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How to implement Social Impact Bonds (SIB) in Poland?

The purpose of the seminar is to provide the practical information about how to implement SIBs in Poland using international experiences. The seminar is addressed to the potential applicants interested in the implementation of SIB within the call for proposals planned to be launched by the Ministry of Economic Development.




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Soft skills for the future

The demand for soft skills is increasing, and recent evidence suggests that the supply does not seem to keep up. The benefits from further development of these skills go beyond better labour market outcomes, as soft skills have been shown to contribute to overall well-being.




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The effects of reform scenarios for unemployment benefits and social assistance on financial incentives to work and poverty in Lithuania

In 2015 the Lithuanian government launched an ambitious Social Model reform agenda aimed at balancing flexibility of the labour market and security provided through the system of social protection.




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Italy’s skills and labour market challenges in an ageing society

Low birth rates have become a pressing issue in Italy and many young Italians feel they do not enjoy the necessary economic stability to plan ahead and start a family. Education that matches the skill needs of employers leading to work-based learning in the form of apprenticeships can be useful to help young Italians plan ahead and to sustain the much needed increase in the birth rate.




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Some well-known (and some lesser-known) facts about digitalisation, deindustrialisation and the future of work

The OECD has just released a new working paper by Thor Berger and Carl Frey which provides a systematic overview of the literature examining the impact of digitalisation on labour markets. The paper highlights some well-known as well as some lesser-known facts about digitalisation, deindustrialisation and the future of work.




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Legal and social barriers holding back women’s empowerment in Middle East and North Africa

Women in the Middle East and North Africa are better educated and better skilled than ever, yet legal and social barriers mean the share of them in work is still the lowest in the world. Bringing family and labour laws into line with gender goals would enable more women to enter employment and would make MENA economies more competitive and inclusive, according to a new OECD report.




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Costa Rica has made major socio-economic progress but more efforts needed to reduce inequality and poverty

Costa Rica enjoys relatively high life satisfaction levels, but should do more to develop a more inclusive and sustainable economy, according to a new OECD report.




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Getting skills right in South Africa

South Africa has suffered from persistently high unemployment and low labour force participation rates. Moreover, country faces high qualification and field-of-study mismatch. Promoting skills development is a key priority in many of the South African government’s plans and strategies. As a result, the OECD suggests several policy recommendations and good practice examples from other countries in order to address those issues.




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Korea should speed up job market and social protection reforms to strengthen inclusive growth

Korea’s economy has progressed rapidly over the past 40 years, catching up with the level of well-being in most OECD countries. It now needs to continue and speed up the reforms of its labour market in order to strengthen its social safety net, create better quality jobs and boost inclusive growth, according to a new OECD report.




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Action needed to tackle stalled social mobility

As income inequality has increased since the 1990s, social mobility has stalled, meaning that fewer people at the bottom have moved up while the richest have largely kept their fortunes. This has severe social, economic and political consequences, according to a new OECD report.




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Finland must focus on integrating migrant women and their children to boost their contribution to the economy and society

Finland should offer labour-market-oriented integration support to all migrants, strengthen efforts to identify and address early vulnerabilities, and work more closely with employers according to a new OECD report.




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Measuring the impact of digitalising the formalities of the Mexican Social Security Institute, IMSS

OECD will measure the impact of digitalising the Mexican Social Security Institute formalities and guide future efforts on simplification




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Rebalancing Turkey’s growth by improving resource allocation and productivity in manufacturing

Turkey’s manufacturing sector has expanded considerably but not efficiently and competitively enough.




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Behavioural Insights Conference, Cape Town, South Africa

The OECD Behavioural Insights Conference brings together behavioural practitioners and policy makers from around the world to discuss how using behavioural insights can affect policy change.




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Serious Concerns Remain over Japan’s Enforcement of Foreign Bribery Law, Despite Some Positive Developments

The Phase 3 Report on Japan by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates and makes recommendations on Japan'simplementation and application of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related instruments.




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UK increases enforcement of foreign bribery, but concerns remain about transparency and resources

The United Kingdom has significantly boosted its foreign bribery enforcement efforts but needs to be more transparent when resolving cases.




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Austria’s enforcement of foreign bribery laws far too weak, but could pick up soon says OECD

The OECD Working Group on Bribery regrets that Austria has not had a conviction of bribing foreign public officials despite a number of allegations, 13 years after ratifying the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. However, enforcement appears to be picking up, with one case being tried, two more cases soon to be tried, and four ongoing investigations.




