermining the efficient allocation of resources toward public needs and development goals.

The combination of different working-age benefits, childcare costs and income taxation creates complexity, reduces work incentives and holds back employment.

“Urgent and concerted effort” is needed from governments to drive more inclusive, sustainable economic growth that benefits everyone in society, according to a new OECD report.

Finland raises a large amount of taxes to finance high-quality public services and redistribute income.

Thailand’s "sufficiency economy philosophy" encourages the prioritisation of long-term sustainability over short-term benefits.

The U.S. economy is experiencing one of the longest expansions on record, but the scars left by the Great Recession, as well as challenges posed by globalization and automation shocks, remain visible across the country, according to a new report from the OECD.

1st Joint IMF-OECD-World Bank Conference on Structural Reforms

The German economy is undergoing a robust expansion, with record-low unemployment and real wage gains underpinning domestic demand while strong exports are driving business investment. The strong fiscal position will offer opportunities for funding structural reforms and public investment to meet future challenges, according to a new report from the OECD.

The European economy is growing robustly, helped by accommodative monetary policy, mildly expansionary fiscal policy and the global acceleration. The current economic expansion should be used to speed up implementation of reforms to the euro area architecture and EU policies that would support greater European integration and ensure stronger, more inclusive long-term growth, according to two new reports from the OECD.

Short-term prospects for the Korean economy are good, with an uptick in world trade and fiscal policy driving growth, but productivity remains relatively low and the country faces the most rapid population ageing in the OECD area, according to a new report from the OECD.

Economic performance in The Netherlands is vibrant and growth is expected to remain robust, underpinned by sound public finances, healthy job creation and high levels of confidence. The current economic expansion should be used to speed up implementation of reforms to ensure future stability and support more inclusive labour markets, according to a new report from the OECD.

This paper summarises earlier OECD work aimed at quantifying the impact of structural reforms on economic outcomes.

Consecutive years of primary deficits have led to mounting public debt of almost 50% of GDP, one of the fastest increases in Latin America over the last decade.

Lithuania’s economy has grown faster than most other OECD economies over the past 10 years, unemployment continues to fall and public finances have stabilised after a long period of deficits and rising debt.

Policy choices made today can have important positive effects on future living standards, according to new long-term economic scenarios released by the OECD.

Structural Policy Indicators Database for Economic Research (SPIDER)

This paper presents country-specific effects of structural reforms. It discusses how sizeable and interesting country-specific effects can be identified in a panel setting by conditioning the impact of individual policies on their own level or on the stance of other policies and institutions.

The Irish economy has experienced a decline in productivity growth over the past decade. This has mostly reflected the poor performance of local firms, with the large productivity gap between foreign-owned and local enterprises having widened.

The current Canadian government has declared itself feminist and has taken a number of steps to improve labour market outcomes for women. In terms of employment and labour force participation, Canadian women do much better than the OECD average.

This paper exploits a new database that is unique in its scale and scope containing detailed information on over two million projects carried out by one million firms that benefited from the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund in 25 EU member countries during the multi-annual financial framework 2007-2013.

4-5 September 2018, Paris - The OECD Blockchain Policy Forum on "Distributed Ledgers: Opportunities and Challenges" was the first major international conference to take stock of blockchain’s impacts across the full range of government activities and public priorities.

A steady economic expansion in Indonesia is boosting living standards, curbing poverty and offering millions of people greater access to public services.