This conference addressed key questions on investment in infrastructure and transport in Latin America and the Caribbean. It brought together policymakers, international experts and other interested stakeholders to discuss concrete policy recommendations to maximise the opportunities and address the challenges in the region.

This self-assessment report looks at South Africa's investment regime in the light of the OECD Codes of Liberalisation and the principle of National Treatment.

Advanced economies are pushing up carbon emissions, traffic congestion and air pollution by under-taxing company cars and diesel fuel, according to new OECD research.

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.

Squeezed R&D budgets in the EU, Japan and US are reducing the weight of advanced economies in science and technology research, patent applications and scientific publications and leaving China on track to be the world’s top R&D spender by around 2019, according to a new OECD report.

This conference showcased ASEAN’s regional investment integration achievements and efforts. Practitioners highlighted policy reforms at the national and regional levels and considered practical measures to enhance integration. Ways to successfully attract investment that will strengthen ASEAN supply chains were identified.

The Korean shipbuilding industry is one of the top global players, leading by value and second only to China by volume. However, the global economic crisis has dented its finances and it now faces serious challenges to set itself back on a solid footing.

Paris, 16 March 2015: Organised by the OECD-hosted Freedom of Investment Roundtable, this conference assessed opportunities and challenges associated with investment treaties and how the system can be improved.

This public consultation is being held to gather comments on the draft OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in the Extractives Sector which provides practical guidance to mining, oil and gas enterprises in addressing the challenges related to stakeholder engagement. The deadline for comment is 5 June 2015.

This report responds to a request from the G20 that the IMF and OECD assess whether further work is needed on their respective approaches to measures which are both macro-prudential and capital flow measures, taking into account their individual mandates. The report was transmitted to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at their meeting on 16-17 April 2015 in Washington D.C.

Social entrepreneurs and governments speak different languages. However, understanding each other is essential to achieve quality of life through the businesses we start, grow and scale.

Protectionism and local content requirements are holding back investment in clean energy and thus undermining the fight against climate change. This Investment Insights puts forward policy options for mobilising investment in clean energy and restoring order and confidence in international markets.

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.

Most of the projections of the cost of meeting climate change mitigation targets hinge crucially upon assumptions made about the cost and timing of the development of breakthrough technologies. This paper seeks to uncover attributes of inventions – as reflected in patent data – which serve as "leading indicators" of subsequent technological and market development in climate change mitigation technologies.

Business start-up rates in OECD countries have generally risen since the crisis - particularly in Australia and the United Kingdom - but they remain below pre-2008 levels in many Euro area economies.

SMEs form the vast majority of businesses in most countries and contribute strongly to employment and economic growth, but they face particular challenges, particularly as concerns access to finance. Governments have a range of policy levers, including tax policies, that can and should be used to support the growth and development of SMEs, according to a new OECD report.

Thanks to robust skills and investment in R&D, Korea is leading in the development of frontier technologies with potential to transform production processes, stimulate the entry of new firms, and the launch of ground-breaking products and applications, according to a new OECD report.

Focused mainly on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this report takes stock of 5 years of implementation of national and international programmes and initiatives designed to operationalise the recommendations of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas in the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa.

The news that companies in OECD economies are increasingly bringing manufacturing activities back home has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. But considerable disagreement exists about how important this trend actually is for economies in particular the number of jobs that reshoring is supposed to bring back.

Slowing growth in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is grabbing the headlines with some suggesting a third wave of the 2008 global financial crisis. While this topic deserves attention because of its global economic implications, there is insufficient analysis of firms in global production networks (GPNs), which were at the forefront of the economic transformation in PRC and the rest of East Asia, and lessons for latecomers to GPNs.

This update report by the IMF and the OECD was delivered to G20 in February 2016.

Concerns have been raised about the current health of the steel industry, amidst a context of global excess steelmaking capacity. This paper shows that, notwithstanding considerable firm-level heterogeneity, the steel industry’s financial situation is on average weaker than it has been in years, worse than during the last steel crisis of the late 1990s.

Paris, 14 March 2016: Organised by the OECD-hosted Freedom of Investment Round-table, this conference will explore how governments are balancing investor protection and how to improve balance through new institutions.

Imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5% of global imports, with US, Italian and French brands the hardest hit and many of the proceeds going to organised crime, according to a new report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

For Chile, it is a great honour and opportunity to chair the 2016 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting. It is an opportunity to celebrate Chile’s first five years as a member of the OECD and is yet another demonstration of the increasing relevance of emerging and developing economies, which today account for more than half of world GDP.

The theme of the 2016 Forum taking place in Paris on 3 June is "New Challenges and Innovative Partnerships in a Shifting World". Key issues on the agenda include redefining partnerships to support inclusive and sustainable growth, and innovative policies to increase productivity and tackle inequalities.