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OECD takes aim at software technologies used by businesses to evade taxes

The OECD has released a study to help all countries understand and address the risks of sales suppression software. It describes some of the most common electronic sales suppression techniques and shows how these methods can be detected by tax auditors. The report also considers the approaches already adopted by countries in combating this risk and highlights a number of best practices.




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Belgium should address “flagrant” lack of resources for fighting foreign bribery, says OECD

Fighting foreign bribery is not a priority in Belgium. Together with the flagrant lack of resources for Belgian law enforcement authorities, this has resulted in very few foreign bribery investigations and prosecutions. In the 14 years since the entry into force of the foreign bribery offence in Belgium, only one case of bribery of foreign public officials has been concluded.




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Ireland must urgently apply more resources to enforce Anti-Bribery Convention, says OECD

Ireland should increase its resources to detect and investigate foreign bribery more efficiently. Resources have, in recent years, been largely devoted to investigating non-bribery cases in the financial sector. Ireland has not prosecuted a foreign bribery case in the twelve years since its foreign bribery offence came into force, and law enforcement has taken few proactive steps to investigate allegations.




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Lack of enforcement jeopardises South Africa’s fight against foreign bribery; OECD concerned that political and economic considerations may be an influence

South Africa must take urgent steps to proactively investigate and prosecute foreign bribery. No foreign bribery cases have been prosecuted since South Africa joined the Convention in 2007. The 4 on-going investigations – out of only 10 allegations that have surfaced to date – are also far from reaching the prosecution stage, according to a new report by the OECD Working Group on Bribery.




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Presentación del Estudio sobre Políticas de Integridad en México

El Gobierno de México solicitó a la OCDE un Estudio sobre Políticas de Integridad, concentrado en el combate a la corrupción, la prevención de conflictos de interés y la integridad en el servicio público.




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The Dark Horse, The Paper Tiger and Chicken Little: Lessons from the OECD Foreign Bribery Report

One of the more startling findings in the OECD Foreign Bribery Report, is that some level of corporate management was involved in over 50% of the cases sanctioned. This paper by Leah Ambler, published in the Journal of Business Compliance (01/2015), examines what went wrong and why from a corporate governance and compliance perspective.




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Greece should tackle not only domestic corruption but also foreign bribery

The risk of Greek companies bribing foreign officials is substantial, but Greece has not given the same priority to fighting foreign bribery as it has to domestic corruption.




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Liability of Legal Persons for Corruption in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

This cross-country report analyses the legislation on liability of legal persons for corruption and its enforcement in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, highlighting national practices that may be promoted as good practice. While it focuses on 25 countries participating in the Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN), examples from OECD countries are also included.




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Liability of Legal Persons for Foreign Bribery: A Stocktaking Report

This stocktaking report first presents a chronology of how systems for the liability of legal persons have evolved among the 41 Parties to the Anti-Bribery Convention. It then presents a “mapping” of the features of these systems for the 41 Parties.




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Technology offers critical solutions to prevent, identify and tackle tax evasion and tax fraud, says OECD

Technology Tools to Tackle Tax Evasion and Tax Fraud demonstrates how technology is currently being used by tax administrations in countries worldwide to prevent, identify and tackle tax evasion and tax fraud. These solutions can offer a win-win: better detection of crime, higher revenue recovery, and synergies that can make tax compliance easier for business and tax administrations.




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Advisory Group on Anti-Corruption and Integrity Delivers Recommendations for OECD

An independent group of leading anti-corruption and integrity experts recommends doing more to enforce and develop anti-corruption standards and enhancing collaboration with other international organisations in a report on ways the OECD can strengthen its vital work in combating bribery and promoting integrity.




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Segundo Informe de Avances sobre el Desarrollo del Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México

Este documento reporta los avances logrados por el Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México (GACM) y otras dependencias con respecto a las 16 recomendaciones realizadas por la OCDE en su informe de noviembre de 2016 “Primer Informe de Avances sobre el Desarrollo del Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México: Hacia una Ejecución Efectiva”.




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A lesson in teaching from the grassroots, by Andreas Schleicher

I was in London last week to give a talk on “how to transform 10,000 classrooms” at the annual Teach First/Teach for All conference in London. Some 3,000 teachers and social entrepreneurs from around the world gathered there to discuss ways to re-invent and strengthen the teaching profession.




