This paper seeks to identify the conditions under which raising public investment can sustainably lift growth without deteriorating public finances.

Public investment benefits current as well as future generations.

The role of fiscal policy has been at the heart of the policy debate since the financial crisis. With the global economy stuck in a low-growth trap and monetary policy overburdened, it is time to re-assess the use of fiscal policy levers.

To what extent can public deficits increase without putting fiscal sustainability at risk, given the specific current macroeconomic situation of protracted low growth and low interest rates, combined with relatively high government debt levels?

To investigate how public finances could best be designed to promote long-run growth and address inequality, it is essential to have comprehensive, cross-country comparable data on government spending and revenues, along with structural and policy indicators.

This paper reviews the key issues concerning the impact of public spending and taxation on long-run growth and inequality and takes stock of existing theoretical and empirical studies.

An estimated baseline convergence model capturing the long-term effect of human capital and physical investment on potential output for a panel of OECD countries is augmented with public investment and its components.

This paper provides evidence on the effects of the size and the composition of public spending on long-term growth and inequality.

For the last five years the global economy has been in a low-growth trap, with growth disappointingly low and stuck at around 3 per cent per year. Persistent growth shortfalls have weighed on future output expectations and thereby reduced current spending and potential output gains.

Governments in Latin America will need to improve public sector management and capacity – including budget allocation – to compensate for the pressure on public finances from sliding commodity prices, according to a new report by the OECD and Inter-American Development Bank covering more than 15 countries in the region.

The Global Forum provides a unique opportunity for OECD countries to engage with non-members, as well as parliaments, justice institutions, civil society and the business world, to discuss public governance issues and global concerns.

Spending on public administration itself is relatively low and so are indicators of its performance.

Spending on public administration itself is relatively low and so are indicators of its performance.

A roundup of OECD news & events on regional issues - December 2016

Malaysia has sustained over four decades of rapid, inclusive growth, reducing its dependence on agriculture and commodity exports to become a more diversified, modern and open economy.

Malaysia has followed a comparatively equitable development path, largely eliminating absolute poverty and greatly reduced ethnic inequality.

Malaysia has followed a comparatively equitable development path, largely eliminating absolute poverty and greatly reduced ethnic inequality.

Malaysia has sustained over four decades of rapid, inclusive growth, reducing its dependence on agriculture and commodity exports to become a more diversified, modern and open economy.

OECD Global Network of Schools of Government provides direct access to OECD governance expertise and enables exchange of schools’ experiences and good practices in ensuring that public sector employees have the skills and competencies to address current and future priorities.

Comments on the draft OECD Best Practice Principles on Stakeholder Engagement in Regulatory Policy are to be sent to regstakeholders@oecd.org by 15 March 2017.

On January 26th and 27th the Ministry of Regional Development of Ukraine and the OECD organised a seminar in Kiyv focusing on recent decentralisation and territorial reforms in Ukraine and in OECD countries.

This paper assesses the effect of international differences in taxes on the choice of patent location by multinational enterprises (MNEs). The analysis is based on a large sample of patents and firms from the OECD-PATSTAT and OECD-ORBIS databases over 2004-10.

This paper exploits firm-level data from the ORBIS database to assess international tax planning by multinational enterprises (MNEs).

This paper describes the main anti-avoidance rules against international tax planning by multinational enterprises in OECD and G20 countries.

This paper investigates if tax planning by large multinationals distorts competition in their favour and allows them to crowd out other firms. The competitive implications of tax planning are frequently mentioned in the tax policy debate, but not yet documented empirically to our knowledge. This paper aims to fill this gap.

This paper assesses the redistribution of foreign direct investments (FDI) and tax revenues among countries due to multinationals’ response to international differences in corporate tax systems.

Blog argues that governments should stop approaching complex challenges through the limitations of their institutions and explore innovative ways of problem solving.

