Visvizi, A. (2016) ‘Editorial’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 7-12.
Wiśniewski, J. (2016) ‘Poland in the OECD: the way forward’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: mem-bers, policies, influence), 14(4): 17-20.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. Over the 20 years of Poland’s membership in the OECD, twelve OECD Economic Surveys and their associated peer-review processes were conducted. Surveys provided Poland with regular recommendations on labour market and competition policies, innovation, human capital and skills, financial markets, sustainable and inclusive growth, social security, taxation, health care and public spending. The article presents the specificity and centrality of the OECD peer-review mechanisms that support these recommendations. First, it explains the process of the making of the 2016 Economic Survey of Poland and the work of the Economic and Development Review Committee (EDRC) that is made up of representatives of all OECD governments and the European Commission. It describes the making of the Economic Survey from the fact-finding mission and meetings with government officials, academics, social partners and other experts, to the initial drafts, the examination by the EDRC Committee and the publication. Second, it builds on the 2016 Economic Survey of Poland to illustrate some key elements of the OECD assessments, in particular the underlying data collection efforts and policy analyses.
Goujard, A. (2016) ‘The making of the OECD Economic Survey of Poland 2016’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 21-32.
The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as an international economic organization, and the G20, which in 2009, after the summits in London and Pittsburgh, was proclaimed the main forum for regulation of international economic and financial policies. The first section will provide an overview of their development and examine the main features of the OECD as a ‘Cinderella’ organization, which since the late 1990s has found its niche, and the G20, referred to by its critics as a ‘talk shop,’ transforming itself from an anti-crisis facility to a global steering committee. The next part will investigate the asymmetric but mutually beneficial relationship between the OECD and the G20, and explain the rationale for the growing interdependence between these bodies using the tripartite bonds model. The last part will contain concluding remarks and draw an overall picture of this ‘partnership of convenience’.
Rewizorski, M. (2016) ‘A partnership of convenience. The OECD and the G20 as control rooms for global policy’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 33-53.
The paper examines the impact of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) on the emerging foreign aid policies of the Central and Eastern European (CEEs) countries. The Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the DAC in 2013, and the committee has aimed to socialise them into the norms of the international development system. Generally, however, there is little evidence of impact due to the soft nature of the DAC’s policy recommendations, and the fact that the committee, reacting to the challenges to its legitimacy from non-Western donors, has become much less demanding towards potential members than in the past. The paper, however, argues that one must examine the processes of how the norm and policy recommendations of the DAC are mediated domestically. The case of the Czech Republic’s reforms in its foreign aid policy between 2007 and 2010 shows that domestic actors can use the OECD strategically to build support for their own cause and thus achieve seemingly difficult policy reform.
Szent-Iványi, B. (2016) ‘Irrelevant or transformative power? The OECD DAC and foreign aid policies in Central and Eastern Europe’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 55-70.
In the light of the intensifying migration and refugee crises in Europe, various international stakeholders such as the UNHCR, the IOM and the EU have taken a stance in the debate. Among them, the OECD is the organization that stands out with its pragmatic policy-oriented approach rooted in its vast advisory experience, global outlook and socio-economic profile. A thorough examination of the OECD’s contribution to the debate on the crises leads to the conclusions that migrants coming to Europe in large numbers in recent years, most of whom are in need of international protection, create an opportunity for improvements in the areas of demographic and economic development in Europe. However, in order to make adequate use of their potential for their own and their host countries’ benefit, it is necessary that the European immigration and integration policies be revised and adapted to new political/legal conditions and economic circumstances.
Pachocka, M. (2016) ‘The twin migration and refugee crises in Europe: examining the OECD’s contribution to the debate’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 71-99.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the regime change in the communist world, and the 20th anniversary of Poland’s membership in OECD, this paper looks at the growth performance of the former post-socialist countries by using a much larger sample than earlier studies. These economies are located geographically very far from each other, and thus, they are imbedded in regions with different growth record. The paper examines whether the growth spillover effect from the neighbourhood is important enough to explain the vastly different catching-up performances of 45 different post-socialist economies (PSEs). The econometric investigations led to divergent findings. For the sample as a whole, the spillover effect does not carry the same significance as compared to the importance of the initial development level in 1989. We also found a small, but statistically significant negative impact of nation-building for those countries which were newly (re)created. Relative to all these factors, the impact of being a landlocked country or having or not having a rich natural resource endowment does not seem to have a significant effect either. The neighbourhood effect for PSEs is statistically significant, but this is not the case for 23 OECD countries which didn’t have a communist past in their recent history. But the initial development level (1989) had more impact on growth in the case of OECD countries, than in PSE economies.
