By Mark Baker, Netherlands Desk, OECD Economics Department

The Netherlands has experienced a large rise in the number of individuals working as self-employed with the share in total employment rising rapidly over the past decade. This is the largest rise in the OECD countries. This contrasts with trends in most other OECD countries where the share has, on average, fallen over that period. There are a number of positive aspects that can be associated with self-employment, as well as possible negative aspects, implying that any policy responses to address the increasing prevalence should aim to facilitate the former while mitigating the latter.

On the positive side, higher rates of self-employment could be associated with increased entrepreneurial activity, innovation and more labour market flexibility. Flexibility is particularly important in the Dutch context, where the level of protection on permanent contracts is high.  Younger workers and recent migrants, who have limited attachment to the labour market, can use self-employment as an avenue to gain valuable working experience and to potentially transition towards a more permanent position. Self-employment can also be a useful avenue for older workers who want to remain marginally attached to the workforce, and potentially view their existing pension savings as adequate for their retirement. Indeed, older workers have seen the largest rise in terms of self-employment when compared to other age groups.

On the negative side, rising self-employment can also be associated with reduced job quality and job security, and can potentially be used as a method for individuals and employers to avoid tax and social security obligations, and promoting an unfair treatment across different work types. With regards to social security, the self-employed individuals have no obligation to contribute to sickness and disability insurance while employees do. Not only does this significantly reduce the tax wedge for self-employed work, but it exposes the self-employed to increased loss of income risks associated with injury or sickness. Employers are incentivised to hire self-employed contractors and potentially to re-label existing staff as self-employed contractors to lower labour costs, through lower social security contributions, and to avoid the strict protection of employment contracts. Furthermore, self-employment can be used by employers/clients to prevent paying statutory minimum wage rates.

In addition, very large tax deductions exist which further widens the difference in tax treatment between the self-employed and other workers. One of the largest deductions available is  meant to incentivise increased entrepreneurial activity. However, the vast majority of the rise in self-employment has been own-account workers who tend not to scale up their business, by hiring employees, or invest in innovative activities or training, so this deduction is hardly justifiable.

The Dutch government has been active in constructing different policies to target some of these issues. Regulatory policies associated with the self-employment statement system have been reformed in recent years. To combat the potential for employers to re-brand employees as contractors, the government plans to introduce a minimum tariff system, whereby any individual earning below a stated minimum tariff, comparable to the minimum wage rate, will be deemed an employee for tax and regulatory purposes. This will be difficult to implement, however, given the potential difficulties in monitoring the hours worked of self-employed individuals.

Recommendations from the 2018 OECD Economic Survey of the Netherlands aim at ensuring a more level playing field, particularly in terms of the tax treatment, between the self-employed and other workers. The government should phase out the permanent self-employment tax deduction while also introducing coverage for sickness and disability insurance for self-employed workers.  Additional to the self-employment specific recommendations, the Survey calls for a reduction in the tax burden, particularly for lower-income workers, by lowering social security expenses and also reducing the high level of employment protections through a reduction in severance pay for employees dismissed under reasonable grounds.

References:

OECD (2018), OECD Economic Surveys: The Netherlands 2018,  OECD Publishing, Paris.

Isabelle Joumard, responsable du bureau Tunisie, Département d’Économie de l’OCDE

L’ouverture de la Tunisie aux échanges internationaux a fortement progressé depuis le milieu des années 90, témoignant des avantages comparatifs du pays. Les exportations ont sensiblement augmenté, tirées par le secteur manufacturier, avec une transformation en faveur de secteurs plus intensifs en technologie et en compétences.  De plus, l’analyse des échanges commerciaux sur la base de la valeur ajoutée remet en cause la perception selon laquelle les activités à faible teneur en valeur ajoutée dominent. Cette analyse montre aussi que le degré d’intégration de la Tunisie dans les chaines de valeur mondiales est similaire à celui de pays de l’OCDE, le Portugal notamment, et supérieur à celui de nombreux pays émergents. La montée en gamme et la diversification des exportations augurent de plus d’un potentiel de croissance de l’économie tunisienne élevé.

Cette bonne performance à l’exportation est pour l’essentiel le fait d’entreprises entièrement exportatrices (dites offshores). Le secteur offshore dégage un excédent commercial croissant. La contribution des entreprises du secteur à la création d’emplois formels a aussi augmenté – en 2016, les entreprises du secteur offshore contribuaient à hauteur de 34% des emplois formel du secteur privé – alors que le travail informel reste un problème majeur (environ 50% des jeunes). Néanmoins, ces entreprises sont pour l’essentiel localisées proches des ports, contribuant à la concentration géographique de l’activité économique. En outre, l’effet d’entrainement sur le reste de l’économie est faible : les entreprises offshore s’approvisionnent peu sur le marché local et servent rarement la demande locale. La complexité des procédures douanières, fiscales et administratives est perçue par les entreprises comme une barrière aux échanges avec les entreprises du régime onshore. De leur côté, les entreprises du secteur onshore sont pénalisées par des difficultés lors du passage en douane de leurs produits et des services logistiques peu performants.

La levée des contraintes à l’exportation rencontrées par les entreprises du secteur onshore et le décloisonnement entre régimes offshore et onshore permettraient à la Tunisie de se hisser dans les chaines de valeur mondiales et d’en tirer plus d’avantages, notamment en termes de progrès technologique, de création d’emplois et de richesse.

Références :

Joumard I., S. Dhaoui et H. Morgavi (2018), « Insertion de la Tunisie dans les chaines de valeur mondiales et rôle des entreprises offshore », Document de travail du Département d’Économie N°1478.

