This paper estimates and quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income for a large set of OECD and non-OECD countries. The findings suggest that the quality of institutions matters to a large extent for economic outcomes. More competition-friendly regulations, as measured by...

This paper summarises earlier OECD work aimed at quantifying the impact of structural reforms on economic outcomes. It overviews i.) insights obtained for the linear relationships linking policies and economic outcomes (including multi-factor productivity, capital deepening and employment) for...

The productivity slowdown in many OECD countries over the last decades coincided with a significant deceleration in human capital growth. We show that nearly one-sixth of this productivity slowdown can be attributed to a decline in human capital growth, mainly driven by the decline in the...

For a sample of sixteen OECD countries over the period 1980-2007 we show that, for given debt-GDP ratio, an increase in the maturity of the public debt by one year lowers its long-term interest rate by around 20-30 basis points. This effect is stronger for countries with higher average inflation...

Future market developments determine the fate of fossil fuel carbon currently conserved unilaterally. Dynamic fuel depletion naturally suggests leakage rates approaching 100%. Reasons for lower leakage differ from what limits rates in previous studies. Discounting reduces present-value leakage...

Empirical tests of the theories on the relationship between political competition and economic performance generate a puzzle: data tend to support the theory at the lower levels of government, but not in panels of countries. We argue that the larger set of policy instruments reduces the tax...

We study the relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth for 23 OECD countries from 1975 to 2001 by using new panel data on sub-federal tax autonomy. While initial estimations suggest that fiscal decentralization causes lower growth rates, we find that this result is not...