Reports

This publication is a result of the discussions from the OECD 8th Rural Development Policy Conference: "Innovation and modernising the rural economy" which took place in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on 3-5 October 2012. It provides an overview of the two themes of modernisation and innovation, focusing on identifying the attributes of the modern rural economy and showing how it differs from the traditional rural economy and from metropolitan economies. It also shows how rural innovation is a key driver of rural economic growth using patents as a measure.

The second part of the book consists of four chapters that offer evidence of rural regions’ potential to contribute to national economic growth. In addition, each provides useful context for Part I by outlining four different perspectives on the process of modernisation and innovation, and specifically, how they can take place in the rural territories of OECD countries. In each paper, the authors explore the opportunities and impediments to these twin processes and how government policy can help or hinder them.

This edition of Better Policies for Development focuses on illicit financial flows and their detrimental effects on development and growth. Every year, huge sums of money are transferred out of developing countries illegally. The numbers are disputed, but illicit financial flows are often cited as outstripping official development aid and inward investment. These flows strip resources from developing countries that could be used to finance much-needed public services, such as health care and education.

This report defines policy coherence for development as a global tool for creating enabling environments for development in a post-2015 context. It shows that coherent policies in OECD countries in areas such as tax evasion, anti-bribery and money laundering can contribute to reducing illicit financial flows from developing countries. It also provides an update on OECD efforts to develop a monitoring matrix for policy coherence for development, based upon existing OECD indicators of ‘policy effort’. The report also includes contributions from member states. Most illustrate national processes to deal with policy coherence for development beyond 2015.

This publication identifies the main areas of weakness and potential areas for action to combat money-laundering, tax evasion, foreign bribery, and to identify, freeze and return stolen assets. It also looks at the role of development agencies and finds that the potential returns to developing countries from using ODA on issues like combating tax evasion or asset recovery are significant.  Finally, it identifies some opportunities for a scaled-up role for development agencies.

Climate-related disasters have inflicted increasingly high losses on developing countries, and with climate change, these losses are likely to worsen. Improving country resilience against climate risks is therefore vital for achieving poverty reduction and economic development goals.

This report discusses the current state of knowledge on how to build climate resilience in developing countries. It argues that climate-resilient development requires moving beyond the climate-proofing of existing development pathways, to consider economic development objectives and resilience priorities in parallel. Achieving this will require political vision and a clear understanding of the relation between climate and development, as well as an adapted institutional set-up, financing arrangements, and progress monitoring and evaluation. The report also discusses two priorities for climate-resilient development: disaster risk management and the involvement of the private sector.

The report builds on a growing volume of country experiences on building climate resilience into national development planning. Two country case studies, Ethiopia and Colombia, are discussed in detail.