OCDE (2018), Étude économique de l’OCDE sur la Tunisie.

by Jan Stráský and Guillaume Claveres, OECD Economics Department,  Euro Area/European Union desk

After years of crisis, we are now experiencing an economic expansion in Europe. But further crises are certain to come, sooner or later, and improvements in the euro area’s resilience to economic shocks will require further policy changes. Notably, it is important to allow that the cost of significant economic shocks is shared as widely and fairly as possible, both within private and public sectors, what we call for simplicity public and private risk-sharing. In this post, based on the 2018 Economic Survey of the Euro Area, we focus on potential for private risk sharing through the banking sector. The lack of risk sharing in this sector was a major cause of the euro area crisis during the great financial recession since governments became overly exposed to difficulties faced by their banking sectors. Better risk sharing would reduce the risk that a banking crisis triggers government insolvency, reinforcing the solidity of the euro area.

For better or for worse, banks remain at the core of the financial system in Europe. Diversification towards other sources of financing and better access to finance for small and medium enterprises are important goals, which in the longer-term will be substantially facilitated by completion of the capital markets union project. In parallel, the efforts to improve the functioning of the European banking system, including the conditions for creation of Pan-European banks, must continue.

The euro area banks are now much better capitalised than before the financial crisis and benefit from stronger and unified supervisory standards. Even so, additional reforms to complete the banking union are necessary. The Single Resolution Mechanism that restructures failed banks while preventing wider repercussions in the financial system needs an effective backstop to ensure its credibility. The backstop should be fiscally-neutral over the medium term, meaning that any pay out should be recouped from future banks’ contributions. As the next step, euro area countries should put in place a pre-funded common European deposit insurance scheme. Such a tool would increase financial stability benefits for all participating countries by spreading the risks across a large and more diverse pool of financial institutions and reducing the likelihood that individual pay outs will overwhelm the system. It would also further improve monetary policy transmission in the euro area by making different forms of money more homogenous across euro area countries.

To limit the risk of some banks subsidising others, the insured banks should pay to the European deposit insurance scheme a variable insurance premium that would require risker banks – based, among other things, on the level of loss-absorbing capacity, stability and variety of funding sources, business model and management quality – to pay higher contributions. In addition, the risk premia should also be sensitive to the amount of systemic risk in the national banking system.

Risk reduction in the banking sector will eventually have to go beyond the reduction of still-elevated non-performing loans in some countries and prevention of the build-up of new non-performing loans. The recent gyrations in some European sovereign debt markets have shown that the potentially harmful links between banks and their own states that amplified the euro area crisis are still present. Large exposures of banks to the sovereign debt of their home country, linking the health of the banking sector to the health of public finances, continue to exist in many euro area countries and need to be addressed (Figure 1).

The reduction in banks’ holdings of government bonds would make banks’ financing costs dependent on their own riskiness, rather than geographical location, potentially reinforcing cross-border activity and banks’ ability to exploit the economies of scale. Such change, which would need to be gradual, including long phase-in periods and involving only the newly issued debt, could be achieved by introducing an additional capital requirement increasing with concentrated sovereign bond holdings of banks (BCBS, 2017; Véron, 2017). Banks with higher holdings of sovereign debt would be required to hold additional capital as protection against associated risks. In order to give banks an alternative safe asset to invest in, potential changes should be considered in parallel with the introduction of a European safe asset. Although some existing proposals suggest the creation of synthetic safe assets, such instrument may be too sensitive to cyclical variation in investors’ demand. Other ways of creating a European safe asset without risk mutualisation thus may be needed.

The Banking Union needs to be completed and the time to act is now. The three missing legs the Banking Union should stand on are the fiscal backstop to the Single Resolution Fund, the European deposit insurance scheme and the reduction of the harmful links between banks and their own states.

References:

OECD (2018), OECD Economic Surveys: Euro Area 2018, OECD Publishing, Paris.

BCBS (2017), “Discussion Paper – The regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures”, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Basel. https://www.bis.org/bcbs/publ/d425.pdf

Véron, N. (2017), “Sovereign concentration charges: a new regime for banks’ sovereign exposures”, A paper prepared for the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, Brussels. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/602111/IPOL_STU(2017)602111_EN.pdf

by Douglas Sutherland, Senior Economist, US Desk, Economics Department.

Case and Deaton (2017) highlighted increasing midlife mortality due to suicides and drug and alcohol abuse since the late 1990s contributing to relatively modest gains in life expectancy. In the past decade, overdose deaths have surged, particularly as (illicit) synthetic opioids have become more available. Opioid-related deaths touch urban and rural communities alike and are spreading to affect all demographic groups.

Opioids are far more commonly prescribed in the United States than elsewhere in the OECD. Between 1999 and 2014, opioid prescriptions in the United States quadrupled. This was compounded by relatively liberal policies on the number of opioids being prescribed, the long duration of treatment and aggressive marketing. Ultimately millions of individuals were exposed to addictive substances, either the intended patient or through unused drugs being taken by family members or others.

Opioid prescriptions are substantial in the United States

The consequences of the opioid epidemic are felt through deaths, the impact on livelihoods and by breaking up homes and communities. Opioid use appears to be connected to labour market conditions with prescription rates typically higher where labour force participation is lower. Krueger (2017) found that around one-fifth of the non-participating prime age males were regularly taking opioid painkillers. While causality is difficult to establish opioid addiction ultimately impairs participation. This contributes to costs to the economy of lost wages and productivity, as well as fiscal costs from foregone revenue and spending on emergency care and the treatment of addiction. Estimates suggest an annual cost of around $80 billion, but if the loss of life is also taken into account then the cost of the crisis in 2015 could be over $500 billion (CEA, 2018).

Such losses of lives and enormous impact on society justify taking action. To address the immediate challenge, making drugs that can reverse the effects of overdoses more widely available can reduce avoidable deaths. Efforts to tighten access to opioids will reduce the inflow of patients developing opioid dependence. For those already suffering from addiction, medically-assisted treatments are proven options, but may require relaxing administrative barriers in order to expand their reach. These efforts will need to be complemented by re-integrating former addicts into employment and housing to prevent relapse. Research on the causes and effects of widespread addiction should also be encouraged.

