The OECD Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies aims to support the development and implementation of digital government strategies that bring governments closer to citizens and businesses.

Uncertainty faced by households and firms affects economic activity. The rise in uncertainty since the beginning of the sovereign debt crisis in Greece could be one factor that has contributed to the steep and long-lasting recession. This paper presents a brief empirical analysis quantifying this phenomenon and compares it with developments in Ireland and Portugal.

This study analyses the economic rent generated by the exploitation of a non-renewable resource, and the taxation of this rent.

The Municipality of Hermosillo in Mexico shows a 12% progress in the implementation of OECD recommendations to simplify formalities to boost entrepreneurship and create employment.

Turkey recovered swiftly from the global financial crisis but sizeable macroeconomic imbalances arose in the process.

The International Forum on Open Government gathered open government leaders from around the world in order to debate the contribution of the principles of transparency, accountability and citizens’ participation to good governance and socio-economic development.

This International Roundtable will provide a platform for policy dialogue on addressing the challenges of ageing societies.

This workshop provided practical information and learning through case studies, group exercises and presentations from government officials with extensive experience in applying regulatory impact assessment (RIA) systems.

An overview of vents and reports on Regional Development Policy for Autumn 2014.

While the outlook for many OECD countries remains subdued, Emerging Asia is set for healthy growth over the medium term. Annual GDP growth for the ASEAN -10, China and India is forecast to average 6.5% over 2015-19. Growth momentum remains robust in the 10 ASEAN countries, with economic growth averaging 5.6% over 2015-19.

Trust is the glue that holds societies together. It is essential for most social and economic relations. Since the beginning of the economic crisis, OECD countries have been under pressure to restore trust in their institutions, especially in their governments.

The second progress report in the implementation of regulatory improvement actions shows a 52% progress for the Municipality of Hermosillo.

This working paper takes a comparative snapshot of social media use in and by OECD governments. The focus is on government institutions, as opposed to personalities, and how they manage to capture the opportunities of new social media platforms to deliver better public services and to create more open policy processes.

The tramitesmetepec.mx website organises formalities by “life events”, facilitating the search of information for citizens and entrepreneurs, and reducing the cost of regulatory compliance.

The OECD’s work on resilience is featured prominently in the Global Risks 2015 report of the World Economic Forum.

The objective of this workshop was to provide basic facts and theory related to RIA and best practices when undertaking RIA.

This chapter begins with a brief socio-economic and institutional overview of the Puebla-Tlaxcala metropolitan region. It then explores the current status of inter-municipal collaboration in two major sectors for urban development: transport and land use. Finally, it reviews existing metropolitan collaboration tools.

Hermosillo scores 96% in implementing the recommendations of the Guide on improving the regulatory quality of formalities at the municipal level

The OECD is supporting Malaysia to implement regulatory reforms supporting the country’s economic, social and environmental goals, as well as regional and global competitiveness.

The government’s current review of the federal system, focusing on both spending and tax responsibilities, is welcome, as is the “whole of government” approach to the process.

This review particularly recommends shifting away from income taxation to indirect taxation, for instance by raising more revenue from the Goods and Services Tax.

The main objective of this meeting was to create a Latin American Network to contribute to the better functioning of markets and the improvement of public services in Latin American countries.

This online resource will guide you in implementing the OECD Principles on Effective Public Investment Across Levels of Government. In addition to better familiarising yourself with the 12 Principles, the Toolkit lets you compare indicators and best practices in use in numerous countries, regions and municipalities.

Financial crises do more than impose huge costs: they have bigger and more insidious effects. We face big challenges in maintaining the supply of global public goods as the world integrates. But these challenges will not be managed successfully if we do not first overcome the legacy of the crisis.

Colombia has engaged in a sustained process of fiscal decentralisation over the past decades. Evidence is presented that the current framework is conducive to fiscal sustainability, especially after the reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The recent riots in Baltimore following the death of Freddy Gray bring a tragic focus, once again, on inequality. Maryland’s largest city, Baltimore is a perfect laboratory to study it, thanks in part to the superb comparative statistics the city keeps. OECD Insights Blog.

As the OECD celebrates its 10th Rural Conference this edition will look at the next steps for the OECD Rural Policy Programme and consider the direction for future work.

