Life is quite good in the United States compared to other OECD countries, thanks to strong economic growth and technological progress having lifted average income to high levels. Nonetheless, there is evidence that the benefits from growth have not been sufficiently broad based. Self-reported...

In Norway house prices have risen to high levels, associated with very strong credit growth, in a context of low interest rates. Such a combination was in many countries a contributory factor to the 2008- 09 crisis. The Norwegian authorities have been well aware of the problem. Below-target...

Income inequality and relative poverty in the United States are among the highest in the OECD and have substantially increased over the past decades. These developments have been associated with a number of other worrying statistics, including low intergenerational social mobility and weak real...

With the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda in 2000, the European Union established for itself the ambitious goal of becoming the most dynamic and competitive economy in the world by 2010. Despite initial optimism, the first half of the decade has been dispiriting and targets established under the...

CASE - Center for Social and Economic Research inspired an extensive discussion on the Lisbon Strategy, its goals and objectives, successes and failures. The fervent debate, which took place in Warsaw at the end of 2004, investigated the future of the Strategy in Europe and Poland. The...

The Belgian financial landscape has been transformed over the past two decades and now consists of a relatively large, well-functioning and internationally integrated financial sector contributing directly and indirectly, through its intermediary function, to long-term economic growth. One of...

This paper reviews the performance of French health care system from an economic viewpoint. It also provides some policy recommendations. The health system in France is regarded as delivering high quality services, with freedom of choice and generally no waiting lists for treatments. Access to...

An unprecedented “boom and bust” investment cycle occurred in the high-tech industries at the turn of the century, in particular in the telecommunications sector. Regulatory reforms and technological innovation fuelled expectations of robust growth in traffic, revenue and earnings....

After nearly fifteen years of transition, the countries of Central Europe have entered the European Union on 1 May 2004. For the four countries that are members of the OECD (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovak Republic), accession follows multiyear efforts of economic stabilisation and...