Housing, a large and volatile sector, is often at the centre of economic crises, as a trigger or amplifier. The current situation, which is characterised by house prices approaching or exceeding pre-crisis levels in many countries, raises questions as to whether these price levels may be indicative of a possible impending correction and what can be done to reduce housing-related macroeconomic risks. More...

Globalisation, digitalisation, ageing and environmental degradation are the megatrends shaping tomorrow’s living standards and well-being. The prospects look weak in the absence of renewed reform dynamism. The global economy is facing further headwinds, with growth weakening in the wake of high trade uncertainty. At the same time, gains in living standards, as measured by GDP per capita, have been much slower since the Great Financial Crisis. More...

The Malaysian labour market is facing substantial skills imbalances, including shortages in a range of occupations and skills. To tackle these imbalances, the 2019 OECD Economic Survey of Malaysia features a special focus on skills development and on how better labour-market opportunities could be offered to all Malaysian women. More...

In a typical classroom, once the door closes and the lesson begins, the teacher is alone to do their work. Yet although moments like these can make teaching seem like a solitary endeavour, collaboration among teachers is a fundamental – and increasingly critical – part of the profession. Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) show that teacher collaboration is strongly related with students’ performance, as well as teachers’ job satisfaction and self-efficacy. More...

How much do you know about the region you live in and how it compares with other regions in your country? What about at the international level? Despite the wealth of information on the state of education around the world in our annual publication Education at a Glance, most countries are still unable to compare regional performance at the national and international level. More...

Higher education systems today face a number of challenges, including rising costs, persistent inequality and inconsistent quality. We shed light on these challenges in a new OECD report, Benchmarking Higher Education System Performance, which marks the first comprehensive analysis of OECD higher education systems in over a decade. More...

There is a growing consensus across the world about the importance of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC). Evidence shows that participating in high-quality ECEC can have a positive effect on children’s well-being, learning and development in the first years of their lives. More...

Twitter, Facebook and other social media services filled the vacuum of a free press in Arab Spring countries, and were key in helping activists to organise protests and evade governmental control. Social media delivered important information to people on the ground and encouraged many to participate in the demonstrations – even those who never engaged in public matters before. More...