Reports

Shenzhen is a stellar case of growth and economic transformation. Since its establishment as one of China’s first four Special Economic Zones in 1980, it has evolved at breakneck speed. Shenzhen transformed from a fishing village to a major world trade hub and is now home to global innovators in electronics. The Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) of Shenzhen, China reviews the city’s changing policy approaches, focusing on the shift from an assembly to a manufacturing centre and more recently to an innovation and start-up hub. Through a comprehensive assessment of Shenzhen’s experience, this review offers insights into the range of policies and strategies employed to stimulate industrial upgrading and learning in China. It provides lessons and actionable policy recommendations for the growth of cities and emerging economies in their catching-up journey. The PTPR of Shenzhen, China has been carried out in the framework of the OECD Initiative for Policy Dialogue on Global Value Chains, Production Transformation and Development and has benefitted from government-business dialogues and international peer learning (University of Seoul, Korea; University of Georgetown, USA and Digital India Foundation, India).

Mining plays a crucial role in Brazil’s economy. Nonetheless, the efforts and resources devoted to regulatory quality in the sector, including the enforcement of rules, have not always been commensurate. This report identifies the gaps, barriers, implementation flaws and inefficiencies in the regulatory framework of the mining sector in Brazil. It takes stock of the recent reforms in the mining sector in Brazil, identifies areas that pose the greatest challenges for effective regulation in mining. It also describes the reforms that created the National Mining Agency of Brazil, its governance arrangements and its current regulatory practices. These are assessed against OECD principles in regulatory policy and mining regulation, as well as against country experiences from Australia, Chile, and Mexico. Finally, recommendations are provided to support further reform efforts.

Despite its rapid economic growth over the past decades, Poland’s economic inactivity rate remains above the OECD average and regional differences in labour force participation persist. This report sheds light on the drivers of economic inactivity across Polish regions and analyses them in light of both individual and structural factors associated with labour force participation. It highlights the need for more inclusive active labour market policies to help integrate the economically inactive into labour markets across Poland. A better integration of services provided by national and local institutions, as well as a strengthened role of the social economy, is needed to address the complex needs of economically inactive persons.

This report presents a comprehensive assessment of the policy instruments adopted by the Netherlands to reach carbon neutrality in its manufacturing sector by 2050. The analysis illustrates the strength of combining a strong commitment to raising carbon prices with ambitious technology support, uncovers the pervasiveness of competitiveness provisions, and highlights the trade-off between short-term emissions cuts and longer-term technology shift. The Netherlands’ carbon levy sets an ambitious price trajectory to 2030, but is tempered by extensive preferential treatment to energy-intensive users, yielding a highly unequal carbon price across firms and sectors. The country’s technology support focuses on the cost-effective deployment of low-carbon options, which ensures least-cost decarbonisation in the short run but favours relatively mature technologies. The report offers recommendations for policy adjustments to reach the country’s carbon neutrality objective, including the gradual removal of exemptions, enhanced support for emerging technologies and greater visibility over future infrastructure plans.

The heterogeneity and highly diverse nature of the SMEs population represent a core challenge for SME policy frameworks. This paper discusses if and how typologies can help policy makers to better understand the wide diversity of SMEs and entrepreneurs. It proposes a policy perspective for analysing typologies, and reviews 169 typologies to assess their relevance for policy making. The paper presents a number of actionable typologies, as examples of how policy relevant SME and entrepreneurship typologies could be developed. The paper was developed in the context of the OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Strategy.

Les objectifs en matière d’égalité femmes-hommes et d’environnement se renforcent mutuellement, avec des progrès lents sur les actions environnementales affectant la réalisation de l'égalité femmes-hommes, et vice versa. Les progrès vers les objectifs de développement durable (ODD) nécessite des actions ciblées et cohérentes. Cependant, les complémentarités et les compromis entre l'égalité femmes-hommes et la durabilité environnementale sont à peine documentés dans le cadre des ODD. Basé sur le cadre des ODD, ce rapport propose une vue d’ensemble de ces liens, en examinant les déficits de données et d'éléments factuels, les bénéfices économiques et de bien-être, ainsi que les aspects de gouvernance et de justice. Il examine neuf ODD liés à l'environnement (2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 et 15) à travers un prisme genre-environnement, en utilisant des données disponibles, des études de cas, des enquêtes et d'autres éléments. Il démontre que les femmes partout dans le monde sont affectées de manière disproportionnée par le changement climatique, la déforestation, la dégradation des terres, la désertification, la raréfaction de l'eau et l'insuffisance de l'assainissement. Ces inégalités entre femmes et hommes ont été encore exacerbées par le COVID-19. Le rapport conclut qu’une approche sexospécifique des domaines clés comme d’utilisation des terres, de gestion de l'eau, de l'énergie et des transports, entre autres, permettrait la promotion d’un développement économique plus durable et plus inclusif, et d’accroître le bien-être pour tous. Reconnaissant les multiples dimensions et interactions entre l'égalité femmes-hommes et l'environnement, il propose un cadre d'action intégré, tenant compte à la fois de la croissance inclusive et des considérations environnementales aux niveaux local, national et international.

All OECD countries have put in place policies that support SMEs and entrepreneurs. These policies differ considerably along a number of dimensions, including the policy framework in which they are embedded. This paper maps and compares policy approaches and governance mechanisms across OECD countries. It shows that there are significant similarities in objectives pursued and instruments used, and that countries use various governance models to ensure coherence. The paper was developed in the context of the OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Strategy.

This paper develops a methodology for the estimation of Energy Physical Supply and Use Tables (E-PSUTs) based on the IEA’s World Energy Balances (WEB). The tables are similar to those proposed by the United Nations System of Environmental Economic Accounting. However, they fully exploit, and are consistent, with the information on fuel transformation processes available in the WEB. The E-PSUTs can be used to derive energy indicators in physical units. Additionally, they can be used in a hybrid methodological approach to link global energy production and consumption in physical units with global production and consumption in monetary units, allowing the development of indicators to better understand the multiple links between energy and the economy, contributing to climate change discussions. Furthermore, complementary analyses can be undertaken by linking the MF-IO model with variables such as industry value added and employment data. And, used to estimate energy-related CO2 emissions indicators.

New analysis of global investments by venture capitalists (VC) in private companies focused on artificial intelligence (AI) found VC investments in AI to be growing at a dramatic pace. The United States and the People’s Republic of China are leading this wave of investments that tend to concentrate on a few key industries. The data showed that the European Union, United Kingdom and Japan increased investments, but lag behind the two dominant players. The study analysed venture capital investments in 8 300 AI firms worldwide, covering 20 549 transactions between 2012 and 2020, based on data provided by Preqin, a private capital-markets analysis firm in London. The data did not capture every deal and required some extrapolation, yet the timeliness of the findings provides a valuable source of information as national governments, international organisations, public and private sectors develop policies and strategies to capture the benefits of AI for all.

COVID-19 is likely to leave long-lasting effects on local labour markets. It is accelerating a pre-existing trend towards automation, as firms look even more to new technologies to pandemic proof their operations. While automation offers the opportunity to boost productivity, it can also lead to job polarisation as vulnerable workers who lose their jobs may not have the skills needed in a changing labour market. This OECD report examines the potential impacts of automation on people and places across Australia. It also sheds light on policies and programmes that can help regions and cities to prepare for the future of work.