Europe and Central Asia Reports – serie
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3 produkter
3 produkter
Häftad, Engelska, 2013
393 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Pollution from fossil fuels and degraded natural lands are raising the earth’s temperature. The evidence of the causes of global warming is clear, as are its consequences. The economic impacts of climate change are already apparent and they threaten development gains. Extreme weather events have brought severe droughts to Central Asia, heat waves and forest fires to Russia, and floods to Southeastern Europe. Unchecked emissions will come at rising economic cost and increasing risk to individuals. There is a clear case for all of the world's economies to move to a low-carbon growth path. Yet, climate action has been inadequate, especially in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA). With prospects of a global climate agreement uncertain, Growing Green: The Economic Benefits of Climate Action identifies the actions that governments in the region can take to reduce the carbon footprints of their economies. It shows that many of these actions will more than pay for themselves - and quite quickly when indirect benefits such as better health and increased competitiveness are considered. To realise these benefits, policy makers in ECA need to quickly move on three sets of priorities: use energy much more efficiently, gradually move to cleaner energy sources, and increase carbon capture in soils and forests. This will require transformations in power generation, industrial production, mobility, city living, and in farming and forestry. Policy makers are justifiably worried that climate action may jeopardise economic performance and strain the budgets of poorer families. The report shows how well-designed growth and social policies can make climate action growth-enhancing while protecting the living standards of less-well-off households. The ECA Region has been a bystander on climate action, and sluggish in realising the benefits of the economic and technological innovations available to combat climate change. This book aims to help ECA become a leader in confronting this challenge. In doing so, it shows how countries in the region can make climate action-along with economic growth and social inclusion - the third pillar of their development strategies.
Häftad, Engelska, 2014
404 kr
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Europe’s pension systems –among the most celebrated features of its social welfare model— face tremendous challenges. With only 11 percent of the world’s population, Europe spends about 60 percent of global outlays on social protection, largely in pensions. In many countries, pension rules have encouraged people to retire sooner, while enjoying longer lives. Payroll taxes on a continuously expanding contributory base have financed these benefits. This model of pension provision is now being severely tested as pension systems reach maturity, while the population is aging and the labour force is starting to shrink. Measures to enable a continued tradition of providing old age security will include:raising retirement ages such that pensions are provided in the last 15 years of life, when work capacity traditionally diminishesencouraging immigration to help fill the declining work forcerationalising pension spending, putting priority on preventing old age poverty, andencouraging savings to help provide the more comfortable retirement that individuals have come to expect. Some measures may be more appropriate in particular countries than others, yet undertaking all of them will likely require less drastic changes in any one of them. The specific choices will need to be discussed and agreed among each country’s own population, and be accompanied by enabling changes in pension policy, tax policy, financial markets policy, and labour policy. The fundamental issue is that, with these changes, the important achievements of European social policy can withstand the demographic onslaught and continue to provide old age security for generations to come.
Häftad, Engelska, 2014
448 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Over the last decade, significant global and regional forces including changes in technology, trade patterns, and business practices, with a steady shift in value added production and employment toward knowledge-intensive activities and services such as finance, the hospitality industry, and the retail trade, have been affecting the production and occupational structures of most developed economies. Many countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia have also experienced ongoing exposure to international product and labour markets, some via integration with the European Union (EU), and in general experiencing more international competition and labour migration. The acceleration of growth, the easy access to credit during the financial boom, and improvements in business and labour regulations in some countries boosted labour demand. On the supply side, key factors in some countries included shifts in labour force participation rates, cross-border migration, and changes in social benefits that may have affected work incentives. With the sudden shock of the 2008 international financial crisis and its prolonged after-effects, all countries in the region are being forced to reassess their position in the international checkerboard, also in light of looming demographic trends and competing social demands. All countries will have to consider reforms to improve the quality of the business climate, make labour markets more competitive, modernise the public sector, deepen financial development, and increase integration in global markets are a necessary condition for positive and sustained employment creation. These efforts will have to be comprehensive and sustained for the payoff to materialise, as illustrated by the experience of the advanced reformers in the region. Moving along the modernisation path will require further economic restructuring and labour reallocation, which can become a wasteful and inefficient process with significant short-term welfare losses among specific groups of workers, unless it is accompanied by policies aimed at improving the match between jobs and workers and enhancing the employability of those people who are most affected by the changes. Policies that are sensitive to age and gender can help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the restructuring process.