OECD (Organisation for Economics Co-operation and Development) är en internationell organisation som arbetar för ekonomisk tillväxt och ökad hållbarhet bland annat genom upprättande av standarder. En väletablerad OECD standard är Closed Bottle 301D vilket mäter bionedbrytbarhetsförmågan hos organiska komponenter i en aerobisk och akvatisk miljö. Metoden har tillämpats på utvalda hydrauloljor då det finns intresse att övergå till mera ”gröna” hydrauloljor för att minska de skador och kostnader som kan uppstå vid läckage. Syftet är att utvärdera den biologiska nedbrytbarsförmågan hos utvalda hydrauloljor genom standardmetoden OECD, Closed Bottle 301D. Arbetet skall kunna ge ökad kännedom och insikt i metoden för framtidiga försök. Grundprincipen bakom Closed Bottle 301D är att använda sig av tillslutna BOD-flaskor där själva nedbrytningsprocessen skall pågå. Utöver detta gäller det att hydrauloljorna skall ha brutits ner minst 60% på 28 dagar för att kunna klassificeras som biologisk nedbrytbara enligt standarden. Vissa förutsättningar behövs för att hydrauloljorna skall kunna brytas ner på liknande sätt som i naturen. Vid att inokulera BOD-flaskorna med mikroorganismer från en slamkälla och tillsätta andra nödvändiga mineraler skapas en miljö där hydrauloljorna har möjlighet att bryta ner. BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) kan användas för att beskriva hur mycket biologiskt nedbrytbar substans som finns och hur snabbt organismer förbrukar syre i en given mängd vatten. En jämförelse mellan mängden syre som går åt (BOD) och det teoretiska syrebehovet ThOD (Theoretical Oxygen Demand) kan sedan ge svar på hydrauloljornas nedbrytningsförmåga. Under experimentets gång visade det sig att inga av de utvalda hydrauloljorna uppnådde kravet för att klassificeras som biologiskt nedbrytbar enligt OECD metoden. Detta betyder dock inte att dessa hydrauloljor inte kan brytas ner, men att ett längre tidsintervall krävs for att uppnå detta. Experimentet gav för övrigt resultat som stämde bra överens med förväntningarna gällande oljornas beteende under nedbrytningsprocessen, vilket styrker att OECD metoden är en pålitligt metod för att analysera nedbrytbarhetsförmågan hos oljor. / OECD (Organisation for Economics Co-operation and Development) is an international organization which works for economical growth and increased sustainability through establishments of standards. A well-established OECD standard is the Closed Bottle 301D which measures the biodegradability in organic components in an aerobic and aqueous environment. The method has been applied for some selected hydraulic fluids, as a result of the increased interest of switching to “green” hydraulic fluids to decrease the damage and cost which is caused by oil spill. The purpose is to evaluate the biodegradability of selected hydraulic fluids through the standard OECD, Closed Bottle 301D. The thesis should be able to give increased knowledge and insight in the method for future evaluations. One of the principles behind Closed Bottle 301D is to use closed BOD-bottles where the process of biodegradation is taking place. Moreover, is it required that the hydraulic fluids have biodegraded to a minimum of 60% in 28 days in order to be classified as biodegradable according to the standard. Certain conditions are required for the hydraulic fluids in order to give them the chance to biodegrade in a similar way as in nature. By inoculating the BOD-bottles with microorganisms from a sludge source and adding other necessary minerals, an environment where the hydraulic fluids are given the right conditions in order to biodegrade is being created. BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) can be used to detect the amount of biodegradable substances and how fast the microorganisms utilizes oxygen in a given amount of water. A comparison between the utilized amount of oxygen (BOD) and the theoretical amount ThOD (Theoretical Oxygen Demand) is used to describe the hydraulic fluids ability to biodegrade. Through this experiment it turned out that no one of the selected hydraulic fluids achieved the required biodegrading value in order to be classified as biological biodegradable according to the OECD method. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the fluids cannot biodegrade, but that a longer period of time is required for that to happen. The experiment gave results which corresponded with the expected outcome regarding the biodegradation process of the fluids, which strengthens the OECD method to be a reliable method in analysing oil’s ability to biodegrade.

The radical rise of global temperatures has put high pressure on the environment, leading to societal pressure towards politicians to reverse the trend. In light of this environmental crisis, economists all over the world agree that carbon taxes are the most cost-effective instrument for reducing carbon emissions. This study uses difference-in-differences analysis to examine the treatment effect of a carbon tax implementation in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Panel data from 24 OECD countries, between 1978 and 2004, is used throughout this study. This study has not found support that different levels of democracy and GDP per capita affect tax efficiency. Moreover, higher levels of urbanisation are seen to undermine the efficiency of a carbon tax, however, the result may be affected by confounding bias. Lastly, tax rate and tax coverage are both factors that seem to affect carbon tax efficiency.

Climate change has been a topic of interest both in politics and academics during the last decades and it is only becoming more prominent. The relationship between energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions is of particular interest both in politics and in the world of business. With help from the STIRPAT model this paper examines the elasticity between energy production from renewable sources and carbon dioxide emissions and how it changes when introducing policies for increasing the use of renewable energy. Investigating OECD countries between 2007 and 2015, the paper hopes to add to the existing research of environmental policies on an international level by primarily focusing on the 2009/28/EC policy concerning the European Union and comparing it to some national strategies. Through IV-regressions based on the STIRPAT model this paper examines whether policies regarding renewable energy production increase the effect that renewable energy have on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The results display a positive change in the elasticity between renewable energy and carbon dioxide emissions when introducing the 2009/28/EC policy as an instrumental variable but is unable to identify significant change when using national policies.

