This paper examines the role of structural fiscal policies to promote female labor force participation and reduce gender gaps in labor markets in 26 OECD countries from 2000 to 2019. As both female labor force participation and many explanatory/control variables clearly exhibit non-stationarity (potentially leading to spurious regression results), we employ a panel vector error-correction model, in contrast with most previous empirical studies on this matter. Our analyses confirm statistically significant positive impacts of government spending on (1) early childcare and education, (2) active labor market programs, and (3) unemployment benefits, all of which would help encourage women to enter the labor force, while (4) an increase in relative tax rate on second earner could have negative impact on female labor force participation.

Female labor force participation has increased markedly in many European countries during the past decades. Nonetheless, participation rates remain low in some economies, and a significant gender gap persists in most countries. Using micro-level data to control for factors that influence personal choice, we re-examine the determinants of female employment in Europe. The results highlight the importance of positive attitudes towards women working and individual characteristics such as years of education and number of children. However, even after controlling for these factors, policies are also key drivers of female employment.

This 2009 edition of OECD's periodic review of the Slovak Republic's economy finds it facing a significant slowdown. Income levels are continuing to converge with those in the rest of the EU, but additional structural reform is required to make the ...

Wiedemann reveals how the rise of financial markets as private alternatives to welfare states transforms social rights and responsibilities.

Questioning Financial Governance from a Feminist Perspective brings together feminist economists and feminist political economists from different countries located in North America and Europe to analyze the ‘strategic silence’ about gender in fiscal and monetary policy, and financial regulation. This silence reflects a set of assumptions that the key instruments of financial governance are gender-neutral. This often masks the ways in which financial governance operates to the disadvantage of women and reinforces gender inequality. This book examines both the transformations in the governance of finance that predate the financial crisis, as well as some dimension of the crisis itself. The transformations increasingly involved private as well as public forms of power, along with institutions of state and civil society, operating at the local, national, regional and global levels. An important aspect of these transformations has been the creation of policy rules (often enacted in laws) that limit the discretion of national policy makers with respect to fiscal, monetary, and financial sector policies. These policy rules tend to have inscribed in them a series of biases that have gender (as well as class and race-based) outcomes. The biases identified by the authors in the various chapters are the deflationary bias, male breadwinner bias, and commodification bias, adding two new biases: risk bias and creditor bias. The originality of the book is that its primary focus is on macroeconomic policies (fiscal and monetary) and financial governance from a feminist perspective with a focus on the gross domestic product and its fluctuations and growth, paid employment and inflation, the budget surplus/deficit, levels of government expenditure and tax revenue, and supply of money. The central findings are that the key instruments of financial governance are not gender neutral. Each chapter considers examples of financial governance, and how it relates to the gender order, including divisions of labour, and relations of power and privilege. This book is key reading for anyone studying feminist economics, and should also be of interest to those researching macroeconomics, political economics and women’s studies.

Türkiye’s recovery from the pandemic has been remarkable and reflects outsized stimulative policies and a dynamic private sector. But the same policies that buoyed growth also exacerbated vulnerabilities by lowering reserve buffers and increasing dollarization. A new policy model, introduced in the Fall of 2021, aims at further supporting growth and at lowering inflation by eliminating Türkiye’s current account deficit. The model relies on low interest rates and on measures to reduce dollarization, financial volatility, and overall credit growth, while directing lending to selected sectors. Successive policy rate cuts led to a run on the lira in December 2021, which was only relieved by large FX intervention and a new FX-protected deposit scheme. Since then, increasingly distortionary and complex macrofinancial and regulatory measures have been put in place to limit the lira decline. Meanwhile, inflation reached multi-decade highs, at 85 percent in October 2022. While Türkiye’s public debt burden is low compared to peers, fiscal risks have grown—notably from quasi-fiscal operations, contingent liabilities, and the exposure of public debt to FX shocks—and spending is expected to rise ahead of the upcoming elections. Spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine have added to Türkiye’s economic strains and have exacerbated external vulnerabilities, notably through a wider current account deficit.

This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Czech economy, despite its strong fundamentals, is in the midst of a prolonged recession because of the euro area slump and weak domestic demand. A further slowdown in the euro area would exacerbate the situation, creating the risk of lower growth in the long run. Short-term macroeconomic policies should therefore be geared toward supporting the economy and not creating additional drag. Boosting potential growth in the medium to long term will require implementation of additional structural reforms. Given the large fiscal consolidation achieved so far, further consolidation efforts should be avoided until the economic recovery gains strength.

This report investigates how tax structures can best be designed to support GDP per capita growth.

This 2016 OECD Economic Survey of Israel examines recent economic developments, policies and prospects. The special chapters cover: Special Features: Boosting competition on Israeli markets and Improving the pension system.

This edition of OECD's annual report on employment prospects in the OECD area includes a comprehensive re-examination of the OECD Jobs Strategy.