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News & Events
News
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21-Apr-2008
Compliance with the structural budget surplus rule, which has been in place since 2001, has allowed the government to maintain a counter cyclical fiscal stance in an environment of rising copper prices, while delivering a gradual reduction in public indebtedness. Monetary policy is conducted within a framework that combines inflation targeting with exchange rate flexibility. This paper relates to the 2007 Economic Survey of Chile (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/chile).
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21-Apr-2008
Chile’s labour force participation is low by comparison with most countries in the OECD area, especially among females and youths. In the case of women, labour supply has risen steadily over time for prime age and older individuals, against a background of relative stability for men.
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17-Apr-2008
While Chile’s tax system is not particularly burdensome to business formality, there is scope for making product-market regulations less onerous to firms and the labour code more flexible, especially with regards to indefinite contracts and the allocation of working time. Low human capital remains an important obstacle to reducing labour informality. To the extent that informal businesses also hire informally, there is some room for designing policies to tackle business informality in conjunction with those aimed at boosting formal labour contracting.
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16-Apr-2008
After many years of sustained growth, the housing market has slowed: house prices are falling and there has been a sharp reduction in the number of new homes being built. The exceptional rise in property values in recent years was largely driven by higher income and demographics, but did appear to overshoot the sustainable level. House prices may ease further and could even fall below their long-run value. Residential investment is experiencing a sharp slowdown. This will have some effect on wider economic activity.
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16-Apr-2008
Lending has been strong, with debt ratios reaching very high levels. The Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (CBFSAI) had clearly identified the major vulnerabilities and taken action to mitigate them. The Irish banks are well-capitalised and profitable, which provides a cushion to weather the more difficult times ahead. This chapter reviews financial market developments, the actions by the CBFSAI and the new policy issues that have come to the fore with the financial market turmoil.
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16-Apr-2008
Softening economic growth and the slowdown in the housing market mark a turning point for fiscal policy. Strong revenue growth in earlier years financed a sustained expansion of government spending and some cuts in tax rates, while still allowing the government to run a substantial fiscal surplus. This left the public finances in a healthy state with net government debt declining to a very low level. But this benign picture is changing as growth slows and tax receipts increase more slowly. Public spending growth needs to slow.
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16-Apr-2008
Ireland currently has a relatively young population but faces similar, if more distant, long-term pressures from population ageing as other countries. The pension system is founded on a basic state pension but relies heavily on private saving to provide adequate replacement incomes in retirement. Large increases in the state pension have reduced poverty, although many pensioners still have low incomes. There is a large retirement savings gap for many households between the close to flat-rate state pension and a reasonable replacement income in retirement.
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16-Apr-2008
Immigration has soared in recent years. The immigrants tend to be young, well educated and work. But they often work in basic jobs. Immigration policy should thus focus on better integration. This chapter reviews Irish immigration policy in the light of international experience. It also highlights the uncertainties about future migration flows and the challenges they pose for infrastructure planning.
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Events
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on 23-Jun-2006
This Seminar is part of the EDRC Outreach Programme. Experts from the OECD Economics Department, the EBRD and independent academics discuss the scope for improving policies concerning oil exploration, production and transportation in the CIS. While production and reserves are small relative to OPEC they make a big contribution to covering the soaring demand from emerging economies and the United States. A re-emerging dirigisme throughout the region risks imposing a burden on CIS growth potential and limit the regions capacity to reduce OPEC monopoly power.
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