References:

Case, A. and A. Deaton (2017), “Mortality and Morbidity in the 21st Century”, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity,

CEA (2017), The Underestimated Cost of the Opioid Crisis, The Council of Economic Advisers, Washington, D.C.,

Krueger, A. (2017), “Where Have All the Workers Gone? An Inquiry into the Decline of the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate”, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity

OECD (2018), Economic Surveys: United States, OECD Publishing, Paris.

by Makoto Kasai and Łukasz Rawdanowicz, OECD Economics Department[1]

As discussed in the latest OECD Economic Outlook, the prolonged undershooting of inflation targets, despite massive monetary policy stimulus and stronger economic growth and lower unemployment, raises issues about the appropriateness of current inflation targeting frameworks in advanced economies. While the frameworks differ in detail and implementation, they are principally based on medium-term inflation objectives of 2%.

Various modifications of, and alternatives to, inflation targeting frameworks have been advocated to make monetary policy more effective and credible. While none of them is without drawbacks, and it is not clear if they would provide substantial improvements from those used at present, periodic reviews of current frameworks would be useful.

Raising the inflation target

Based on theoretical models with forward-looking expectations, raising the inflation target has been suggested as a way to boost inflation expectations and in turn inflation outcomes (Blanchard et al., 2010; Ball, 2014; Baker et al., 2017).

Higher inflation targets, if effective in raising actual inflation, are estimated to lower the probability of hitting an effective zero lower bound (ZLB) and thus reduce the potentially large economic costs of stagnations (Kiley and Roberts, 2017; Dorich et al., 2018; Ball, 2014). Although, in principle, the economic costs caused by the ZLB could be mitigated by adopting unconventional measures, the overall effectiveness of these measures remains debatable.

However, higher target and actual inflation could also entail economic costs, though estimating the level of inflation where costs start to dominate is difficult. Moreover, if a central bank changes its inflation target once, further revisions may be expected, leading to de-anchoring of inflation expectations and undermining the effectiveness of the inflation targeting framework.

While low inflation targets helped to reduce inflation in the 1990s (and its subsequent stabilisation), it is uncertain if the opposite would work. Indeed, Japan’s experience with increasing the inflation target from 1% to 2% in 2013 followed by massive quantitative and qualitative monetary policy easing, after the prolonged period of subdued inflation, demonstrates the practical challenges. Even if realised and expected inflation have indeed increased, they have remained below the target.

Price level targeting

Under price level targeting, a period of lower inflation should be followed by a period of higher inflation so as to neutralise the impact on the price level. In the current context, it is equivalent to committing temporally to a higher inflation target, but with the benefit of avoiding the cost of permanently higher inflation. As with raising inflation targets, the benefits of this framework depend on the ability of central banks to affect inflation expectations and outcomes. If this is the case, the framework will help to raise inflation expectations and avoid the ZLB in the future. If this is not the case, or if the economy experiences persistent positive supply-side shocks, it could result in prolonged periods of very easy monetary policy with risks to future financial stability.

Symmetric operation of inflation targeting

Central banks’ commitment to symmetric operation of monetary policy around their inflation targets is in a sense a milder variant of price level targeting. While the major central banks have symmetric price stability objectives in the medium term, some of them are perceived to have a bias in operating their monetary policy to maintain inflation close to but below their targets (Evans, 2017). This bias might have weakened their ability to raise inflation expectations and to achieve the target. This concern arguably prompted the US Federal Reserve and the ECB to emphasise the symmetric inflation goal in their communication (Draghi, 2016).

Nominal GDP level targeting

Nominal GDP level targeting, if effective, shares the advantages of price level targeting while it can avoid central banks’ overreacting to supply shocks (Bean, 2013). In spirit, it is similar to the dual mandate of the US Federal Reserve. It is expected to work well in the situation where maintaining short-term price stability is not enough to achieve stable growth of the economy in the medium to long run. Nominal GDP level targeting, however, shares drawbacks with the above propositions, and adds complications as nominal GDP is even more difficult to control than inflation. Moreover, GDP data tend to be revised substantially and are not available at a high frequency.

Inflation target range

An inflation target range with the upper band above 2% would have some similarity to the arrangements discussed above in the current context. This is especially the case with respect to the symmetric operation of inflation targeting, by signalling that higher inflation could be tolerated.

However, a framework with a target range allows the authorities to operate monetary policy more flexibly, reflecting the fact that monetary authorities have only a limited ability to predict inflation and control inflation expectations and outcomes (Andersson and Jonung, 2017). This flexibility is useful when the persistence and size of idiosyncratic shocks are uncertain or when changes in the monetary policy stance could aggravate financial stability risks. As long as inflation is expected to stay within the range, monetary authorities would not need to change their stance, while – as with point inflation targeting – they would be expected to act when inflation risks deviating from the range.

With a relatively narrow and low range, this framework could still be consistent with the price stability objective and would not involve negative welfare effects, justifying a less active monetary policy stance. Consequently, it might help to lower the risk of hitting the ZLB, as central banks over time could keep their powder dry. This framework could also improve central banks’ credibility, as there will be a higher probability of inflation staying within a range rather than at a point target. With the current frameworks, even small deviations of inflation from the target point tend to be interpreted as a failure of monetary policy and raise expectations of monetary authorities’ reacting.

On the other hand, the inflation targeting framework based on a range could potentially lower central banks’ influence on inflation expectations as it could be perceived as weakened commitment to price stability. The target range could make it difficult to understand the reaction function of central banks. Indeed, a point inflation target may be easier to communicate and may be more effective in influencing inflation expectations of households and businesses.

References

Andersson, F. N. G. and L. Jonung (2017), “How Tolerant Should Inflation-Targeting Central Banks Be? Selecting the Proper Tolerance Band – Lessons from Sweden”, Lund University Department of Economics Working Paper, No. 2017: 2.

Baker, D. et al. (2017), “Prominent Economists Question Fed Inflation Target”, letter to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, The Center for Popular Democracy, June 2017. http://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Rethink%202%25%20letter.pdf

Ball, L. (2014), “The Case for a Long-Run Inflation Target of Four Percent”, IMF Working Papers, No 14/92.

