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.

The low and declining female labour force participation rate in India despite strong growth over the past decade is puzzling and stands out among emerging markets. At the same time greater economic participation of women can be a source of inclusive growth, and wellbeing.

Housing conditions in Belgium are among the best in OECD countries according to the Better Life Index, as dwellings are of high quality and large, and housing costs are average.

This paper explores the link between skill and qualification mismatch and labour productivity using cross-country industry data for 19 OECD countries.

This paper explores the relationship between skill mismatch and public policies using micro data for 22 OECD countries from the recent OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC).

Economic reforms have helped Slovenia recover from the crisis, but further action is needed to strengthen the banking and corporate sectors, stabilise debt and create jobs, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Slovenia.

Urbanisation will continue in China, with the government planning to grant urban residential status to an additional 100 million rural workers by 2020. For those who remain in rural areas, improved social welfare systems and investment in health services are critical.

China has made impressive strides in education in recent decades, even though the accumulation of human capital has lagged behind that of physical capital. Going forward, access to and quality of education will be key to sustain economic convergence with the most advanced economies and to offset the drag exerted by population ageing.

This paper aims at gauging the skills and knowledge gap of tertiary graduates of universities and vocational colleges across China. It also looks at the employment and wage prospects of graduates with different educational backgrounds.

This paper first decomposes labour productivity growth over 2000-11 into a within-industry, a shift and a cross effect in a number of countries and compares China with other countries over this period. This shift-share analysis also allows a comparison of within-sector productivity gains across a large number of sectors and countries.

This paper reviews different explanations for apparent underinvestment in energy efficiency that have been put forward in the literature. It also provides new evidence regarding barriers to investment in energy efficiency based on the OECD Survey on Household Environmental Behaviour and Attitudes.

In 2014, the US economy added more jobs than in any year since the 1990s. In fact, this longest streak of job growth on record has persisted into 2015. Inflation-adjusted wages are up by 1.4% annually over the last two years, more than twice the pace of the last recovery. But this is still not enough to make up for decades of subpar gains for middle-class families–a challenge shared by many other OECD economies.

Colombia is one of the most unequal countries in Latin America. The high level of informality in the labour market and many characteristics of the pension system leave many elderly in poverty. Only formal-sector employees earning more than the relatively high minimum wage are covered.

In Indonesia, the pressure on the environment that natural resource exploitation is creating should be addressed by increasing the share of gas and renewables in the energy mix, properly defining property rights and regulations regarding forest land, and implementing a positive implicit carbon price. More resources should be devoted to combating widespread illegal mining and deforestation.

This paper compares two competing empirical specifications across all OECD economies, where competing specifications correspond to the 'former' and 'new' specification for deriving measures of the unemployment gap which underlie the OECD’s Economic Outlook projections.

Educational outcomes could be improved through raising the attractiveness of the teacher profession, improving teacher education and increasing support for struggling students. A more flexible labour market would facilitate access to jobs for youth with low qualifications and immigrants.

Both educational attainment and skills, as measured in the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), are high in Sweden. They are not perfect substitutes, but both are to some degree necessary for successfully integrating in the Swedish labour market.

Global growth will gradually strengthen towards its pre-crisis trend rate by late 2016 as activity becomes more evenly shared across the major economies and overall external imbalances are less marked than in the run-up to 2007, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

OECD Ministers have endorsed updated guidelines to help national governments and regional groups create the right conditions to attract domestic and foreign investment.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

The New Zealand economy has performed well in recent years, but bottlenecks in housing and urban infrastructure, inequalities in living standards and rising environmental pressures all pose challenges for sustaining robust growth and high levels of well-being over the long term, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of New Zealand.

The slowdown in productivity growth over the past decade underscores the idea that as economies converge toward the global technological frontier, the ability to capitalise on new innovations developed at frontier becomes more important.

The current low interest rate environment poses a significant risk for the long-term financial viability of pension funds and insurance companies, as they seek to generate sufficient returns to meet promises, according to a new OECD report.

Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s Minister of Finance and Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General will co-host this event in Mexico City on 6-7 July 2015, with a welcoming by the President of Mexico. Participants will share their views on the key factors that will influence future productivity growth and the creation of an OECD Productivity Network.

