Using data from PISA 2006, this book analyzes to what extent investments in technology enhance educational outcomes. One of the most striking findings of this study is that the digital divide in education goes beyond the issue of access to technology. A new second form of digital divide has been identified: the one existing between those who have the right competencies to benefit from computer use, and those who do not. These competencies and skills are closely linked to the economic, cultural and social capital of the student. 
This finding has important implications for policy and practice. Governments should make an effort to clearly convey the message that computer use matters for the education of young people and do their best to engage teachers and schools in raising the frequency of computer use to a level that becomes relevant. If schools and teachers are really committed to the development of 21st century competencies, such an increase will happen naturally. And only in these circumstances will clear correlations between technology use and educational performance emerge.

Are The New Millennium Learners Making The Grade?: Technology Use And Educational Performance In Pisa 2006

Business & Money

Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development, Oecd

Economics

Organization For Economic Co-Operation & Developme

More than 200 multilateral donors receive or serve as a channel for 40% of all aid. To help meet the challenge of ensuring effective and co-ordinated multilateral aid efforts, Multilateral Aid 2010 covers trends in and total use (core and non-core) of the multilateral system, with a special focus on trust funds from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank. It explores development perspectives of the climate change funding architecture and provides an overview of the response of multilaterals to the financial and economic crisis. While the OECDs annual Development Co-operation Report serves as a key reference for statistics and analysis on the latest trends in international aid, the Multilateral Aid report as the name implies takes a specific look at trends in multilateral aid only.

Multilateral Aid 2010

At a time when ever more information is available about the quality of health care, the challenge for policy makers is to better understand the policies and approaches that sit behind the numbers. This book examines whether care in Israel is safe, effective and responsive to patients needs. It examines what works and what does not work, both to benchmark the efforts of countries and to provide advice on reforms to improve quality of health care. Table of Content : Acronyms and abbreviationsExecutive summaryAssessment and recommendations Chapter 1. Quality of care in Israels health system 1.1. Introduction1.2. Context 1.3. Profiling policies on quality of health care and their impact 1.4. ConclusionsBibliography Chapter 2. Strengthening community-based primary health care 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Primary care in Israel is well-developed, accessible and of high quality 2.3. Performance in some areas needs further improvement and unnecessary hospitalisations raise concern 2.4. Areas for improvement in Israelis primary care system 2.5. Conclusions BibliographyChapter 3. Tackling inequalities in health and health care in Israel 3.1. Introduction3.2. The Israeli health care system is designed to provide equity in health care, and moves are underway to reduce prevailing inequalities3.3. Israel has a good information architecture for measuring inequalities but there are some important gaps 3.4. Rising out-of-pocket payments for health care have implications for equity of access and quality 3.5. Reducing geographical inequalities in health care capacity should be a priority3.6. Health promotion and health education services for disadvantaged groups, and culturally competent care, should be strengthened further3.7. ConclusionsBibliography Chapter 4. The quality of diabetes care in Israel4.1. Introduction 4.2. Diabetes is a growing public health threat in Israel 4.3. Despite good health promotion and prevention, efforts to tackle risky behaviour should be scaled up and widened in focus4.4. Secondary prevention and diagnosis of diabetes strategies in Israel are in line with current international standards 4.5. Israel has good measurement of quality of diabetes care, but co-ordination of care for diabetic patients can be improved4.6. Israel should step up efforts to manage diabetes complications and its co-morbidities 4.7. Conclusions Bibliography

OECD Reviews Of Health Care Quality: Israel 2012 Raising Standards

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Shielding Aspects Of Accelerators, Targets And Irradiation Facilities: Satif 10: Workshop Proceedings, Geneva, Switzerland 2-4 June 2010 (Nuclear Energy Agency - Nuclear Science)

The movement of personnel between the public and private sectors has promoted labor market dynamism and skills development. However, it can also lead to situations that may endanger confidence in government and public decisionmaking by creating conflicts of interest and privileged access. The vast majority of OECD countries have established basic postemployment standards and even restrictions to avoid conflicts of interest. Yet enforcing these standards remains a challenge.
 This report reviews the measures taken in OECD countries to avoid conflict of interest when officials leave public office. It analyzes major post-public employment problem areas and presents guidelines for managing these problems. Examples of best practices and policies are given.

