9-June-2016
English
The global economy is caught between two major headwinds: the reversal of the investment-heavy commodity supercycle; and the "L-shaped" recovery in advanced economies caused by the aftermath of the financial crisis and the interaction of re‐regulation with low and negative interest rates. This report analyses these issues and presents a financial outlook.
9-June-2016
English
Investment treaties are intended to offer foreign investors protection for their investments from host government conduct in violation of the treaty. This report examines how many investment treaties, as interpreted, have generated rules that can disrupt fundamental principles of corporate governance and corporate finance.
9-June-2016
English, PDF, 332kb
One of the most basic legal principles is that crime should not pay. Yet this report shows that, in many jurisdictions with weak sanctions, foreign bribery may be an attractive investment. It shows, in particular, that a company would still be willing to "invest" in a foreign bribery scheme even if it knew in advance that it would be caught and fined at the end of the bribery scenario.
9-June-2016
English
Scaling-up investment in renewable electricity is critical for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. Despite increasing cost-competitiveness, overall investment in renewables projects remains constrained by policy and market obstacles. These hinder development of a sufficient pipeline of bankable projects and affect the risk-return profile of renewable electricity projects.
9-June-2016
English
It is seven years since the global crisis and despite easy monetary policy, financial regulatory reform, and G20 resolutions favouring structural measures, the world economy is not making a lot of progress. Indeed, the responses to the crisis seem mainly to have stopped the banks from failing and then pushed the many faces of the crisis around between regions—currently taking the form of excess capacity in emerging markets. Productivity growth raises income per head, allows companies to pay better wages and it raises demand to help to eliminate excess capacity and improve employment. However, this element is missing in the global corporate sector. The theme of this year’s Business and Finance Outlook is fragmentation: the inconsistent structures, policies, rules, laws and industry practices that appear to be blocking business efficiency and productivity growth.
7-June-2016
English, PDF, 633kb
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.
3-June-2016
English
The Financial Management of Flood Risk applies the lessons from the OECD’s analysis of disaster risk financing practices and the development of guidance to the specific case of floods. This report provides an overview of the approaches that economies facing various levels of flood risk and economic development have taken to managing the financial impacts of floods.
2-June-2016
English
In order to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, there is a need not only for more, but for better investment, including through investment policy frameworks that foster responsible business conduct (RBC). This paper describes the OECD's efforts to promote RBC through the application of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.