This paper investigates policyholder protection schemes in OECD member countries and selected non-OECD countries. It is selective in its scope: it examines the rationale for a policyholder protection scheme; the relationship between certain design features and moral hazard; the role of a...

Combining existing information with a newly collected dataset, the paper develops indicators of the performance and the institutional characteristics of OECD judicial systems. It provides cross-country comparisons of measures of trial length, accessibility to justice services and predictability...

Since 2009, the OECD Development Centre has been publishing the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), a cross-country measure of gender-based discrimination in social institutions (formal and informal laws, social norms and practices). This working paper presents the conceptual and...

A well-functioning justice system is indispensable to business activity and to a society as a whole. Judicial efficiency measured by trial length, one of the essential factors in the effectiveness of the justice system, ensures contract enforcement, which is the basis of market transactions....

The mixed growth performance of emerging market economies has revived angst about a "middle-income trap". However, a forensic review of statistical evidence shows that middle-income countries “escape” to higher income levels more often than both poorer and richer countries. At the same time,...

Security actors are important actors in the international community’s efforts to support peace in fragile contexts. Their activities affect not only the immediate security conditions in fragile contexts, but also the conditions for humanitarian assistance, development co-operation and...

Diplomats and other diplomatic actors serve as the primary political actors in fragile contexts, both for OECD Development Assistance Committee members and the broader international community. They directly contribute to immediate and long-term peace, and their broad political network and...

Prevention is better than cure. The prevention of violent conflict in fragile contexts is cost-effective, it works and it should matter – to Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members and the broader international community – for sustaining peace. The challenge is in translating recent...

Gender inequality, conflict and fragility are key challenges to sustainable development. They are inextricably linked: unequal gender relations can drive conflict and violence, while women’s active participation in decision-making contributes to peace and resilience. This policy paper provides...

Following the 2013 French military intervention in Mali, significant attention has been paid to issues of security and development in the Sahel. The stability of Sahelian countries and the capacity of their governments to manage social change and resulting tensions have major security...