Bean, C. (2013), “Nominal Income Targets – An Old Wine in a New Bottle”, speech at the Institute for Economic Affairs Conference on the State of the Economy, London, February.

Blanchard, O., G. Dell’Ariccia and P. Mauro (2010), “Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy”, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 42(1), 199-215.

Dorich, J., N. Labelle, V. Lepetyuk and R. R. Mendes (2018), “Could a Higher Inflation Target Enhance Macroeconomic Stability?”, Bank of Canada Staff Working Paper, 2018-17.

Draghi, M. (2016), “Delivering a Symmetric Mandate with Asymmetric Tools: Monetary Policy in a Context of Low Interest Rates”, speech at the ceremony to mark the 200th anniversary of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Vienna, June.

Evans, C. L. (2017), “Low Inflation and the Symmetry of the 2 Percent Target”, Speech at UBS European Conference, London, November.

Kiley, M. T. and J. Roberts (2017), “Monetary Policy in a low interest rate world”, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, March 2017.

OECD (2018), OECD Economic Outlook, Volume 2018 Issue 1: Preliminary version, OECD Publishing, Paris.

[1]. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the authors and not necessarily of their respective institutions. Makoto Kasai currently works for the Bank of Japan.

by Andres Fuentes Hutfilter and Naomitsu Yashiro, OECD Germany Desk

Germany’s strong and steady growth is set to stay – real GDP is projected to grow by 2.1% this year and next. Strong domestic demand and exports drive growth. As a strong exporter of capital goods, Germany is benefiting from the global recovery of trade and investment and the recovery in the euro area. Low interest rates and immigration boost residential construction. At 3.4% unemployment is record low, allowing wages to grow above inflation (Figure 1). Wages have grown across the board, breaking the trend of rising inequality and allowing private consumption to expand steadily. Germany also provides many jobs to immigrants, now mostly from Europe. Poverty is lower in Germany than in most OECD countries. But many workers are still on low wages, especially among women, the low and the middle-skilled (Figure 2). This may hold back growth if workers have little chance to move out of low-wage jobs. During the years of strong performance the government and businesses have reduced debt. Households also continue to save, in part for old age. The external counterpart of this is the large current account surplus.

In this context, policy makers in Germany must ensure that strong social and economic outcomes are sustained in the future and inequality and poverty risk are reduced further, in the light of several challenges: Trend productivity growth has slowed, in Germany and elsewhere. As elsewhere in the OECD, productivity across firms has increasingly diverged between leaders and other firms. In Germany SMEs are 20 to 30% less productive than large firms and business creation has slowed. New technologies must be exploited more to benefit the whole society, and to realise strong growth consistent with the low-carbon transition. Entrepreneurship should be fostered through a more flexible insolvency regime, good e-government services and better access to high speed Internet. At the same time, technological change requires workers to adapt to new and changing jobs throughout their life time by updating skills. Across the OECD, middle-skill jobs have been the most affected by changes in tasks and automation. Technological change requires workers to adapt throughout their life time. The strong fiscal position provides room in the near term to fund spending priorities that will raise growth and wellbeing durably. Boosting investment in skills and technology and employability at higher age can also help reduce the current account surplus. The new government’s coalition agreement contains welcome steps in this direction.

References: 

OECD (2018), Economic Surveys: Germany, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Douglas Sutherland, Senior Economist, US Desk, Economics Department.

The economic expansion in the United States is now one of the longest on record, although it has been sluggish in comparison with previous recoveries. While job growth has reduced the unemployment rate to historically-low levels, many people still remain on the sidelines of the labour market, as shown by the low participation rates of prime age workers.

The participation of women has increased, but many men remain out of the labour force. This is especially the case for young men with no college education and in states hit particularly hard by economic shocks, such as West Virginia where only 53% of working-age individuals participate (Varghese and Sutherland, 2018). Globalisation and automation have displaced workers, especially in the industrial heartland, and many of these workers have experienced difficulties in finding new employment. As they adjust only slowly to these shocks, these locations are characterized by high unemployment, low participation and poverty. This is partly explained by the limited amount of support provided to workers in the United States to find new jobs, compared to other OECD countries.

The interstate migration response to employment shocks, which contributed to the reallocation of workers to places with strong job growth, appears to have diminished during the past decade. Furthermore, these migration patterns show less of a population shift to urban agglomerations than elsewhere in the OECD. One factor contributing to this is that changing jobs has become more difficult over time. One of the constraints of interstate migration has been the availability of affordable housing, particularly in booming areas (Guichard, 2018). Restrictive zoning policies appear to be hindering the provision of more affordable housing, limiting employment opportunities and ultimately undermining growth. Sprawling cities can also make accessing jobs by public transport very difficult. Improving mass transit systems where appropriate would help improve accessibility and federal spending could be used to encourage States and localities to move towards mixed-use planning permissions to address housing affordability concerns.

References:

Guichard, S. (2018), “The Decline in US Labour Force Participation: Some Insights from Regional Divergence”, OECD Economics Department Working Papers, Forthcoming.

OECD (2018), Economic Surveys: United States, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Varghese, N. and D. Sutherland (2018), “The Impact of Individual Characteristics on Labour Market Transitions: A Pseudo Panel Approach”, OECD Economics Department Working Papers, Forthcoming.

By Álvaro S. Pereira, OECD Chief Economist ad interim, Economics Department

After a lengthy period of weak growth, the world economy is finally growing around 4%, the historical average of the past few decades.

This is good news. And this news is even better knowing that, in part, the stronger growth of the world economy is supported by a welcome rebound in investment and in world trade. The recovery in investment is particularly worth emphasising, since the fate of the current expansion will be highly dependent on how investment will perform.

Although long anticipated, the pick-up in investment remains weaker than in past expansions. The same is true for global trade, which is expected to grow at a respectable, albeit not spectacular, rate, unless it is derailed by trade tensions.

