All farmers are affected by pests and diseases attacking their crops, but smallholder farmers and their dependents in low- and middle-income countries are disproportionately affected. To put it in perspective, there are about 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide who feed about 70% of the world’s population. More...
The Online Platform, Trade, MSMEs and Women: Lessons from eBay towards user-driven economic empowerment
Irrespective of where in the world we look, we find micro and small businesses leveraging an online platform business strategy to engage in commerce on a global scale. More...
The SDGs, Domestic Resource Mobilisation and the Poor
Countries around the world committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, achieving some of the SDGs could happen at the expense of the overarching goal of reducing poverty, at least in the short-run. More...
Girls robbed of their childhood in the Sahel
In Mali, Niger and Chad, 40% of children under five suffer from stunting. These children do not receive enough nutrients. Their bodies — their brains, bones and muscles — do not get enough calcium, iron or zinc or enough vitamins (A, B2, B12 etc.), so they do not have enough energy to grow and develop. More...
Why empowering women can make women and men happier
The OECD has long argued that the ultimate goal of public policies is to improve the quality of our lives. But what makes us happy? Does living in a country guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities to women and men increase people’s happiness? The answer apparently is yes. More...
Raising skills holds the key to higher living standards and well-being in Portugal
Posted . For each hour worked Portugal produces about half of the output produced in the United States. A historic legacy of very low education attainment is partly to blame for Portugal’s lower productivity. However, education attainment remains low even for those who have left the education system not so long ago. At 65%, the share of young adults (aged 25-34 years old) who have completed upper secondary education is still the third lowest in the OECD. More...
An immediate Chinese challenge: further addressing vast income inequality
Posted . The goal of the Chinese government to achieve a “moderately prosperous society in all respects” by 2020 is centred around improving social welfare throughout the population. One of the essential ingredients to doing this is a further reduction in economic inequality. More...
Going for Growth 2017: Policies for growth to benefit all
Posted . The support for governments’ pro-growth structural reform agenda is being undermined by the prolonged period of stagnating living standards that has affected a large share of the population in many countries. Growing political headwinds are clearly one factor contributing to the steady slowdown in the pace of reforms observed since the immediate post-crisis years, (see first chart). Yet, the reforms are needed, both to escape the low-growth trap and to prepare for rapid technological changes. More...
Reducing poverty durably is a key challenge in Spain
Posted . Poverty has risen in Spain in the wake of the crisis (Figure 1), mainly due to lack of quality jobs that provide enough hours of paid work to support decent incomes (OECD, 2017). The risk of poverty is concentrated on jobless households and households with only temporary workers (OECD, 2015). More...
Will risks and financial vulnerabilities derail the modest recovery?
Posted . Global growth is projected to pick up to around 3½ per cent in 2018, from just under 3% in 2016 in our latest Interim Economic Outlook. The forecast modest recovery is supported by fiscal initiatives in major economies and broadly unchanged from the November Economic Outlook. More...