Reports

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Estonian policy ecosystem in place for social innovation, social entrepreneurship and social enterprises. It identifies the country’s key strengths and challenges and provides policy recommendations to support the development of a stronger policy ecosystem for social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in the country. Key policy issues analysed include: building a culture of social innovation and social entrepreneurship (Section 2); supporting social entrepreneurship through institutional and legal frameworks (Section 3); improving access to finance and to markets to boost social entrepreneurship (Section 4 and 5); and supporting the development of social entrepreneurial skills and capacity (Section 6).

This paper provides new evidence on the main characteristics of laggard firms - firms in the bottom 40% of the productivity distribution - and their potential for productivity growth. It finds that laggards are on average younger and smaller than more productive firms, and matter for aggregate resource reallocation. Moreover, younger laggards converge faster toward the productivity frontier, suggesting that the composition of the laggard group matters for future productivity. Yet this report finds that laggards converge at a slower rate in highly digital- and skill-intensive industries, suggesting that there are barriers to technology and knowledge diffusion. This could help explain the much-debated productivity slowdown and the increased productivity dispersion. This report also finds that policies aimed at improving workers’ skills, alleviating financial constraints to investments and increasing firms' absorptive capacity through direct R&D support can accelerate the diffusion of knowledge and technology, and help laggard firms to catch up.

This report provides an analysis of the state of play for tourism in Romania and examines opportunities and challenges for destination development at the subnational level. In addition, it includes an operating manual providing practical guidance for tourism practitioners, setting out the steps required to establish and operate an effective DMO. It has been produced to help public and private sector stakeholders in Romania to work in partnership to plan, develop, manage and market their destinations. The aim is to strengthen tourism structures at local, regional and national levels, so that Romania is able to compete effectively in international markets, in a way that will bring maximum benefit to the country and its destinations. Examples of international best practices, and recommendations to develop an effective and self-sustaining network of regional DMOs are also presented.

The 2020 edition analyses tourism performance and policy trends across 51 OECD countries and partner economies. It highlights the need for coherent and comprehensive approaches to tourism policy making, and the significance of the tourism economy, with data covering domestic, inbound and outbound tourism, enterprises and employment, and internal tourism consumption. Tourism policy priorities, reforms and developments are analysed and examples of country practices highlighted. Thematic chapters provide insights on preparing tourism businesses for the digital transformation, and rethinking tourism success to promote more sustainable and inclusive tourism development.

This paper reviews the different definitions and measures of skills use and shows why it matters for local development policies. Based on findings from the Annual Population Survey and the UK Employer Skills Survey, it provides unique local analysis on how the Leeds City Region compares on skills use relative to other Local Enterprise Partnerships. It then outlines opportunities for new actions that could be implemented in the Leeds City Region to work closer with firms to promote skills use in the workplace.

This report examines digitalisation’s effects on science, technology and innovation and the associated consequences for policy. In varied and far-reaching ways, digital technologies are changing how scientists work, collaborate and publish. While examining these developments, this book also assesses the effects of digitalisation on longstanding policy themes, from access to publicly funded research data, to the diffusion of technology and its absorption by firms. New and emerging topics are also explored. These include the roles of artificial intelligence and blockchain in science and production, using digital technology to draw on the collective intelligence of the scientific community, advances in the digitalisation of biotechnology, and possible 'dark sides' of digitalisation.

The report provides a description and an assessment of the recent actions carried out by the Mexican government to enhance the quality of regulation and regulatory governance in the rail sector in Mexico. In particular, the report identifies and describes recent regulatory reforms in the rail sector; the progress in implementing OECD recommendations relative to rail regulation issued in 2017; the reforms that led to the Mexican Rail Regulatory Agency, as well as the legal powers granted. It also documents the current regulatory practices of this Agency. The reforms and practices are assessed against OECD principles and country experiences. Finally, the report provides recommendations for continuing the reform efforts.