Technological change is increasing the productivity of highly skilled workers but creating more challenging labour-market conditions for their low-skilled counterparts.

The Swiss economy has shown considerable resilience to shocks, but economic growth remains slow, and per capita income levels still hover at levels attained before the global economic crisis. Further reforms are needed to restore productivity growth, boost incomes and ensure that today’s high living standards and levels of well-being are passed on to future generations, according to a new report from the OECD.

Digitalisation is one of the megatrends affecting societies and labour markets, alongside demographic change and globalisation.

Assuming that immigrants select destinations according to absolute returns to their observable and unobservable human capital, I present a human capital model of migration accounting for taxes, transfers and limited portability of skills.

Stronger integration in global value chains would speed up economic convergence to advanced OECD economies and raise living standards.

Iceland has high living standards, low poverty, high inclusiveness and one of the most sustainable pension systems.

The mixed growth performance of emerging market economies has revived angst about a "middle-income trap".

Switzerland makes more use of its human resources than most other OECD countries. Labour force participation is high and the unemployment rate low for most segments of society.

Swiss GDP per capita stands amongst the top OECD performers. However, to face medium-term challenges productivity developments will be key to allow the country to maintain its enviable position.

This paper investigates the effect of export entry on productivity, employment and wages of Latvian and Estonian firms in the context of global value chain (GVC).

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.

Las perspectivas de crecimiento favorable ofrecen a Chile una oportunidad para abordar sus bajos niveles de productividad comparados con los de otras economías desarrolladas, mejorar el acceso al empleo de calidad, y tomar medidas para reducir su desigualdad persistentemente alta, según un nuevo informe de la OCDE.

Finland enjoys a high level of income and well-being. Nevertheless, output has been dragged down by the global downturn, the decline of the electronics and paper industries and the Russian recession.

The Irish economy is recovering robustly. Business investment by local firms has picked up, household consumption is reviving while the boost to jobs and a rapidly declining unemployment rate have led to strong wage growth in a number of sectors, says 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.

Poland’s economic growth remains strong. Rising family benefits and a booming jobs market are lifting household income while poverty rates and inequality are falling, says a new OECD report.

The Polish economy is in a strong position. Economic growth reached 4.6% on average in 2017 and the OECD expects it to continue at around 4% over 2018/19.

In 2016 the Polish government introduced a large new child benefit, called “Family 500+”, with the aim to increase fertility from a low level and reduce child poverty. The benefit is universal for the second and every further child and means-tested for the first child. It more than doubles fiscal support for families, making Poland one of the top spenders in the EU concerning cash transfers for families.

Declining inflation in many countries over the past few decades at the same time as rising global competition has led to a debate on the importance of globalisation for domestic inflation. This paper explores the implications of global value chain (GVC) integration and market contestability for inflation using a range of industry-level and micro-data sources.

Thailand has made remarkable socio-economic progress over the past several decades. Even so, rising prosperity has not been shared equally across the country. Today, Thailand strives to pursue a development path to benefit all, seeking to reinvigorate economic transformation and reduce multifaceted inequalities in the face of a rapidly ageing population and technological change.

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").

New firm-level analysis undertaken in tandem with the OECD Economic Survey of Ireland 2018 finds that the majority of businesses in Ireland have actually experienced falling productivity since the mid-2000s.

From a feudal trading hub connecting South with East Asia in the 18th and 19th centuries, Thailand has developed into a rapidly modernising and more urban economy. The second half of the 20th century saw the rapid expansion in manufacturing and services, which underpinned its transformation into an upper-middle-income country.

Markets and commentators are speculating that there may be a sustained pick-up in inflation in the United States, after years of subdued price pressures. Along with continued solid US jobs growth and low unemployment, there are tentative signs of higher wage growth and the fiscal stimulus will also boost short-term growth. Global growth is also getting stronger.

The Nordics are rightly renowned for being inclusive societies with low inequality compared to other OECD countries. However, some of the largest inequality increases over the past few decades took place in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

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.

Thailand has made remarkable socio-economic progress over the past several decades. Poverty has plummeted and access to education and health services has become near universal.

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

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

Thailand’s path from a low-income to an upper-middle-income country over recent decades is widely hailed as a development success story.

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

The Peace pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development encompasses a diverse range of issues including stability and effective governance.

Over the past decade, limited structural reform and capital investment have held back productivity growth and improvements in well-being, and Thailand has lost ground vis-à-vis regional comparators.

OECD appoints Laurence Boone as new Chief Economist

After a lengthy period of weak growth, the world economy is finally growing around 4%, the historical average of the past few decades.

Network sectors (energy, transport and communications) have undergone a process of liberalisation in Greece in more than a decade.

Global trade imbalances narrowed in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. They have remained at a lower level but are still of concern to policy makers because of the risks they pose to individual economies, as well as globally.

As discussed in the latest OECD Economic Outlook, the prolonged undershooting of inflation targets, despite massive monetary policy stimulus and stronger economic growth and lower unemployment, raises issues about the appropriateness of current inflation targeting frameworks in advanced economies. While the frameworks differ in detail and implementation, they are principally based on medium-term inflation objectives of 2%.

Poland’s catch up with other OECD country has been largely based on productivity growth resulting from restructuring towards more productive sectors and foreign technology absorption.

Poland’s productivity has grown strongly over the past two decades. However, the public and private capital stock is weak, and investment remains focused on the adoption of existing technologies, which weighs on future productivity gains and innovation.

In 2016 the Polish government introduced a large new child benefit, called "Family 500+", with the aim to increase fertility from a low level and reduce child poverty.

The Netherlands is experiencing vibrant economic activity, with gross domestic product (GDP) at about 8% above its pre-crisis peak and the unemployment rate below 4%. Growth picked up to above 3% in 2017, which was well above the euro area and OECD averages.

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.

The Netherlands is likely to be one of the European countries that is going to be significantly affected by the United Kingdom’s planned departure from the European Union (Brexit).

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.

Growth, driven by both internal and external demand, has been accelerating since 2013 and at 4.6% in 2017 it was more balanced than in previous years. Household consumption is supported by income growth, a declining savings rate as confidence is high, and by rising credit.

Canada has long taken in more immigrants relative to its population than most other countries. Immigration policy in Canada aims to promote economic development by selecting immigrants with high levels of human capital, to reunite families and to respond to foreign crises and offer protection to endangered people.

This paper reviews empirical research on finance and labour markets.

Since the start of the Great Recession, labour productivity growth has been weak in the United Kingdom, weaker than in many other OECD countries.