This note describes work undertaken by the OECD to support the implementation of the 2015 G7 Leaders’ Declaration in the area of responsible business conduct. Four areas of action are covered: outreach on responsible business conduct (RBC) standards to other countries; development of guidance for supply chain due diligence; monitoring of multi-stakeholder initiatives; and strengthening National Contact Points.

Fifteen years after the creation of National Contact Points as a means to improve the implementation of the Guidelines, the OECD has conducted an analysis of the functioning and performance of the National Contact Points.

The post-crisis recovery in entrepreneurial activity remains mixed across countries, but new data released today by the OECD provides tentative signs of a turning point, with trends in enterprise creation rates pointing upwards in most economies.

Mayors and local leaders from around the world launched today a plan of action to help tackle inequality, boost job creation and harness economic development.

A decline in government funding of science and technology research in a number of countries could pose a threat to innovation at a time when global challenges like climate change and ageing populations demand solutions, according to a new OECD report.

19 December 2016, Paris: On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, this roundtable convened a wide range of stakeholders from international organisations, governments, business, civil society, and academia involved in working with the Guidelines.

8/2/2017 - The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector will help enterprises to identify and prevent potential negative impacts related to human rights, labour, the environment and corruption in garment and footwear supply chains worldwide.

There are signs of a modest return to growth in global steel demand and production and a price recovery from the lows of 2015, yet these trends could turn out to be temporary, the OECD Steel Committee said after meeting this week. Considerable structural imbalances remain unaddressed in the steel sector, it said, reiterating the urgency of tackling persistently high excess capacity.

Globalisation has failed to create a level playing field in trade, investment and corporate behaviour, being one of the factors contributing to a backlash against openness in many countries and a decline in confidence in government institutions.

When economic shocks occur, economic agents are expected to react to reduce the negative impact or amplify the positive effects. The ability of a country to contain economic losses can be defined as the resilience to economic shocks. Using the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output tables, this paper investigates the relationship between changes in final demand and production structures for 61 economies.

The “Freedom of Investment" (FOI) process hosted by the OECD Investment Committee monitors investment policy developments in the 58 economies that participate in the process. This report covers investment measures taken between 16 February 2017 and 15 September 2017.

Weak productivity growth is a major problem afflicting most societies. It curbs growth in incomes and endangers the sustainability of social security systems. An important, but often ignored, source of the productivity slowdown is the increasing prevalence of weakly productive firms and, among them, “zombie firms” – in essence firms that would typically exit or be forced to restructure in a competitive market.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly turning to alternative sources of financing, while new bank lending is declining in a number of countries. Many SMEs remain over-reliant on bank credit, however, and the take-up of instruments other than straight debt varies greatly from one country to another, according to a new OECD report.

Inconsistent penalties, insufficient checks on small parcels, and a lack of information on shipments in free trade zones allow criminal networks to traffic billions of dollars worth of fake and prohibited goods each year. Today, the OECD introduced a new phase in its efforts to help governments counter these enforcement gaps and better protect consumers and businesses.

ASEAN countries have made progress in SME policies – especially on GVC integration, business development and e-commerce – but future productivity growth will depend on continued reforms, says new joint OECD-ERIA-ASEAN report

Business and government should work more closely together to reduce inequality and foster inclusive growth. To help achieve this, at the Paris Peace Forum, Gabriela Ramos, OECD Chief of Staff, G7/G20 Sherpa and leader of the OECD’s Inclusive Growth Initiative, and Emmanuel Faber, Chairman & CEO of Danone, launched the Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG) Platform.

As part of the implementation strategy for the recently adopted OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector, the OECD is conducting a series of surveys that target SMEs operating within the sector.

This joint OECD-UNIDO report identifies investment and related policies to enhance linkages between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia and multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their impacts on SME outcomes in Southeast Asia.

This report builds on national reviews of seven countries in Southeast Asia. It looks at common challenges across the region and at the interplay between regional initiatives and national reforms.

This paper provides a first assessment of the degree to which public research contributes to innovative entrepreneurship, using data on start-ups and venture capital.

This report provides an inventory of existing practices among IPAs in eight southern Mediterranean (MED) economies: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, and Tunisia. Each MED country has one national IPA with the exception of Tunisia, where three agencies have investment promotion functions.

This joint OECD and IDB report presents rich new information on the organization, activities, and operative practices of IPAs in 51 countries, comprising 32 OECD countries and 19 Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) countries (outside of the OECD area), providing a thorough understanding of who agencies are, what they do, and how they do it.

This joint EU-OECD programme supports Mediterranean governments to attract quality investment for job creation, local development, economic diversification and stability.

This report provides an inventory of existing practices among IPAs in eight southern Mediterranean (MED) economies: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, and Tunisia. Each MED country has one national IPA with the exception of Tunisia, where three agencies have investment promotion function