This new report highlights the latest trends in government innovation. The topics identified through this review are not the only trends and examples in government innovation, but they do provide a glimpse of where government innovation stands today and where it may be going tomorrow.

Adopted by the OECD Council on 23 February 2017, this Recommendation provides high-level policy guidance for designing a strategy for addressing the financial impacts of disasters on individuals, businesses and sub-national levels of governments, as well as the implication for public finances.

Seminar on Innovations and challenges in the management of a regional policy held in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, 22 February 2017

Forum on competition and regulation: In pursuit of market efficiency

This paper surveys the theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between local taxation, land use regulation and land use patterns.

Behavioural economics incorporates behavioural, social and cognitive dimensions into economic thinking, and its practice has grown as economists strive to improve their models, forecasts and policies. Today it is making a measurable difference in policy effectiveness around the world.

Women’s representation in parliaments remains a global issue. In 2016, women constituted 23% of parliamentarians over both upper and lower houses combined, with the Pacific, Arab States and Asia having the lowest representation (16.4%, 18.2%, and 19.2% respectively).

As part of efforts to deepen co-operation between the OECD and Argentina and contribute to the country’s public policy and reform agenda, Argentina’s Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne has presented an Action Plan to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.

This seminar was held in Mykolaiv on 5 March, 2017. Ukrainian sub-national officials, policy makers and other stakeholders shared their experience in decentralisation reform and its impact with respect to administrative capacity, investment capacity and service delivery capacity, particularly at the local level.

OECD promotes the exchange of experiences and good practices for the improvement of regulation among Latin American countries

This event looked at good practices in key areas for making infrastructure deliver; such as infrastructure policy and planning, stakeholder participation, integrity, procurement, and institutional arrangements for multi-level investment projects.

The 2017 OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum will tackle issues related to fair competition and economic growth, the inequality gap, a level playing field for business, the public interest in policy making and trust in government and politics

In 1998 Indonesia embarked on an ambitious course of decentralisation. Over a period of a few years, facilitated by financial transfers from the central government, responsibility for many public services and administrative tasks were devolved to local authorities.

Indonesia's fiscal position is generally sound and policy making prudent. However, the country still faces important challenges in terms of economic and social development.

The third version of the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) Reference Guide provides the most relevant examples, references and resources to help readers inform themselves on key PPP topics.

A Job for Life? The old notion of a safe job in the civil service is profoundly changing - OECD Insights blog by Bill Below.

The Second International Conference on National Urban Policy was held in Paris France on 15-16 May 2017. The conference was a joint initiative of the OECD, UN Habitat and Cities Alliance.

This may come as a surprise to most serious policymakers, but here’s a fact: not all that is “news” is fact-checked information. Worse, non-facts are frequently introduced into stories and passed off as facts. Welcome to the new information world. It is unsettling, and hardly augurs well for robust policymaking. So what can be done about it?

Information is in no short supply these days. Indeed, as comedian Joey Novick has pointedly remarked: “The information in the world doubles every day. What they don’t tell us is that our wisdom is cut in half at the same time.”

This web page presents the 10 dimensions of the framework for the governance of public infrastructure. The dimensions relate to how governments prioritise, plan, budget, deliver, regulate and evaluate infrastructure investment. Each area covers the principal objective of policy in each area, followed by key questions decision makers need to address and indicators identifying the enabling factors.

It doesn’t feel like a great time to be an expert. Experts rely on facts, evidence and careful analysis to make assessments of the past, present, and future. All those categories—expertise, evidence and logical analysis—seem under attack. Equally importantly, public trust in the institutions that house experts has ebbed at an alarming rate over the last 40 years.

This OECD review underlines the success of Chile’s infrastructure policies which have served as a backbone for it's rapid economic development and social welfare reforms - but also highlights the need to update public investment processes to reflect a more integrated approach to long-term development.

Independent fiscal institutions (IFIs) serve to promote sound fiscal policy and sustainable public finances. This report outlines good practices for their effective design and operation.