The Foundations for Growth and Competitiveness
The OECD’s 2026 Foundations for Growth and Competitiveness report warns that labour productivity has stalled across member economies, driven by weak business investment, slowing technology diffusion and lagging human‑capital accumulation. At the same time, rapid advances in artificial intelligence and digitalisation present a fresh opportunity for a productivity resurgence, but only if structural policies are re‑aligned. The report supplies an online data platform and country‑specific reform roadmaps, highlighting lifelong learning, regulatory simplification, fiscal stability and market competition as priority levers. It stresses that coherent, complementary reforms can boost growth while preserving social cohesion and environmental sustainability.
What’s Holding Back Competition in Energy Markets?
New OECD research finds that while most advanced economies have legally liberalised electricity and natural‑gas markets, significant regulatory gaps still hinder true competition. About 10 % of electricity and 16 % of gas markets retain only accounting separation, limiting access for rival...
Austria: Restoring the Public Finances in the Face of Ageing
Austria’s public finances have deteriorated after energy price shocks and a post‑pandemic slowdown, leaving the 2025 deficit at 4.5% of GDP and debt at roughly 80% of GDP. The government has launched a seven‑year fiscal consolidation plan aiming to cut...
Navigating Demographic Headwinds in Croatia
Croatia has posted strong, resilient GDP growth over the past decade, outpacing OECD and euro‑area averages. However, a rapidly shrinking and ageing population threatens that momentum, with the working‑age cohort projected to fall 25% between 2024 and 2050. OECD modelling...
Strengthening Romania’s Competitiveness
Romania has closed much of the gap to OECD income levels over the past twenty years, driven by market integration, capital inflows, and broad reforms. Labor productivity now sits close to the OECD average, though wages have begun outpacing productivity...
Raising Thailand’s Productivity Through Regulatory Reform
Thailand’s labour productivity has stalled, averaging just 2.1% growth from 2015 to 2023, down from 3.7% in the 1990s‑2010 period. OECD product‑market regulation (PMR) scores rank the country among the most restrictive economies, with a 2.4 rating – the fourth...
Why Argentina Needs a Labour Market Reform
Argentina’s sweeping fiscal, monetary and regulatory reforms have lifted growth above 5% in 2025 and cut inflation to around 30%, while the budget has balanced for two years. Yet labour market rigidity—high severance costs, a steep tax wedge and pervasive...