This paper sheds light on the scale of fiscal consolidation that will be needed toensure long-term sustainability and on the potential benefits of institutional reforms inmitigating budget pressures of social spending. Based on alternative scenarios, resultssuggest that, in several OECD...

This paper outlines tax policy details from 26 OECD countries between 1980 and 2006 and provides a summary quantitative measures of their relative generosity. Separate measures for the after-tax cost of labour, other current expenditure, machinery equipment and buildings and structures are...

This paper uses panel regression techniques to assess the policy determinants of private sector innovative activity – proxied by R&D expenditure and the number of new patents – across 19 OECD countries. The relationship between innovation indicators and multifactor productivity (MFP) growth...

in the French urban public transport industry, operations are often delegated and periodically put out for tender. Thus, operators’ incentives to reduce costs come from both profit maximization during the current contract and from the perspective of contract renewal. We construct a dynamic...

this paper identifies the major political and economic constraints that impact the demand-side of electricity industry re-structuring processes. These constraints have been a major barrier to implementing effective restructuring processes in many countries, particularly those in the developing...

International patenting activity is a source of international technology diffusion. However, technology diffuses imperfectly and technology gaps exist between nations. Indeed patenting activity is largely concentrated in developed countries. A gap also exists in patent protection levels across...

Can poverty decline with little growth in real GDP? This paper examines the case of Jamaica, where the poverty headcount halved between 2003 and 2007 despite real per capita GDP growth of just 1.1 percent per year, by analyzing the factors contributing to the observed reduction in poverty using...

We empirically characterise how good labour relations can alleviate the negative impact on productivity of regulatory constraints or workforce opposition. The estimates are based on a unique survey of French manufacturing firms collected by the Banque de France over the period 1991-2008. Our...

Economists and political scientists have argued that differences in the risk of civil conflict across countries and over time may partly reflect differences in the opportunity cost of participating in civil conflicts. One way to test for the opportunity-cost channel is to examine civil conflict...

Implementation of fiscal consolidation by advanced economies in coming years needs to take into account the short and long-run interactions between economic growth and fiscal policy. Many countries must reduce high public debt to GDP ratios that penalize long-term growth. However, fiscal...