Publications & Documents

Infrastructure investment has been at the forefront of the political debate for more than two decades. Despite decades of theoretical study and experimentation in practice, 'how to' actually procure infrastructure still lacks a complete and evidence-based guide, relying heavily on subjective perception and judgement. Procurement strategy mistakes can substantially increase the cost of infrastructure, delay its delivery, or reduce its quality and value to the public. The OECD has trialled a new evidence- based tool to inform procurement decisions on major projects called Support Tool for Effective Procurement Strategy or STEPS. The tool was applied toon two major road projects in Norway. STEPS can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public procurement of infrastructure and beyond. It should improve the Value for Money propositions of both traditional and privately financed infrastructure projects. It is also an effective tool against bid rigging, the effects of abnormally low bids, and corruption in public procurement. Because the procurement choices of the public sector impact the market structure of the infrastructure supplier market, it could be considered an instrument of implicit market regulation, working against market concentration. STEPS thus supports a range of OECD recommendations and G20 positions on infrastructure governance, private investment in infrastructure, and procurement in general.

Efforts that primarily focus on incremental change in systems that are unsustainable by design are one of the main barriers to scaling up climate action. This report applies the OECD well-being lens process to the transport sector. It builds on the report Accelerating Climate Action and encourages countries to focus climate action on delivering systems that - by design - improve well-being while requiring less energy and materials, and thus producing less emissions. The report identifies three dynamics at the source of car dependency and high emissions: induced demand, urban sprawl and the erosion of active and shared transport modes. The report also provides policy recommendations to reverse such dynamics and reduce emissions while improving well-being, from radical street redesign, to spatial planning aimed at increasing proximity, and policies to mainstream shared mobility. Analysis also shows why the effectiveness and public acceptability of carbon pricing and policies incentivising vehicle electrification can significantly increase after policy reprioritisation towards systems redesign.

Following the COVID-19 shock to economies and societies, many countries are renewing infrastructure investment as a stimulus measure. Such investments present an opportunity for governments to address short-term infrastructure challenges through maintenance spending while building resilient and sustainable infrastructure for the future. Infrastructure resilience and maintenance requires a multidimensional approach, considering a range of factors and stakeholders at the local, regional, national and global levels to identify trade-offs among objectives and enable more robust policy choices. Drawing on examples and case studies, this report provides a framework for optimising existing infrastructure assets and building new resilient infrastructure. It also includes strategies for ensuring quality and performance over an asset’s lifecycle.

L’un des principaux obstacles à une action climatique plus ambitieuse est que les initiatives visent essentiellement à apporter des modifications mineures à des systèmes qui sont fondamentalement non durables. Le rapport précité applique l’approche de l’OCDE axée sur le bien-être au secteur des transports. Il s’appuie sur le rapport « Accélérer l’action pour le climat » et encourage les pays à centrer leur action en faveur du climat sur la mise en place de systèmes qui – par nature – améliorent le bien-être tout en nécessitant moins d’énergie et de matières, et donc produisent moins d’émissions. Le rapport met en évidence trois phénomènes à l’origine de la dépendance à la voiture et du niveau élevé des émissions : le trafic induit, l’étalement urbain ainsi que l’érosion des solutions de mobilité active et partagée. Il formule en outre des recommandations à l’intention des pouvoirs publics pour mettre fin à cette dynamique et réduire les émissions tout en améliorant le bien-être : la réorganisation radicale des rues, l’aménagement de l’espace axé sur la création de proximité, ou des mesures visant à généraliser la mobilité partagée. L’analyse montre également pourquoi l’efficacité et l’acceptabilité par la société de la tarification du carbone ainsi que les politiques incitant à l’électrification des voitures peuvent sensiblement se développer une fois que les pouvoirs publics accordent la priorité à la refonte des systèmes.

Many Latin American countries have experienced improvements in income over recent decades, with several of them now classified as high-income or upper middle-income in terms of conventional metrics. But has this change been mirrored in improvements across the different areas of people’s lives? How’s Life in Latin America? Measuring Well-being for Policy Making addresses this question by presenting comparative evidence for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) with a focus on 11 LAC countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay). Spanning material conditions, quality of life, resources for future well-being, and inequalities, the report presents available evidence on well-being both before and since the onset of the pandemic, based on the OECD Well-being Framework. It also identifies priorities for addressing well-being gaps and describes how well-being frameworks are used in policy within Latin America and elsewhere around the world, providing lessons for governments on what is needed to put people’s well-being at the centre of their action. The report is part of the EU Regional Facility for Development in Transition for Latin America and the Caribbean.

As 'market referees', regulators contribute to the delivery of essential public utilities. Their organisational culture, behaviour, actions and governance are important factors in how they, and the sectors they oversee, perform. The OECD Performance Assessment Framework for Economic Regulators (PAFER) looks at the institutions, processes and practices that can create an organisational culture of performance and results. This report uses PAFER to assess both the internal and external governance of Brazil’s Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL). The review offers recommendations for the regulator to build upon its strong technical reputation and good practices. It proposes an integrated set of recommendations to help the regulator best fulfil its role as a key actor supporting sector modernisation.