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U.S. Education Is Getting Left Behind - Andreas Schleicher, Special Advisor on Education Policy, OECD

The U.S. is now the only country in the industrialised world in which the generation entering the workforce does not have higher college attainment levels than the generation about to leave the workforce. While that is in part due to the traditionally high levels of college attainment in the U.S, an increasing number of countries have approached and surpassed U.S. graduation levels and others are bound to follow over the coming years.




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Getting internationalisation right - by Andreas Schleicher Deputy Director for Education and Skills, Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD's Secretary General

The exceptional turnout at the 2013 OECD/Japan Seminar in Tokyo this week, where over 300 participants from over 20 countries discussed global strategies for higher education, shows that the seminar had exactly the right agenda at exactly the right time. I asked myself how many people would have turned up had this seminar been held five years ago; or whether five years ago, Japan would have ventured to take the lead on this theme.




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Education Indicators in Focus No. 11 - What are the social benefits of education? How do early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies, systems and quality vary across OECD countries?

In many OECD countries, ECEC services have increased in response to a growing demand for better learning outcomes as well as growing female labour force participation. In recent years, however, the goals of ECEC policy have become more child-centred.




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Getting our youth back to work - by Andreas Schleicher, Deputy Director and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD's Secretary-General

If there’s one lesson we’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that we cannot simply bail ourselves out of a crisis, we cannot solely stimulate ourselves out of a crisis and we cannot just print money our way out of a crisis. But we can become much better in equipping more people with better skills to collaborate, compete and connect in ways that drive our economies forward.




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Advanced vocational training in Germany provides sought-after skills but needs compulsory standards in teaching and examination

The transition from school to work in Germany is remarkably smooth. An excellent vocational education and training (VET) system ensures that young people are well-prepared when they enter the labour market and can find jobs that match their qualifications.




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Great Education Debate - We must be able to compete in a global education system (Andreas Schleicher, Deputy Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD's Secretary-General)

In a global economy, the benchmark for educational success is no longer improvement by national standards alone, but the best performing school systems internationally.




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A Skills Manifesto: Why Education (Not Finance) Is The Only Lasting Economic Solution

Everywhere skills transform lives, generate prosperity and promote social inclusion. And if there’s one lesson the global economy has taught us over the last few years, it’s that we cannot simply bail ourselves out of a crisis — stimulus plans and printing money can never be a lasting solution to our economic problems.




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PISA lessons

Asian economies top OECD's latest PISA survey of global education, underscoring the key role of hard work and quality teaching.




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Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education - Lessons from PISA for Korea

The story of Korean education over the past 50 years is one of remarkable growth and achievement. Korea is one of the top performing countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey and among those with the highest proportion of young people who have completed upper secondary and tertiary education.




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Résultats PISA 2012 : résolution de problèmes - la France

Faits marquants sur la performance de la France lors de l'enquête PISA 2012 sur les compétences des élèves résolution de problèmes.




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PISA 2012 problem-solving results - England

Note summarising England's results in the PISA 2012 problem solving assessment.




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PISA 2012 problem-solving results - Spain

Note summarising Spain's results in the PISA 2012 problem solving assessment.




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PISA problem-solving test: key findings for USA

Note summarising the United States' results in the PISA 2012 problem solving assessment.




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PISA 2012 problem-solving results - Singapore

Note summarising the performance of 15-year-old students in Singapore in the PISA 2012 assessment of problem solving.




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PISA 2012 problem-solving results - Japan

Note summarising the performance of 15-year-olds in Japan in the PISA 2012 assessment of problem solving.




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PISA 2012 problem-solving results - Germany

Note summarising the performance of German 15-year-old students in the PISA 2012 assessment of problem solving.




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Singapore and Korea top OECD’s first PISA problem-solving test

Students from Singapore and Korea have performed best in the first OECD PISA assessment of creative problem-solving. Students in these countries are quick learners, highly inquisitive and able to solve unstructured problems in unfamiliar contexts.




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Vulnerability of Social Institutions

This report examines the sustainability of social institutions and their ability to absorb and cope with short-term shocks and longer-term trends by providing risk sharing and expenditure smoothing, focusing on pension, health care and unemployment insurance schemes.




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PISA in Focus No. 44 - How is equity in resource allocation related to student performance?

How educational resources are allocated is just as important as the amount of resources available.




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Critical Maths for Innovative Societies: The Role of Metacognitive Pedagogies

How can mathematics education foster the skills that are appropriate for innovative societies? Mathematics education is heavily emphasised worldwide, nevertheless it is still considered to be a stumbling block for many students.