This paper surveys a broad range of studies and highlights the main findings of the empirical literature regarding business finance and productivity. Numerous studies analyse the productivity effects of financial development and frictions. The results suggest: 1) Financial development likely has...

This paper exploits the rich dataset collected in the context of the 2014 Regulatory Indicators Survey to analyse how countries put in place the building blocks of their regulatory policy systems. It complements the 2015 OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook by systematically examining country...

In the years before the economic crisis, Portugal had low growth, a decline in export competitiveness and rising imbalances that included a large current account deficit and a strong expansion of the non-tradable sector. Strengthening export performance is therefore one of the principal...

This survey highlights the key results of the empirical literature concerning the costs of flexibility enhancing reforms in product and labour markets. The documented costs include reduced employment, loss of government revenue, undesirable distributional consequences and political instability....

Labour market reform to improve growth prospects and reduce inequality is a top priority in the face of rapid population ageing and a dualistic labour market. Sustaining output growth requires policies to mitigate the impact of rapid population ageing by increasing labour inputs from...

Notwithstanding impressive progress, poverty and inequality remain high in Chile in OECD comparison, and the tax-benefit system does little to improve on this. The government plans to introduce a new cash transfer for the poor, the Ingreso Ético Familiar. This is a welcome initiative. However,...

This paper presents the methodology, key results and statistical analysis of the 2015 Indicators for Regulatory Policy Governance (iREG) to complement the OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook 2015. Three composite indicators were constructed corresponding to three key principles of the 2012 OECD...