Este webinar nos permitirá conocer más sobre los diversos recursos que se encuentra publicados en la biblioteca digital OECD, una plataforma que contienen estudios, reportes y estadísticas, que abarcan 17 áreas temáticas como agricultura, medio ambiente, economía, educación, empleabilidad, ciencias y tecnología, entre otros.

Bibliographic note Ertürk, Saadet (2019). The Rise of China and its Implications for Western Development Cooperation Policy. Master Thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies, Supervisors: Dr. Michal Parízek & Dr. Sebastian Ziaja. Abstract Recently new donors are beginning to challenge the international aid architecture of traditional Western donors by providing huge amounts of foreign aid to Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries without political conditions attached, thereby undermining the bargaining power and influence of OECD DAC donors. Especially Chinas new role as aid donor causes a lot of scepticism among researchers. This master thesis investigates whether OECD DAC donors changed their aid allocation policies and patterns in response to rising Chinese foreign aid activities in SSA countries. So far, the literature investigating the relationship between foreign aid provided by traditional Western donors and aid by the Chinese government has been limited mostly due to the lack of accurate data on Chinese foreign aid. This study makes use of a new dataset on Chinese foreign aid flows in order to examine the response of OECD DAC donors to Chinese foreign aid activities in SSA between 2000 to 2014. It finds that contrary to current assumptions OECD DAC donors do...

Increasing longevity and  falling fertility have increased interest in financing retirement age and have increased the burden of old age in an ageing society. This research is based on data from 41 countries of OECD and BRICS, between 1995 and 2017. By employing the fixed-effect estimation method, this study is to test and compare the relationship between the child and old-age dependency ratios, life expectancy and savings rate of these countries. The two groups of countries represent developed (OECD) and emerging (BRICS) countries with different level of development and states of ageing. The estimation results show that the savings rate of OECD countries can be explained by the old-age and child dependency ratios and life expectancy, but life expectancy has a greater impact on the savings rate. However, although the savings rate in BRICS countries is also positively affected by life expectancy, the impact of child dependency ratio is much greater than life expectancy. But, the effect of old-age dependency ratios on savings is insignificant in BRICS countries.

In the text of the thesis there is described, how incomes of artists are taxed. There is also dealt with legislative rules in force in the Czech Republic and double taxation treaties. In connection with legislative rules there are described some legal cases with artists which were solved by the European Court of Justice. According to the theory of taxation there is sketched the problematic of tax evasion, how it is sorted, what is causing it and how to avoid it. In the practical part of this thesis there are analysed incomes of individual artists who provided information about their incomes for the purpose of this thesis. Moreover, there is represented the particularity of the artists’ field. At the end of this thesis, the tax evasion in this field is quantified, conclusions from it drawn and solution suggested.

Governments aim at reducing skill mismatch because of the adverse effects that it can trigger at the individual and firm level as well as at the country level. Skill mismatch has been defined as a persistent phenomenon with long lasting cross-country differences (Mavromaras et al., 2013). This phenomenon could thus be explained by equivalent cross-country differences in national public policies. The purpose of this thesis is to test the impact of public policies on the probability of being skill mismatched across OECD countries. This thesis explores the recent OECD Survey of Adult Skills from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies using an alternative measure of skill mismatch. Data for public policies come from a wide variety of sources. The results show that both policies targeted on firms (‘demand side of skills’) and policies dealing with the available workforce (‘supply side of skills’) can result in a reduction of skill mismatch levels. Regarding the demand side of skills, countries with smooth regulations on the firing of permanent employees, with efficient policies increasing the allocative efficiency and with a strong focus on entrepreneurship seem to experience lower levels of skill mismatch. For the case of the supply side of skills, housing policies efficient at increasing labour mobility together with a higher participation in lifelong learning and higher investments in active labour market programmes and education are expected to be associated with a reduction of skill mismatch.

This thesis investigates if the tax rate on dividend income has a significant effect on private consumption expenditure. This is done through a panel study on 36 OECD countries during the period 2000-2019. Regressions using differenced data and several control variables are used. The results are to some extent in line with previous empirical work studying the effects of tax changes on consumption. The results indicate that the taxation of capital income in the form of the overall tax rate on dividend income does not have a significant effect on private consumption expenditure. The theoretical mechanism deemed most likely to be in effect is tax planning since contradictory results are obtained regarding the effects of other tax rates in the form of taxes on labour income and VAT on private consumption expenditure.

Tax incentives on research and development (R&D) are an important and widely used policyinstrument to elevate business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD). In times of economicdistress, firms tend to reduce their R&D investments, although it is crucial for long-termeconomic growth to keep those at a stable level. To evaluate the suitability for such policygoals, this paper investigates the relationship between the pre-existing level of R&D taxincentives and BERD during times of economic crisis.Country-level data from the OECD member states is used to investigate the mentionedrelationship for three times of economic distress: the early 2000s recession, the GreatRecession, and the European sovereign debt crisis. Separate cross-sectional data sets arecreated and analysed with a linear regression approach. The results show a significant andpositive relationship only for the early 2000s recession period and thereby do not provide clearevidence of an increased BERD resilience as result of higher pre-existing tax incentives.Thereby, these findings indicate the need for different policy measures to be applied for anautomatic or short-term stabilization of BERD in times of economic distress.