Post-Public Employment: Good Practices for Preventing Conflict of Interest

OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OECD's comprehensive review of Greece's environmental programs and policies, covering air and water management, nature and biodiversity, sustainable development, the environment-economy interface, the environment-social interface, and international commitments. The review includes relevant statistical information as well as a series of recommendations for strengthening environmental infrastructure, implementing environmental policy and integrating environmental concerns into economic decisions.

OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Greece

Household consumption patterns and behaviour have an impact on stocks of natural resources, environmental quality and climate change. This is expected to increase significantly in the future. In response, governments have introduced a variety of measures to encourage people to take into consideration the environmental impact of their purchases and practices. These may include environmentally related taxes, energy performance standards for homes, carbon dioxide emission labels for cars, and financial support to purchase solar panels, among others. Nevertheless, understanding and influencing household behaviour remains a challenge for policy makers.  This publication presents the main results and policy implications of an OECD survey of more than 10 000 households in 10 countries: Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. It offers new insight into what policy measures really work, looking at what factors affect people's behaviour towards the environment in five areas: water use, energy use, personal transport choices, organic food consumption, and waste generation and recycling. Greening Household Behaviour: The Role of Public Policy is an invaluable resource for all those interested by the challenging questions of what promotes "greener" lifestyles, from policy makers to individual citizens.

Greening Household Behaviour

Cities are part of the climate change problem, but they are also a key part of the solution. As the hubs of economic activity, cities drive the vast majority of the world's energy use and are major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. Cities are also most vulnerable to the impacts of climate changes such as rising sea levels, hotter weather, and fiercer storms. Cities and Climate Change reveals the importance of addressing climate change across all levels of government. The book analyzes trends in urbanization, economic growth, energy use, and climate change. It explores the economic benefits of climate action, the role of urban policies in reducing energy demand, and frameworks for multilevel governance of climate change including engagement with relevant stakeholders. It examines the contribution of cities to "green growth" in terms of the "greening" of fiscal policies, innovation, and jobs. It concludes with examples of policy tools and best practices from both OECD and some nonmember countries.

Cities And Climate Change

This review of regulatory reform in Australia comes at the right time to capture the attention of the OECD community. Australia has successfully weathered the worst effects of the current economic crisis. The resilience of the Australian economy, in the face of the deepest and most widespread recession in over fifty years in OECD countries, can in part be attributed to Australias current and past regulatory reforms Australia has built strong governance foundations for the development of good regulatory management and competition policies, which are likely to be conducive to economic growth. It aims to reinvigorate a wide agenda of national reforms and to embed past reform achievements in new working arrangements between the Commonwealth and the States. This reform agenda is likely to yield substantial economic benefits for years to come, but demands joint participation and commitment from both the Commonwealth and all States. Maintaining the momentum for reform is a critical challenge, which requires a strategic vision as well as strenuous efforts to promote change and to establish a culture of continuous regulatory improvement. Australia is one of many OECD countries to request a broad review by the OECD of its regulatory practices and reforms. This review presents a general picture , set within a macroeconomic context, of regulatory achievements and challenges, including regulatory quality at;the Commonwealth;level as well as across levels of government, competition policy and market openness. It also provides a special focus on Commonwealth-state relationshipsable of Content - Acknowledgements; - Executive Summary- Performance and Appraisa- Regulatory Governance - Multi-level Regulatory Governance Commonwealth-State Relationship - Competition Policy - Market Openness

OECD Reviews Of Regulatory Reform: Australia 2010 - Towards A Seamless National Economy

This review presents a general picture of the overall regulatory reform frameworks in Italy, examining quality regulation, competition policy and professional services. The review also offers a special focus on multi-level governance, where key issues include local public services, commercial distribution, local transport and energy. 
The review finds that Italy has made significant progress using regulatory reform since the first OECD review in 2001. Administrative simplification and the increasing role of competition policy, combined with devolution of state powers to regions, have helped. But there are still key challenges for regulatory policy and its implementation, including enforcement, capacity in the civil service, impact analysis for evidence-based decision-making, and building a culture of consultation. The current global economic crisis is an opportunity for Italy to further clarify how the state intervenes in the economy, to improve multi-level co-ordination, and to expand competition in specific sectors.

OECD Reviews Of Regulatory Reform: Italy 2009 Better Regulation To Strengthen Market Dynamics

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