Argentina

Using household data from 15 countries in Latin America and Africa, this paper explores linkages between informality and education-occupation matching. The paper applies a unified methodology to measuring education-occupation mismatches and informality, consistently with the international labour and statistical standards in this area. The results suggest that in the majority of low- and middle-income developing countries with available data, workers in informal jobs have higher odds of being undereducated as compared to workers in formal jobs. Workers in formal jobs, in contrast, have higher chances of being overeducated. These results are consistent for dependent as well as for independent workers. They also hold for men and for women according to the gender-disaggregated analysis. Moreover, in the majority of countries considered in this paper, the matching-informality nexus is also related to the extent of informality in a given area: in labour markets with higher informality, informal workers in particular have a higher chance of being undereducated. The paper discusses policy implications of these findings.

Under Action 14, countries have committed to implement a minimum standard to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of the mutual agreement procedure (MAP). The MAP is included in Article 25 of the OECD Model Tax Convention and commits countries to endeavour to resolve disputes related to the interpretation and application of tax treaties. The Action 14 Minimum Standard has been translated into specific terms of reference and a methodology for the peer review and monitoring process. The peer review process is conducted in two stages. Stage 1 assesses countries against the terms of reference of the minimum standard according to an agreed schedule of review. Stage 2 focuses on monitoring the follow-up of any recommendations resulting from jurisdictions' stage 1 peer review report. This report reflects the outcome of the stage 2 peer monitoring of the implementation of the Action 14 Minimum Standard by Argentina.

The province of Córdoba, Argentina, uses the SDGs as a framework to promote social inclusion and well-being. Providing affordable housing, addressing the gender gap in unemployment, reducing air pollution, and improving water quality are key priorities to advance regional development in the province. The SDGs provide a holistic framework to address these challenges in an integrated way and can help to identify the drivers of social inclusion in the province of Córdoba. The province has undertaken a multi-stakeholder engagement process, which has led to five strategic lines of action for the achievement of the SDGs in Córdoba to: i) build a vision of multidimensional economic development for the province, ii) bridge the housing supply gap and foster sustainable construction, iii) generate decent work for the most excluded, iv) implement a sustainable water management system and v) deepen the process of coordination and transparency in policymaking.

This publication contains the 2021 Second Round Peer Review Report on the Exchange of Information on Request of Argentina. It refers to Phase 1 only (Legal and Regulatory Framework).

This report proposes a taxonomy of policy design features for agri-environmental payment schemes, with a focus on those features that are conducive to policy cost-effectiveness. An application of the taxonomy to all agri-environmental payment schemes in six countries (Argentina, Australia, Estonia, Finland, Korea, and Portugal) reveals that more than 70% of 85 agri-environmental payment schemes have some of these key design features, including establishment of baselines; rates based on estimated or actual implementation costs; inspections and penalties; contract flexibility; and technical assistance. That said, at least 80% of the schemes could be improved, including by: use of cost-effectiveness criteria for selecting recipients; moving from supporting the adoption of specific practices to focusing on achievement of environmental outcomes; more regular policy evaluations; and comprehensive collection of information on policy characteristics. An in-depth application of the taxonomy to Korea illustrates the potential of this taxonomy for country policy monitoring and evaluation purposes.

Career guidance for adults is a fundamental lever to help adults successfully navigate constantly evolving labour markets. As labour markets in Latin America are hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and mega trends such as globalisation and digitalisation continue to impact labour demand, support is urgently needed. Millions of adults have lost their jobs and need to identify new career options. However, career guidance for adults is still rare in Latin America. More common are vocational guidance programmes for young people, or labour intermediation services for adults. This report analyses career guidance initiatives for adults in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico). It emphasises the need to establish career guidance higher up on the policy agenda of the region. Lessons are drawn on how to strengthen the coverage and inclusiveness of career guidance, provision and service delivery, quality and impact, as well as governance and funding. The findings build on information collected through the 2020 Survey of Career Guidance for Adults (SCGA), an online survey of adults’ experience with career guidance.

The work of teachers matters in many different ways. Not only do they provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the labour market, but they also help develop the social-emotional skills that are vital for students’ personal development and for their active citizenship. But how do teachers best achieve this? By linking 2018 data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) with evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – known as the TALIS-PISA link – this report aims to identify the teacher and school factors that matter most for student achievement and social-emotional development. The report uses a data-driven approach – based on machine learning and standard regression analyses – to identify the dimensions that are most strongly linked with student outcomes, and then combines this with a careful review of theory and previous research to analyse and interpret the findings. These findings provide a rich illustration of the many ways in which teachers and school leaders might influence the success of their students, acting as a tool for educators to reflect upon their own practice. Finally, the report offers several directions for education policy.

This paper studies the potential drivers of governments’ approval rates in 18 Latin American countries using Internet search query data from Google Trends and traditional data sources. It employs monthly panel data between January 2006 and December 2015. The analysis tests several specifications including traditional explanatory variables of governments’ approval rates – i.e. inflation, unemployment rate, GDP growth, output gap – and subjective explanatory variables – e.g. perception of corruption and insecurity. For the latter, it uses Internet search query data to proxy citizens’ main social concerns, which are expected to drive governments’ approval rates. The results show that the perception of corruption and insecurity, and complaints about public services have a statistically significant association with governments’ approval rates. This paper also discusses the potential of Internet search query data as a tool for policy makers to understand better citizens’ perceptions, since it provides highly anonymous and high-frequency series in real-time.