However, contrary to previous periods, 4% world growth is not due to rising productivity gains or sweeping structural change. This time around the stronger economy is largely due to monetary and fiscal policy support.

For many years, monetary policy was the only game in town. During the international financial crisis, central banks cut interest rates aggressively, injected funds into the economy and purchased assets at a record pace in an attempt to boost the economy.

In contrast, in most countries, fiscal policy remained prudent or even became contractionary. Still, historically low interest rates provided an opportunity for governments to use their available fiscal space to help foster growth, as the OECD argued forcefully in 2016. Many OECD governments are now following this advice. At first, the resources enabled by lower interest payments were used by governments to avoid cutting expenditures or raising taxes. With the improving economic situation, many governments have started to undertake additional fiscal easing.

Now that monetary policy is finally starting to return to normal, governments are stepping in to provide fiscal policy support. We can say that fiscal policy is the new game in town: three quarters of OECD countries are now undertaking fiscal easing. The fiscal stimulus in some countries is very significant, while it is less ambitious in other countries. Still, this fiscal easing will have important repercussions for the world economy. In the short run, it will add to growth. However, countries that have been experiencing longer expansions might find that this fiscal stimulus (where it is large) will also add to inflationary pressures in the medium term. Only time will tell if these short-run gains might be offset by some medium-term pain. What matters is that, in making these choices, governments are fully aware of the medium-term impact of their policies, and do not focus only on the short-term benefits from fiscal stimulus.

The strong growth we are witnessing is also associated with robust job creation in many economies. In fact, it is particularly satisfying to see that in the OECD area, unemployment is set to reach its lowest level since 1980, even though it remains high in some countries. Thanks to this robust job creation and the related intensifying labour shortages, we are now projecting a rise in real wages in many countries. This increase is still somewhat modest. However, there are clear signs that wages are finally on the way up. This is an important development, since the global crisis had a severe impact on household incomes, particularly for the unskilled and low-income workers.

In spite of all this good news, risks loom large for the global outlook. What are these risks? First and foremost, an escalation of trade tensions should be avoided. It is worth remembering that, in part, the rise in trade restrictions is nothing new. After all, more than 1200 new trade restrictions have been implemented by G20 countries since the outset of the global financial crisis in 2007. Still, as outlined in Chapter 2, since the world economy is much more integrated and linked today than in the past, a further escalation of trade tensions might significantly affect the economic expansion and disrupt vital global value chains.

Another important risk going forward is related to the rise in oil prices. Oil prices have risen by close to 50% over the past year. Persistently higher oil prices will push up inflationary pressures and will aggravate external imbalances in many countries.

In the past few years, very low interest rates have encouraged borrowing by households and corporations in some countries and led to overvaluation of assets (e.g. houses, equities) in many others. In this context, rising interest rates might be challenging for highly indebted countries, families and corporations. Of course, this rise in interest rates has been widely anticipated and should thus not cause any major disruptions. Nevertheless, if inflation rises more than expected and central banks are forced to raise rates at a faster pace, it is likely that market sentiment could shift abruptly, leading to a sudden correction in asset prices.

A swifter rise in interest rates in advanced economies might also continue to lead to significant currency depreciation and volatility in some emerging market economies (EMEs) that are highly reliant on external financing and facing internal or external imbalances. Geopolitical tensions might also contribute to sudden market corrections or a further rise in oil prices. Brexit and policy uncertainty in Italy could add pressures to the expansion in the euro area.

What does this all mean for policy? Since private and public debt remain high in some countries, improving productivity, decreasing debt levels and building fiscal buffers is key to strengthen the resilience of economies. As monetary and fiscal policies will not be able to sustain the expansion forever and might even contribute to financial risks, it is absolutely essential that structural reforms become a priority. In the past couple of years, few countries have undertaken substantial structural reforms. Most of the countries that reformed are large EMEs, such as Argentina, Brazil and India. In the advanced economies, important labour reforms were introduced in France and a sweeping tax reform was implemented in the United States. However, as the 2018 OECD Going for Growth points out, these important exceptions do not counter the rule that reform efforts have been lagging.

Why is this important? Because the only way to sustain the current expansion and to make growth work for all is to undertake productivity-enhancing reforms. As many OECD Education Policy Reviews and OECD National Skills Strategies show, it is crucial to redesign curricula to develop the cognitive, social and emotional skills that enable success at work, and to improve teaching quality and the resources necessary to deliver those skills effectively. In many countries, investment in quality early childhood education and vocational education and apprenticeships are of particular importance. Skills-enhancing labour-market reforms are also crucial. Reforms to boost competition, improve insolvency regimes, reduce barriers to entry in services and cut red tape are also key for making our economies more dynamic, more inclusive and more entrepreneurial. Investment in digital infrastructure will also be essential in this digital age. In addition, there are significant opportunities to reduce trade costs in both goods and, in particular, services, boosting growth and jobs across the world.

In spite of stronger growth, there is no time for complacency. Structural reforms are vital to sustain the current expansion and to mitigate risks. Therefore, at this juncture of the world economy, it is truly crucial to give reforms a chance. After monetary and fiscal policies have done their jobs, it is time for reforms to sustain the expansion, to improve well-being, and to make growth work for all.

References

Economic Outlook, May 2018.

Álvaro S. Pereira, Chef économiste de l’OCDE par intérim, Département des affaires économiques

Après une longue période de croissance atone, l’activité économique mondiale croît enfin au rythme d’environ 4 %, qui correspond à la moyenne historique des dernières décennies.

C’est une bonne nouvelle, et qui apparaît encore meilleure lorsque l’on sait que ce rebond de la croissance de l’économie mondiale est, pour partie, le résultat d’un redémarrage opportun de l’investissement et des échanges mondiaux. La reprise de l’investissement mérite tout particulièrement d’être soulignée, sachant que l’avenir de l’expansion actuelle dépendra fortement de l’évolution de l’investissement.