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

Important reforms have been implemented which raised credibility of Slovenia in the financial markets and boosted confidence. But economic recovery has been sluggish, many people are unemployed and living standards still remain below the pre-crisis levels.

The slowdown in productivity over the past decade has added to concerns about the long-term economic outlook. But new OECD research shows that policy reforms can revive the diffusion of innovation and make better use of human talent to clear the path for higher and more inclusive productivity growth.

South Africa has made impressive social progress over the past two decades, lifting millions of people out of poverty and broadening access to essential services like water, electricity and sanitation.

Excessive credit growth, poor risk assessment and lax lending standards in the run up to the 2008 global crisis led to unsustainable debt build-up in banks and related corporates.

The United Kingdom (UK) has spent less on infrastructure compared to other OECD countries over the past three decades. The perceived quality of UK infrastructure assets is close to the OECD average but lower than in other G7 countries.

The banking sector in the United Kingdom (UK) was deeply affected by the crisis. Bank credit has collapsed reflecting both weak demand and tighter supply. New prudential requirements have improved the resilience of the banking sector and a number of measures were taken to support credit supply.

Indonesia has a very good record of poverty reduction, having halved its incidence over the past two decades. Nevertheless, almost 30 million people still live below the national poverty line, mostly in rural areas and in certain provinces.

Since 1995 when OECD began conducting Economic Surveys of the Russian Federation many policy recommendations relating to structural reform and framework conditions have been made.

This paper examines the use of two forms of non-standard work contracts in Russia with data from an enterprise survey for the years 2009 to 2011. Non-standard work contracts are less costly and more flexible for employers. Internal adjustment in form of wage cuts or unpaid leave is not covered by the Labour Code and earlier practices to impose such measures are less tolerated.

Much of the convergence of the Latvian economy needs to come from productivity increases. To achieve this, policy makers should do more to facilitate the integration of the economy into global trade and promote competitive business environment.

New Zealand generally performs well in terms of economic and social inclusion. It has high employment rates, and education and health-care systems work well for most.

This paper provides empirical evidence on links between the productivity of Portuguese firms and a number of policy variables in Portugal. The analysis is based on a census of Portuguese manufacturing companies, covering more than 40,000 firms between 2006 and 2011.

France devotes a great deal of resources to vocational training for youths and especially adults, but the system is unduly complex and yields rather poor returns. The basic literacy and numeracy skills of many French adults remain weak in international comparison, with harmful effects on employment opportunities, wages and well-being.

Innovation is key to boosting economic growth in the face of a rapidly ageing population. While Japan spends heavily on education and R&D, appropriate framework conditions are essential to increase the return on such investments by strengthening competition, both domestic and international, and improving resource allocation.

This paper studies how public policies, including pro-women interventions, can raise female labour force participation and promote economic growth in India.

A strong commitment to reform and a business-friendly environment have helped Ireland return to robust economic expansion, offering the government an opportunity to heal the scars of the crisis, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Ireland.

Economic recovery is progressing in the world’s advanced economies, but stagnating world trade and deteriorating conditions in financial markets are curbing growth prospects in many of the major emerging economies, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Outlook.

Children are paying a high price for today’s growing inequality, according to a new OECD report.

A further sharp downturn in emerging market economies and world trade has weakened global growth to around 2.9% this year - well below the long-run average – and is a source of uncertainty for near term prospects, says the OECD.

In order to promote productivity, and thus boost living standards in the long run, public policies need to focus on improving incentives, capabilities and flexibility within an economy.

This paper analyses the characteristics of firms that operate at the global productivity frontier and their relationship with other firms in the economy, focusing on the diffusion of global productivity gains and the policies that faciliate it.

A well-functioning labour market is indispensable to promote job creation, increase living standards, and develop a cohesive society. In Italy, the various deficiencies of the labour market have resulted in high unemployment, low labour force participation and job-skill mismatch.

Over the past decade, France has substantially eased the burden of anti competitive regulations and effectively enforced competition law against anti-competitive practices.

The determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) are explored with gravity models, using a Poisson estimator and a linear estimator, both with fixed effects.

A long period of economic expansion in Chile has raised living standards and dramatically reduced poverty, but more needs to be done now to ensure that the country is in a position to move to a stronger, more inclusive and sustainable growth path, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Chile.