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Is knowledge the centrepiece of economic growth? Are enormous differences in wealth, health and well-being across nations, developed and developing alike, driven by differences in educational achievement?

Professor Woessmann addresses these questions in his recent thought-provoking book „The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth“ (coauthored with Prof. Eric A. Hanushek). Professors Woessmann and Hanushek, world experts on research with international test score and educational data, convincingly demonstrate that conventional measures of schooling miss a crucial part of how skills translate into development and make a powerful argument that learning and cognitive skills, after all, might be the key to long-run prosperity.

For registration please fill out a short form at http://bit.ly/idea_capital or e-mail Tato e-mailová adresa je chráněna před spamboty. Pro její zobrazení musíte mít povolen Javascript..

You can also find this event on our facebook, or follow all other IDEA activities on our facebook page  http://www.fb.com/ideacerge/.This lecture is essential for anyone interested in differences in education, growth and development across countries. 

Join us for the only public seminar led by OECD representatives following the official presentation of the 2016 OECD Survey on the Czech Republic. 

AGENDA:

Introduction

Andreas Wörgötter, Head of Division at the OECD Economics Department
The macroeconomic policy environment between unconventional exchange rate policy and a no fiscal framework.

Innovation policy and productivity growth

Falilou Fall, Head of Czech Republic Desk
Over the past two decades, the income level of the Czech Republic has converged considerably towards the OECD average. However, since the 2008 global crisis, the convergence process has stalled. Shortfalls in labour productivity have developed and are mainly structural. The productivity growth decline stems from lower productivity growth in all sectors but the financial services and has  become more severe since the crisis. Also, the high number of small enterprises, which have lower productivity than large firms, and the lower productivity of Czech firms without foreign ownership compared to those with foreign ownership contribute to the productivity patterns. Two types of policies are developed in this chapter to foster productivity: the first one is about strengthening R&D and innovation policies and the second one is about improving market framework condition.

Public sector efficiency

Christine Lewis, Czech Republic Desk
Spending on the public administration itself is relatively low but so are indicators of its performance. General challenges across levels of government include wastage in public procurement, insufficient management of the investment cycle and high levels of staff turnover in the public service. The structure of local government, which includes over 6 200 municipalities, exacerbates these challenges by complicating co-ordination and stretching capacity even further. Existing forms of co-operation have not adequately overcome the challenges for small municipalities in efficiently delivering high quality public services. At the same time, Czech local governments are heavily dependent on grants and transfers from the central government. This chapter looks at ways of improving the system of administration and realising greater benefits of decentralisation.

Register to reserve your seat.

More information on www.oecd.org.