Bien qu’anticipé depuis longtemps, le redressement de l’investissement demeure plus timide que lors des phases d’expansion passées. Il en va de même pour les échanges mondiaux, dont on attend qu’ils progressent à un rythme respectable, sans toutefois être spectaculaire, à moins que des tensions commerciales ne viennent les mettre en péril.

Cependant, contrairement à ce qui avait pu être observé précédemment, cette croissance mondiale de 4 % ne repose pas sur un accroissement des gains de productivité ou sur une évolution structurelle profonde. Cette fois, l’intensification de l’activité économique est dans une large mesure imputable au soutien procuré par les politiques monétaire et budgétaire.

Pendant de nombreuses années, la politique monétaire a été le seul levier utilisé. Durant la crise financière internationale, les banques centrales ont procédé à des réductions draconiennes des taux d’intérêt, elles ont injecté des fonds dans l’économie et acquis des actifs à un rythme sans précédent dans l’espoir de donner un coup de fouet à l’activité économique.

Dans la plupart des pays, en revanche, la politique budgétaire est restée guidée par la prudence, voire est devenue restrictive. Au demeurant, le niveau historiquement bas des taux d’intérêt offrait aux pouvoirs publics l’occasion d’employer la marge de manœuvre budgétaire dont ils disposaient pour contribuer à relancer la croissance, selon la position défendue avec force par l’OCDE en 2016. Un grand nombre de pays de l’OCDE suivent désormais ce conseil. Dans un premier temps, les États ont utilisé les ressources dégagées par la diminution des versements d’intérêts pour éviter d’avoir à comprimer les dépenses ou à augmenter les impôts. La situation économique s’améliorant, nombre d’entre eux se sont désormais engagés sur la voie d’un nouvel assouplissement budgétaire.

Maintenant que la politique monétaire commence enfin à revenir à la normale, les pouvoirs publics s’emploient à soutenir l’activité par la politique budgétaire. On peut dire que la politique budgétaire est le levier qui a désormais la faveur des pouvoirs publics : les trois quarts des pays de l’OCDE s’engagent à présent sur la voie d’un assouplissement budgétaire. La relance budgétaire est très ample dans certains pays, et moins ambitieuse dans d’autres. Pourtant, cet assouplissement budgétaire aura des répercussions importantes sur l’économie mondiale. À court terme, il renforcera la croissance. Cependant, les pays ayant connu de plus longues périodes d’expansion s’apercevront peut-être que cette relance budgétaire (lorsqu’on lui donne de l’ampleur) accentue également les tensions inflationnistes à moyen terme. Seul le temps nous dira si les gains à court terme seront contrebalancés par des effets douloureux à moyen terme. Ce qui compte, c’est que les responsables de l’action gouvernementale, au moment de choisir telle ou telle option, soient pleinement conscients de l’impact à moyen terme de leurs politiques, et ne se bornent pas à considérer uniquement les avantages à court terme de la relance budgétaire.

La forte croissance que nous observons va également de pair avec une création d’emplois vigoureuse dans de nombreuses économies. De fait, il est particulièrement satisfaisant de constater que dans la zone OCDE, le chômage devrait atteindre son plus bas niveau depuis 1980, même s’il reste élevé dans certains pays. Compte tenu de la vitalité de la création d’emplois et de l’accentuation des pénuries de main‑d’œuvre qui en résulte, nous prévoyons désormais une progression des salaires réels dans de nombreux pays. Cette hausse est encore assez timide, mais on perçoit des signes indiquant clairement que les salaires sont enfin sur une pente ascendante. Il s’agit d’une évolution importante, sachant que la crise mondiale avait eu de graves effets sur les revenus des ménages, en particulier pour les travailleurs peu qualifiés et à faible revenu.

Malgré toutes ces bonnes nouvelles, des risques assombrissent fortement les perspectives mondiales. Quels sont-ils ? D’abord et avant tout, une escalade des tensions commerciales, qui doit être évitée. N’oublions pas que, pour une part, un recours accru à des restrictions commerciales n’a rien de nouveau. La preuve en est que plus de 1 200 restrictions nouvelles ont été instituées par des pays du G20 depuis que la crise financière mondiale a éclaté en 2007. Au demeurant, comme indiqué dans le chapitre 2, parce que l’économie mondiale est beaucoup plus intégrée et interconnectée aujourd’hui que par le passé, une nouvelle escalade des tensions commerciales pourrait porter gravement atteinte à l’expansion de l’activité économique et déclencher des perturbations dans des chaînes de valeur mondiales essentielles.

Un autre risque important est lié à l’envolée des cours du pétrole. Ceux-ci ont augmenté de près de 50 % au cours de l’année écoulée. La persistance de cette tendance intensifiera les tensions inflationnistes et accentuera les déséquilibres extérieurs dans nombre de pays.

Ces dernières années, le niveau très bas des taux d’intérêt a encouragé les ménages et les entreprises à recourir à l’emprunt dans certains pays et a abouti à une surévaluation des actifs (notamment des logements et des actions) dans beaucoup d’autres. Dans ce contexte, un relèvement des taux d’intérêt pourrait mettre en difficulté les pays, les familles et les entreprises lourdement endettés. Certes, cette augmentation des taux d’intérêt a été largement anticipée et ne devrait donc pas induire de perturbations majeures. Néanmoins, si l’inflation augmente davantage que prévu et si les banques centrales sont contraintes de relever plus rapidement les taux d’intérêt, les perceptions sur les marchés pourraient s’inverser brusquement et conduire à un ajustement brutal des prix des actifs.

Une remontée plus rapide des taux d’intérêt dans les économies avancées pourrait également entraîner encore d’importants phénomènes de volatilité et de dépréciations des monnaies dans certaines économies de marché émergentes qui sont très tributaires des financements extérieurs et sont confrontées à des déséquilibres internes et externes. Les tensions géopolitiques pourraient également favoriser de brusques corrections du marché ou un nouvel essor des cours du pétrole. Le Brexit et l’incertitude autour de l’action gouvernementale qui sera menée en Italie ne font qu’ajouter aux pressions qui pèsent sur l’expansion dans la zone euro.

