How can international comparisons have an impact on one country while others are not affected at all? This paper examines the power of ratings & rakings (R&R) using the example of the OECD’s PISA study (Programme for International Student Assessment) and its differential impact on national...

How do international organisations (IOs) influence domestic policymaking? In the field of educational policy, IOs increasingly play an important role in shaping national debates and policies. Comparative studies as conducted by the OECD, for example, reveal strengths and weaknesses of individual...

The state is one of the major institutions in modern industrial societies which have an enduring influence on societal development. Since the latter part of the 20th century developments have pointed to a far-reaching transformation of the modern nation state in the OECD world (Organisation for...

The essential argument of this paper is that, despite the work of many pioneering scholars, the original agenda of those who came to comparative public policy with a view to demonstrating that the functioning of democratic politics makes a difference remains substantially unfulfilled. The...

In dem Beitrag wird der Wandel der Staatlichkeit in fünf Politikfeldern analysiert: in der Rechnungslegung, der Bildungspolitik, der Gesundheitspolitik, der Arbeitsmarktpolitik und innerhalb des Gesamtrahmens wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Maßnahmen. Die vergleichende Analyse unterschiedlicher...

This article examines the relationship between public administration regulation and market economy models in 20 OECD countries. Building on Pollitt and Bouckaert’s (2004) administrative dimension, we employ explorative statistical analysis to identify three distinct public administration...

There is a huge body of literature in the social sciences that deals with the privatization of public enterprises in developed OECD countries after World War II. In the first part of this article, we present and critically examine empirical findings of comparative inquiries on the factors...

This Working Paper has two principal objectives. The first is to describe the main trajectories of development of public expenditure aggregates in OECD countries during the period 1960-2001. The second is to provide a more detailed analysis of expenditure trends in these countries in the period...