The COVID-19 pandemic has wide implications for the socio-economic fabric worldwide. In addition to health fears, citizens are facing a host of financial uncertainties stemming from the temporary closure of businesses, schools, public facilities and quarantines, as well as instability in the...

This OECD COVID-19 policy brief, a product of the Open and Innovative Government Division (OIG) of the Public Governance Directorate of the OECD, examines how and to what extent the crisis has served as a catalyst for government transformation. It draws these observations and analysis from over...

This book examines the major rural developments and the issues that policy makers have been dealing with across the OECD over the last two decades. The OECD Conference, held in Siena, Italy, in July 2002, on the Future of Rural Policy, identified the need for rural policies to look beyond...

This note examines which regional economies in Europe are most exposed to rising gas prices on the basis of their dependency on gas intensive manufacturing sectors such as chemicals or basic metals. Based on OECD calculations we find that the employment shares of the most gas-intensive...

New thinking on the nature of fragility and risk shows a shift from a one-dimensional understanding of fragility towards a more holistic approach in which degrees of fragility exist on a spectrum. This approach recognises the need for collaborative, regional and global solutions to tackle the...

Digital security risk is increasing as malicious actors take advantage of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic. Coronavirus-related scams and phishing campaigns are on the rise. There are also cases of ransomware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks targeting hospitals. Individuals...

This brief investigates the financial vulnerability of non-financial firms associated with confinement measures introduced in most world economies to tackle the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic. Based on empirical simulations, it evaluates the extent to which firms may run into a liquidity crisis...