The productivity and equality nexus: Is there a benefit in addressing them together?
Gabriela Ramos

Productivity growth has slowed since the crisis and inequality has been getting worse. Could they be influencing each other? In the spirit of our integrated framework on inclusive growth and our New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) initiative, we believe that our efforts to address productivity and inequality could have a better chance of succeeding if we looked at the synergies and trade-offs emerging from policies to address them.

More here: http://oe.cd/1fx 

Bringing help and hope to war victims: When Shennong meets Avicenna in Iraqi Kurdistan
Anne-Lise Prigent

The UNHCR estimates that there are 2.5 million refugees and internally displaced persons in Iraqi Kurdistan. Many of them are Yazidis and Christians who have lost everything fleeing Daesh; others are Muslim. They are living in waste dumps, empty buildings, improvised camps…where sanitary conditions are catastrophic. Faced with this situation, Shennong & Avicenne felt they had to be next to the scattered populations who need their help. They raised funds to buy a truck in France to use as a mobile dispensary and a bus for women and children’s healthcare.

More here: http://oe.cd/1fy

From Analysis to Action: Multidimensional Country Reviews
Mario Pezzini and Jan Rieländer

Multidimensional Country Reviews (MDCRs) support developing countries in designing development strategies that aim for high impact. Many see the MDCR as a tool to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. The OECD’s 2012 Strategy on Development put forward the MDCR as a response to a twofold challenge.

More here: http://oe.cd/1fA

Supporting women’s land rights: A debate on the Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC)
Lowie Rosales-Kawasaki

The Gender Evaluation Criteria is an important tool to assess the effectiveness of land tools in supporting women’s land rights and we look forward to learning about the best practices and lessons learned in using it throughout this discussion. At the OECD Development Centre, our Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) measures the social norms that discriminate against women.

More here: http://bit.ly/1PFlx7K

Are you in the 1%?
Oliver Denk

The 1% are back in the news following last week’s Oxfam report claiming that the world’s 62 richest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorest 3.6 billion people on the planet combined. But what about labour income rather than wealth: who are the 1% when earnings are counted, and not shares, property, and so on?

More here: http://oe.cd/1percent

Backpacks and belonging: What school can mean to immigrant students
Marilyn Achiron

How school systems respond to immigration has an enormous impact on the economic and social well-being of all members of the communities they serve, whether they have an immigrant background or not. Immigrant Students at School: Easing the Journey towards Integration reveals some of the difficulties immigrant students encounter–and some of the contributions they offer–as they settle into their new communities and new schools.

More here: http://bit.ly/1QTsHu8

How OECD and IEA contributed to COP21
Noe van Hulst

With the world welcoming the new comprehensive global climate agreement at COP21 aiming to limit the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C, it is worth noting the significant contribution that the OECD family has made.

More here: http://oe.cd/COPIEA

A Californian enigma: Record-high agricultural revenues during the most severe drought in history
Guillaume Gruère

Drought in California has been in the headlines frequently these last three years, with startling pictures of empty reservoirs, rivers and canals, wildfires, disappearing snowpack and dry earth. The ongoing drought in the state is believed to be the most severe in the last 500 years.

More here: http://oe.cd/CAdrought

These extracts from blogs are courtesy of OECD Insights, OECD Education & Skills Today, Wikigender, Wikiprogress and other content and social media platforms managed by the OECD.  

©OECD Observer No 305 Q1 2016