Que faut-il en déduire pour l’action publique ? Parce que la dette publique et la dette privée demeurent élevées dans certains pays, il est primordial de rehausser la productivité, de faire baisser les niveaux d’endettement et de constituer des marges de manœuvre budgétaires pour renforcer la résilience des économies. Étant donné que les politiques monétaire et budgétaire ne permettront pas d’alimenter indéfiniment l’expansion et pourraient même contribuer à accroître les risques financiers, il est absolument essentiel que la priorité soit donnée aux réformes structurelles. Ces dernières années, rares sont les pays qui ont engagé des réformes structurelles d’envergure. La plupart de ceux qui ont mené des réformes sont de grandes économies de marché émergentes, comme l’Argentine, le Brésil et l’Inde. Du côté des économies avancées, une importante réforme du travail a été adoptée en France et une réforme fiscale de grande ampleur est entrée en vigueur aux États-Unis. Cependant, comme souligné dans l’édition 2018 d’Objectif croissance, ces exceptions notables n’empêchent pas que les réformes ont pris du retard.

Pourquoi est-ce important ? Parce que le seul moyen d’entretenir l’expansion actuelle et de faire en sorte que la croissance bénéficie à tous consiste à entreprendre des réformes destinées à améliorer la productivité. Comme le montre l’OCDE dans de nombreux Examens des politiques nationales d’éducation et Stratégies nationales sur les compétences, il est primordial de repenser les cursus pour développer les compétences cognitives, sociales et émotionnelles indispensables à la réussite dans le monde du travail, et d’améliorer la qualité de l’enseignement ainsi que les ressources nécessaires pour favoriser une acquisition efficace de ces compétences. Dans beaucoup de pays, l’investissement dans une éducation de qualité pour les jeunes enfants ainsi que dans l’enseignement professionnel et l’apprentissage revêt une importance particulière. Il est en outre capital d’entreprendre des réformes du marché du travail propres à améliorer les compétences. Des réformes axées sur l’intensification de la concurrence, l’amélioration des régimes de faillite, l’abaissement des obstacles à l’entrée dans les secteurs de services et la simplification des procédures administratives sont aussi des ingrédients essentiels pour que nos économies deviennent plus dynamiques, plus inclusives et plus propices à l’entrepreneuriat. Les investissements dans les infrastructures numériques seront aussi fondamentaux à l’ère du numérique. Par ailleurs, il existe de vastes possibilités de réduction des coûts commerciaux sur les marchés de biens mais aussi et surtout de services, laissant entrevoir des perspectives de croissance et de création d’emplois dans le monde entier.

Malgré le regain de croissance, l’heure n’est pas à l’excès de confiance. Les réformes structurelles sont la clé de la poursuite de l’expansion actuelle et de l’atténuation des risques. C’est pourquoi, à ce point de bascule pour l’économie mondiale, il est véritablement capital de donner une chance aux réformes. Les politiques monétaire et budgétaire ayant rempli leur office, le moment est venu de faire en sorte que les réformes prennent le relais et qu’elles concourent à soutenir l’expansion, à améliorer le bien-être et à produire une croissance bénéfique pour tous.

Références

Perspectives économiques, mai 2018.

Álvaro S. Pereira, Economista Jefe interino, Departamento de Economía de la OCDE

Después de un largo período de débil crecimiento, la economía mundial finalmente está creciendo alrededor del 4%, cercano al promedio histórico de las últimas décadas.

Esta es una buena noticia, y es aún mejor sabiendo que, en parte, el mayor crecimiento de la economía mundial está respaldado por una recuperación positiva de la inversión y del comercio mundial. Cabe destacar especialmente la recuperación de la inversión, ya que el futuro de la actual expansión dependerá en gran medida del buen comportamiento de la inversión.

Aunque se esperaba desde hace mucho tiempo, el repunte de la inversión sigue siendo más débil que en expansiones anteriores. Lo mismo ocurre con el comercio mundial, que se espera crezca a un ritmo aceptable, aunque no espectacular, a menos que se vea frenado por las tensiones comerciales.

Sin embargo, a diferencia de períodos anteriores, el crecimiento mundial del 4% no se debe al aumento de la productividad ni a un cambio estructural radical. Esta vez, el fortalecimiento de la economía se debe en gran medida al apoyo de la política monetaria y fiscal.

Durante muchos años, la política monetaria fue la única carta sobre la mesa. Durante la crisis financiera internacional, los bancos centrales recortaron de manera drástica los tipos de interés, inyectaron fondos en la economía y compraron activos a un ritmo récord en un intento por impulsar la economía.

En cambio, en la mayoría de los países, la política fiscal siguió siendo prudente o incluso se contrajo. No obstante, los tipos de interés históricamente bajos brindaron a los gobiernos la oportunidad de utilizar el espacio fiscal disponible para ayudar a fomentar el crecimiento, como firmemente argumentó la OCDE en 2016. Muchos gobiernos de la OCDE siguen ahora esta recomendación. En un principio, los recursos habilitados por la reducción de los pagos de intereses fueron utilizados por los gobiernos para evitar recortar gastos o aumentar los impuestos. Con la mejora de la situación económica, muchos gobiernos han comenzado a emprender una relajación fiscal adicional.

Ahora que la política monetaria está finalmente empezando a volver a la normalidad, los gobiernos están interviniendo para proporcionar apoyo con la política fiscal. Podemos decir que la política fiscal es la nueva carta que se añade a la partida: tres cuartas partes de los países de la OCDE están llevando a cabo una relajación fiscal. El estímulo fiscal en algunos países es muy significativo, mientras que en otros es menos ambicioso. No obstante, esta relajación fiscal  tendrá  importantes repercusiones para la economía mundial. A corto plazo, contribuirá al crecimiento. Sin embargo, los países que han experimentado expansiones más prolongadas podrían encontrarse con que este estímulo fiscal (en los casos en que es importante) también se sumará a las presiones inflacionarias a medio plazo. Sólo el tiempo dirá si las ganancias de corto plazo podrían verse compensadas por impactos  negativos  de medio plazo. Lo que importa es que, al tomar estas decisiones, los gobiernos sean plenamente conscientes del impacto a medio plazo de sus políticas, y no se centren únicamente en los beneficios de corto plazo de los estímulos fiscales.

