Workshop held in The Hague on 17-18 June 2014 to evaluate stakeholder engagement in regulatory policy

Whistleblowing is an essential element for safeguarding the public interest and for promoting a culture of public accountability and integrity. The majority of OECD countries have recently passed legislation protecting whistleblowers and yet, despite being high on the agenda, successful whistleblowing stories are rare.

The OECD Framework for Regulatory Policy Evaluation assists countries in systematically evaluating the design and implementation of regulatory policy, against the achievement of strategic regulatory objectives.

Latin American and Caribbean countries need to do more to improve budget management, tax collection and public sector pay equality if they are to catch up with advanced economies in terms of government performance, according to a joint report by the OECD and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Life expectancy, air quality, safety and other indicators of well-being can vary dramatically within countries, depending on which region you live in. Looking beyond national averages is vital to get an accurate picture of quality of life and to guide local government policy.

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.

Since around 2007, the country has been enjoying an “energy renaissance” thanks to its abundant stocks of shale oil and gas. The resurgence in oil and gas production is beginning to create discernible economic impacts and has changed the landscape for natural gas prices in the United States, boosting competitiveness.

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.

This study aims to assess the degree of institutional fragmentation of transport and land use planning in Chicago. It provides an overview of local governments in metropolitan Chicago and mechanisms for coordination. Five main challenges are identified.

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.

3-4 September 2014, Phnom Penh, Cambodia: This conference focused on the key levers for restoring trust in government and building trust by and in the private sector and civil society.

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.

Living standards continue to diverge within many economically advanced countries as poorer regions struggle to catch up with richer ones. Half of the 34 OECD countries have seen the income gap between their best-off and worst-off regions widen since the 2008 crisis, according to new OECD research.

The 34-member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development welcomed a Memorandum of Understanding between the OECD and Ukraine which will help Ukraine’s efforts to tackle corruption, strengthen its tax system and promote competitiveness.

Jointly organised by the OECD, Duke University and IRGC, this international conference will identify, evaluate and discuss the relevance and effectiveness of new approaches to improving risk governance, both as they result from responding to and learning from crises, and as deliberate innovations in how regulatory power is exercised and shared.

The Japan-OECD Policy Forum on Urban Development and Green Growth will address cities’ unique role in creating synergies between environmental and economic objectives to advance green growth. Asian cities in particular are at the centre of this challenge. This event is organised as a commemorative event for the 50th Anniversary of Japan's Accession to the OECD.

Korea has made significant progress towards decentralising the management of employment and training programmes, but can still do more to create stronger links with employers at the local level, according to a new OECD report.

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

Webinar presenting OECD’s and UNEP’s Compendium of Best Practices in Green Public Procurement

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.

Better policies for better lives: this time, in your region - Insights Blog

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.

The OECD Conference on Innovating the Public Sector: From Ideas to Impact on 12-13 November 2014 will bring together public sector practitioners, researchers, civil society and businesses to discuss how innovation can help solve today's complex challenges.

“Life is full of alternatives but no choice.” G20 leaders at the summit in Brisbane, Australia, in November should reflect on these words by Australian writer Patrick White, a Nobel Laureate, as they prepare their economic strategies for the years to come.

MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries are looking for ways to build a strategic public sector capacity to enable full women’s empowerment in society and public life in a sustainable manner. They also seek to ensure conformity with international standards related to issues of gender equality and human rights.

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.

Over the past couple of years the OECD has been working with countries to develop the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, to help them make the most of innovation. The Observatory puts the experiences of innovators from across the world at everyone’s finger tips.

OECD blog article on the lobbying, written for the launch of the publication "Lobbyists, Government and Public Trust, Volume 3".

Opinion piece on lobbying regulation by Rolf Alter, published in the EU Observer.

OECD Forum on Financing Democracy and Averting Policy Capture

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

This paper estimates the elasticities of government revenue and expenditure items with respect to the output gap for European Union (EU) countries. These elasticities are used by the European Commission, as part of the EU fiscal surveillance process, to calculate the semi-elasticity of the budget balance as a percentage of GDP with respect to the output gap.

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.

This report documents procurement regulations and practices in Mexico's main electricity company (Comisión Federal de Electricidad) and makes policy recommendations in key procurement areas.

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

This country review series assesses countries public governance ability in delivering government objectives and determines their preparedness to meet current and future challenges.

The Government of Mexico have requested an OECD Integrity Review focusing on anti-corruption, conflict of interest prevention and integrity in the public service.

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.

This summit focused on shaping governments of the future and enhancing public service delivery performance through innovation in government.

This Recommendation provides clear and effective guidance on how to implement a public procurement system that uses state-of-the-art tools and techniques to use public funds sustain-ably and efficiently.

The world is experiencing a wave of urbanisation that has the potential to greatly benefit residents, countries and the planet at large. This report analyses the secrets of successful cities and the policies that contribute to their success.

This chapter begins with a brief socio-economic and institutional overview of the Marseille metropolitan region. It then explores the current status of inter-municipal collaboration, in particular with respect to public transport and spatial planning. Lastly, it discusses the metropolitan governance reforms of 2013.

This chapter discusses existing metropolitan governance arrangements in Athens-Attica, with a closer look at the governance of two strategic sectors: transport and spatial planning. It concludes with possible considerations for strengthening future policy co-ordination in the metropolitan area.

This chapter aims to assess the degree of fragmentation in the metropolitan governance in Chicago (Illinois), United States and its impact on transport and land-use planning, and to identify possible avenues for reform.

This chapter begins with a brief socio-economic and institutional overview of the Daejeon 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.

This chapter studies the governance of the Frankfurt metropolitan area. It focuses on public transport and spatial planning issues. It provides an overview of the economic conditions in the metropolitan area and analyses the role of the regional association of municipalities (Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain) and the state of Hesse for metropolitan governance.