With strong economic growth overall and an increasingly important role as a regional economic centre, Luxembourg is experiencing mounting environmental pressures. This is mainly a result of a growing population and a rapid increase in transport, which is dominated by the car, as the number of workers commuting within Luxembourg and from across the border has risen rapidly.

OECD indicators of structural policy show that policy changes in Italy since 1998 should have improved the environment for entrepreneurship significantly, but in the same period its economic performance has deteriorated noticeably.

Belgium has a good record in delivering accessible care, but adaptation to population ageing will be complicated by the fragmentation of responsibilities in the healthcare system and a strong reliance on government regulations.

Austria has achieved high levels of economic growth and well-being, but must address serious demographic, environmental and globalisation challenges if future generations are to share the same prosperity, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Austria.

The rapid expansion of education in Korea is exceptional and has played a key role in its economic development. Sustaining Korea’s growth potential in the face of demographic headwinds requires further improving the education system to boost productivity growth.

This study proposes a structured approach to selecting instruments of fiscal consolidation that are consistent with growth, equity and global-rebalancing objectives, which is then illustrated with a particular application.

Labour market reform to improve growth prospects and reduce inequality is a top priority in the face of rapid population ageing and a dualistic labour market. Sustaining output growth requires policies to mitigate the impact of rapid population ageing by increasing labour inputs from under-employed segments of the population.

The 2011 disaster and nuclear problems opened the door to a new energy policy, as they raised fundamental questions about the electricity system’s ability to prevent and respond to accidents.

Several studies have reported a large negative effect of national borders on the volume of trade. We provide new estimates of the border effect for continental Europe using road rather than great circle – or "as-crows-fly" – distance.

Using a panel of OECD countries, this study assesses the linkages between structural policies and macroeconomic stability. Business cycle and time-series characteristics of GDP and its components are employed to define various measures for economic instability and for the persistence of adverse shocks.

As its workforce ages and major economies shift towards producing higher value-added goods and services, New Zealand will face increasing challenges to remain globally competitive and maintain high living standards. Future growth will need to come increasingly from productivity gains, and resources will have to shift towards activities that rely more on skills, technology and intangible assets.

Austria enjoys strong material well-being and high quality of life. Steady convergence with top GDP per capita levels translated into decisive improvements in household disposable incomes while significant redistribution has ensured low income inequality and poverty.

Important challenges for the future of Austrian well-being arise from demographic and environmental trends. The ageing of the population calls for a fair balance between life-time pension contributions and entitlements, drawing on the recent pension reform.

This paper analyses convergence in per capita gross regional product of Russia’s regions during the period 1995-2010, when regional data are available.

In the wake of the Great Recession, a massive monetary policy stimulus was provided in the main OECD economies. It helped to stabilise financial markets and avoid deflation. Nonetheless, GDP growth has been sluggish and in some countries lower than expected given the measures taken, and estimated economic slack remains large.

How far to go – and to remain – in the direction of highly expansionary monetary policy hinges on the balance of marginal benefits and costs of additional monetary easing and its expected evolution over time. This paper sketches a framework for assessing this balance and applies it to four OECD economic areas: the euro area, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Young people have been hit hard by unemployment during the Irish recession. While much research has been undertaken to study the effects of the recession on overall labour market dynamics, little is known about the specific effects on youth unemployment and the associated challenges.

Combining existing information with a newly collected dataset, the paper develops indicators of the performance and the institutional characteristics of OECD judicial systems.

A moderate recovery is underway in the major advanced economies, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Assessment. Growth is proceeding at encouraging rates in North America, Japan and the UK. The euro area as a whole is out of recession, although output remains weak in a number of countries.

Building an international tax system that is transparent, efficient and fair, will serve our economies, our governments and our citizens, said OECD Secretary-General at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg.

This report presents an update of OECD policy advice in areas that are critical to China’s long-term economic performance and social development. They include food security, social safety nets, health reform, green growth, climate change and urbanisation.

Ireland’s economy is now showing encouraging signs of recovery from the financial crisis, but more must be done to reinvigorate growth and create the jobs that will get the country back to full health, according to the OECD.

This paper examines the heavily supported Swiss food and agriculture sector. It reviews some of the key features and trends in the sector and reveals its low relative labour productivity in international comparison.