In January of this year I visited the Mexican state of Tabasco– a state crossed by rivers and facing the Gulf of Mexico. The state’s population has doubled over the past 30 years and its economy relies heavily on oil and natural gas resources. It has its challenges as well: unemployment, poverty and a lack of resources.

Newsletter for OECD Regional Development Policy giving an overview of projects from January-June 2015.

Launch of the OECD programme for regulatory improvement in the Municipality of Torreon, Mexico.

The Municipality of San Luis Potosi scores an 87% progress in implementing the OECD Guide to Improve the Quality of State and Municipal Regulations.

Governments should set prudent debt targets to ensure that public finances serve to promote economic growth and stability, according to new OECD research.

The objective of this paper is to define long-run prudent debt targets for OECD countries and country-specific fiscal rules. To this end, a semi-structural macroeconomic model for OECD countries and primary balance reaction functions are estimated.

The annual meeting of the OECD Schools of Government Network on the theme of Skills for a World Class Civil Service will be held on 6 July 2015, at the OECD in Paris.

Ensuring that permanent spending or tax cuts are implemented in a sustainable manner would encourage the strong fiscal position that New Zealand needs to meet potentially large macroeconomic shocks and long-run ageing-related costs.

Fiscal constitutions comprise the set of rules and frameworks guiding fiscal policy that are enshrined in a country’s fundamental laws.

Blog post reviewing the recent trends in the use of social media by governments. The article includes a look at the the top 30 government Twitter a/c's and the fastest growing accounts.

Portugal has one of the most unequal income distributions in Europe and poverty levels are high. The economic crisis has halted a long-term gradual decline in both inequality and poverty and the number of poor households is rising, with children and youths being particularly affected. Unemployment is one of the principal reasons why household incomes declined.

The recent droughts in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states have exposed the need to shift from crisis management to effective risk governance of the country’s water resources, according to a new OECD report.

With gross government debt of 226% of GDP, Japan’s fiscal situation is in uncharted territory and puts the economy at risk. Japan needs a detailed and credible fiscal consolidation plan, including specific revenue increases and measures to control spending to restore its fiscal sustainability.

Healthcare costs are rising so fast in advanced economies that they will become unaffordable by mid-century without reforms, according to a new OECD report.

Digital security risk should be treated as an economic rather than a technical issue, and should be part of an organisation’s overall risk management and decision-making, according to a new OECD Recommendation to member countries.

The FAO, OECD and UNCDF launched a joint multi-year initiative to assess Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) policies from a territorial perspective. This joint initiative will assess, scale up, and pilot innovative policy approaches and governance mechanisms to improve food security and nutrition in rural areas, in both emerging and developing countries.

Ministers and cabinet-level officials from OECD countries and beyond will participate to help determine how we shape the policy cycle to deliver inclusive outcomes.

TThe economic literature suggests that a revenue-neutral shift of tax revenues from income taxes to property taxes would increase GDP per capita in the medium term. This paper analyses for Ireland the consequences of such a shift in the tax mix.

The Regional Development Policy Division was honoured to have been selected by the Regional Studies Association (RSA) to receive the Institutional Ambassador Award 2015 on 18 November. The award is in recognition of the high calibre of reports and measurement tools produced by the Regional Development Policy Committee and its supporting Working Parties.

This Recommendation offers a whole-of-government policy arsenal commonly agreed upon among OECD Members that governments can use to close remaining gender gaps in public life, scale up inclusive approaches to policy making and public service delivery, and monitor continuous progress.

This paper re-estimates the elasticities of government revenue and expenditure items with respect to the output gap for OECD countries. These elasticities are used by the OECD to calculate cyclically adjusted fiscal balances. The study updates the earlier 2005 study using the most recent datasets and tax codes, the coverage being confined in this paper to 35 countries, the 34 OECD member states and Latvia.

Reforms over the past two decades have produced a well-balanced, modern tax system. However, considerable revenues will be needed in the years ahead to expand social spending and infrastructure in order to raise growth and well-being. The challenge is to generate these revenues without penalising growth or exacerbating inequality.

This OECD Regulatory Policy Working Paper relies on an empirical stocktaking of mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) among selected OECD countries. It aims to build a greater understanding of the benefits and pitfalls of one of the 11 mechanisms of international regulatory co-operation.