El fuerte crecimiento que estamos presenciando también está asociado a una fuerte creación de empleo en muchas economías. De hecho, es especialmente satisfactorio comprobar que en los países de la OCDE el desempleo va a alcanzar su nivel más bajo desde 1980, aunque en algunos países sigue siendo elevado. Gracias a esta sólida creación de empleo y a la consiguiente intensificación de la escasez de mano de obra, ahora se prevé un aumento de los salarios reales en muchos países, a pesar de que este aumento es todavía modesto. Sin embargo, hay señales claras de que los salarios están finalmente aumentando. Se trata de un acontecimiento importante, ya que la crisis mundial tuvo un grave impacto en los ingresos de los hogares, en particular de los trabajadores no cualificados y de bajos ingresos.

A pesar de todas estas buenas noticias, se advierten importantes riesgos en el panorama mundial. ¿Cuáles son estos riesgos? Ante todo, debe evitarse un aumento de las tensiones comerciales. Es importante recordar que, en parte, el aumento de las restricciones comerciales no es nada nuevo. Después de todo, los países del G20 han implementado más de 1.200 nuevas restricciones al comercio desde el inicio de la crisis financiera mundial en 2007. No obstante, como se señala en el Capítulo 2, dado que la economía mundial está mucho más integrada e interconectada hoy que en el pasado, una mayor escalada de las tensiones comerciales podría afectar significativamente la expansión económica y perturbar las vitales cadenas de valor mundiales.

Mirando hacia el futuro, otro riesgo importante está relacionado con el aumento de los precios del petróleo que han aumentado cerca del 50% en el último año. Esta persistente subida incrementará las presiones inflacionarias y agravará los desequilibrios externos en muchos países.

En los últimos años, los extremadamente bajos tipos de interés han alentado el endeudamiento de los hogares y las empresas en algunos países, y han dado lugar a la sobrevaloración de activos (por ejemplo, viviendas, acciones) en muchos otros. En este contexto, los crecientes los tipos de interés podrían ser un reto para los fuertemente endeudados países, familias y empresas. Además, esta subida de los tipos de interés se ha anticipado ampliamente y, por lo tanto, no debería causar ninguna perturbación importante. Sin embargo, si la inflación aumenta más de lo previsto y los bancos centrales se ven obligados a subir los tipos de interés a un ritmo más rápido, es probable que la confianza del mercado cambie bruscamente, dando lugar a una repentina corrección de los precios de los activos.

Una subida más rápida de los tipos de interés en las economías avanzadas también podría seguir provocando una depreciación significativa de la moneda y volatilidad en algunas economías emergentes (EMEs) ya que dependen en gran medida de la financiación externa y se enfrentan a desequilibrios internos o externos. Las tensiones geopolíticas también podrían contribuir a correcciones repentinas del mercado o a una nueva subida de los precios del petróleo. Brexit y la incertidumbre política en Italia podrían añadir presiones a la expansión en la zona del euro.

¿Qué significa todo esto para la política? Dado que la deuda pública y privada sigue siendo elevada en algunos países, la mejora de la productividad, la disminución de los niveles de deuda y la creación de amortiguadores fiscales son clave para fortalecer la resiliencia de las economías. Puesto que las políticas monetaria y fiscal no podrán sostener la expansión de manera permanente e incluso podrían acentuar los riesgos financieros, es absolutamente esencial que las reformas estructurales se conviertan en una prioridad. En los últimos dos años, pocos países han emprendido reformas estructurales sustanciales. La mayoría de los países que aplicaron reformas son grandes EMEs, como Argentina, Brasil e India. En las economías avanzadas, se introdujeron importantes reformas laborales en Francia, y se aplicó una amplia reforma fiscal en los Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, como señala la publicación de la OCDE Going for Growth, de 2018, éstas importantes excepciones no contradicen la regla de que los esfuerzos de reforma han sido rezagados.

¿Por qué es esto importante? Porque la única manera de mantener la expansión actual y hacer que el crecimiento funcione para todos es emprender reformas que aumenten la productividad. Como demuestran numerosos estudios de la OCDE sobre la revisión de políticas educativas (Education Policy Reviews) y las estrategias nacionales de la OCDE en materia de competencias (National Skills Strategies), es fundamental rediseñar los planes de estudio para desarrollar las competencias cognitivas, sociales y emocionales que permiten el éxito en el trabajo, y mejorar la calidad de la enseñanza y los recursos necesarios para impartir esas competencias de manera eficaz. En muchos países, la inversión en educación de calidad para la primera infancia, la formación profesional y los programas de aprendices revisten especial importancia. También son cruciales las reformas del mercado laboral que mejoren las habilidades. Las reformas para impulsar la competencia, mejorar los regímenes de insolvencia, reducir los obstáculos a la entrada en el sector de los servicios y reducir la burocracia también son fundamentales para hacer que nuestras economías sean más dinámicas, más incluyentes y más emprendedoras. La inversión en infraestructura digital también será esencial en esta era digital. Además, existen importantes oportunidades para reducir los costes del comercio de bienes y, en particular, de los servicios, impulsando el crecimiento y el empleo en todo el mundo.

A pesar de un crecimiento más fuerte, no hay tiempo para la autocomplacencia. Las reformas estructurales son vitales para mantener la expansión actual y mitigar los riesgos. Por lo tanto, en esta coyuntura de la economía mundial, es realmente crucial dar una oportunidad a las reformas. Después de que las políticas monetarias y fiscales hayan cumplido sus objetivos, es hora de que las reformas sostengan la expansión, mejoren el bienestar y hagan que el crecimiento funcione para todos.

Referencias

Perspectivas económicas OCDE, mayo 2018.