The NZ labour market is among the most flexible in the OECD, and outcomes for its young people have been among the best. However, labour-market opportunities are heavily determined by initial education, where New Zealand’s system is also successful and innovative in many ways.

Credible and consistent carbon pricing must be the cornerstone of government actions to tackle climate change, according to a new OECD report.

There is no simple remedy for fixing the post-crisis global economy. But three key ingredients for sustainable long-term growth are jobs, equality and trust, said OECD Secretary-General in Washington.

After a decade of relatively strong growth, Latin America is facing headwinds associated with declining trade, a moderation in commodity prices and increasing uncertainty over external financial conditions, according to the latest Latin American Economic Outlook jointly produced by the OECD Development Centre, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC) and CAF - Development Bank of Latin America.

Brazil has moved up the ranks of the world’s largest economies while making economic growth ever more inclusive.

Young firms play a crucial role in job creation but have missed out on many of the benefits of structural reforms of the past decade in OECD countries.

Sound macroeconomic policies and the commodity boom have helped Chile record an enviable period of economic growth and job creation. Further reforms are needed to make the labour market more inclusive and growth greener, while more could be done to support innovation and entrepreneurship, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Chile.

This report provides a framework to understand the changing relationships between urban and rural areas. Specifically, it documents the characteristics of these partnerships and the factors that can hinder as well as enable rural-urban co-operation.

Well-functioning judicial systems play a crucial role in determining economic performance – notably by guaranteeing the security of property rights and the enforcement of contracts – but not all countries’ judiciaries operate at the same level of efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the role of natural capital for productivity measurement and as a source of economic growth.

Improving France’s competitiveness is essential to boost the economic growth needed to create jobs and allow citizens and businesses to develop their full potential, according to a new OECD report.

China is well-placed to avoid the so-called "middle-income trap" and to continue to converge towards the more advanced economies, even though growth is likely to slow from near double-digit rates in the first decade of this millennium to around 7% at the 2020 horizon.

With sound framework conditions, fine universities, good infrastructure and policies friendly towards foreign direct investment, Ireland scores high in international innovation scoreboards. Overall, policies to boost innovation and entrepreneurship are on the right track, but investment in knowledge-based capital could be made a more dynamic source of growth and jobs.

As Mexico seeks to boost economic growth, pressures on its natural resources and environmental outcomes may intensify, jeopardizing the sustainability of that growth and the well-being of the population.

The global economy is expected to continue expanding at a moderate pace over the coming two years, but policymakers must ensure that instability in financial markets and underlying fragility in some major economies are not allowed to derail growth, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

This paper reviews the empirical evidence on the link between environmental policy stringency and productivity growth, and the various channels through which such effects can take place.

This paper aims at identifying which countries and regions in the world might face structural overcapacities or capacity shortfalls in the automobile industry in the near future.

In Europe, the two most pressing structural policy priorities that must be addressed are the challenge of unemployment and the restoration the health of euro area banks, said OECD Secretary-General in Brussels.

Greece has made impressive headway in consolidating its public finances and undertaking key structural reforms to boost productivity and enhance competitiveness.

A slowdown in EMEs has larger effects on the global economy than in the past, via trade and financial cross-border linkages.

The productivity compendium provides data and methodological notes and describes the measurement challenges and the data choices that were made, as well as the remaining measurement problems.

This paper looks at a vast array of policy recommendations by the OECD that promote long-term growth – contained in Going for Growth and the Economic Outlook – and attempts to establish whether they underpin macroeconomic stability or whether there is a trade-off.

This paper takes stock of informal employment in Russia analysing its incidence and determinants. Using the regular 2003-11 waves and an informality supplement of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) it develops several measures of informal employment and demonstrates that the incidence varies widely across the different definitions.

Israel’s economy is in good shape, but further efforts are needed to fight poverty and close the gap in living standards with other leading nations, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Israel.

Government bond yields have recently increased in many OECD countries from rock-bottom levels and a further increase is likely with the normalisation of monetary policies.

Irish youth was hit hard by the crisis. New labour-market policy initiatives have been introduced recently, but more will be needed to limit scarring effects and keep youth connected so that they can get back to work as soon as the recovery strengthens.

The OECD will launch its latest Economic Survey of the Russian Federation in Moscow on Wednesday 15 January 2014 during the annual Gaidar Forum.