This paper discusses links between policy settings, institutions and economic growth in OECD countries on the basis of cross-country time-series regressions. The econometric approach allows short-term adjustments and convergence speeds to vary across countries, imposing restrictions only on the...

Australia has seen large rises in living standards over the last decades across the whole of the income distribution. Technological change and international trade have contributed to this success, but have also brought structural change. Some industries have declined, while others flourished....

Innovation is key to boosting Australia’s productivity and inclusiveness. This paper examines the policies that create good conditions for innovation, not only in science and technology but also wider forms, such as business-model innovation. Competition and flexible markets are particularly...

Norway has a well-functioning labour market with high employment and a compressed wage distribution, contributing to low inequality. Norway nevertheless faces challenges from a trend decline in employment rates among the young and prime-age men. Furthermore, immigrants and people with...

In Norway, sick-leave compensation and disability benefit is comprehensive and an important component of employee rights and benefits. However, despite policy attention, use of these systems is excessive; sickness absence and disability benefit recipiency levels remain extraordinarily high...

Norway makes substantial public investment in transport and this has intensified in recent years. There is potentially large economic benefit from such investment, particularly as good transport infrastructure can help Norway’s transition away from oil-related activities. However, realising...

The sharp increase in unemployment in the 1990s has focused attention once again on the causes, extent and effects of high and long-term unemployment. This article presents a methodology for estimating the cost, in income terms, that individuals and their families bear as a result of becoming...

This paper examines the recent literature on economic growth with a focus on policy issues and evidence relevant to OECD countries. The review begins with an overview of developments in the theory of economic growth and also comments generally on the nature of evidence exploring the influences...

This paper discusses links between policy settings, institutions and economic growth in OECD countries on the basis of cross-country time-series regressions. The econometric approach allows short-term adjustments and convergence speeds to vary across countries, imposing restrictions only on the...

This paper presents empirical evidence on the role that policy and institutional settings in both product and labour market play for productivity and firm dynamics. It exploits a new firm-level database for ten OECD countries and industry-level data for a broader set of countries, together with...