Mihalyi, P. and Banasz, Z. (2016) ‘Your neighbours’ growth doesn’t always matter – an empirical study of 45 transition economies’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 101-127.
The objective of this paper is to identify and discuss the advantages and limitations of measuring the employment protection legislation (EPL) by means of the OECD EPL Indices, using the Polish labour market as an example. It is argued that the OECD EPL Indices play an important role in measuring the strictness of the employment protection legislation. Specifically, calculating the EPL Indices enables applying quantitative methods to assess the impact of the strictness of the labour market regulations on the unemployment level and its dynamics. It also makes it possible to compare the EPL level among the OECD countries, and to track or evaluate labour market reforms. Even if as a result of modifications, the OECD Indices have become a more accurate measure of EPL, this measure should be interpreted with caution. In this context, the case of Poland reveals that regulation for employees on open-ended contracts is very lax, though the uncertainty in terms of trial length and courts decisions remains an issue. Legislation of fixed-term contracts is rather lax, however utterly flexible civil contracts and ‘bogus’ self-employment are being abused. From a different angle, regulations for collective dismissals and on Temporary Work Agencies seem to be moderately restrictive.
Maleszyk, P. (2016) ‘Pros and cons of the OECD EPL Index. Measuring employment protection legislation in Poland’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 129-149.
Nearly 20 years into the process, the membership negotiations between the Russian Federation (RF) and the OECD were postponed in March 2014. Whereas, unofficially, the annexation of Crimea and the Ukrainian crisis are to be highlighted as the imminent culprits, the analysis of the negotiation process suggests that it was a matter of time for the OECD to suspend the talks. The objective of this paper is to examine that negotiation process as seen from the broader perspective of the attempted socio-economic reforms in the RF. It is argued that the OECD and the membership negotiation process proved very effective in introducing far reaching and comprehensive changes leading to the modernization in specific domains of the regulatory framework in the RF. To a large extent, nevertheless, these changes were not accompanied by corresponding adjustments with regard to the norms, values and principles that define the functioning of the RF. Overall, a case can be made of de jure modernization in RF rather than de facto.
Lachowicz, M. (2016) ‘Russia and the prospect of OECD membership: between de jure and de facto modernization’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 151-172.
The Visegrad countries, i.e. the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, have been historically linked to each other and have followed comparable development paths. Apart from their recent cooperation in the Visegrad Group (V4), they went through the EU accession process in parallel (1993-2004), and joined the OECD within a few years’ time (1995-2000). These processes have all impacted these countries in their transition from socialism to democracy and market economy. Nevertheless, the outcomes of this process vary country by country. The OECD, an international organization targeting economic development in the first place, plays a key role in the development of education in its member states. In fact, over the past few decades since the V4 countries joined the organization, the OECD has revisited the role of education attributing it the role of one of the key pillars of competitive economic development. Accordingly, the OECD has promoted education development through its guidelines and measurement schemes. In this paper, the V4’s education policies and performance are assessed in light of their OECD membership. Quantitative and qualitative comparative analyses are carried out. As education is a long-term investment yielding results years after the investment is undertaken, we also seek to establish intertemporal correlations between the V4’s investments in education and their economic performance today and in the future.
Pelle, A. and Kuruczleki, E. (2016) ‘Education policies and performance of the Visegrad countries in light of their OECD membership: a comparative study’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 173-207.
The objective of this paper is to examine the state of higher education in Poland compared to selected OECD countries with special focus on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Education is a multifaceted process. For the sake of the discussion here, emphasis will be given to higher education because of its particular significance for the development of knowledge-based economy (KBE). In this view, particular attention in the analysis will be paid to the structure of education spending, cooperation of higher education institutions with the business sector, trends in higher education and its level of internationalization.
Pleśniarska, A. (2016) ‘The potential of education: Poland compared to selected OECD countries’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 209-225.
Visvizi, A. (2016) ‘Panel discussion report: 20 years of Poland’s OECD membership in context of the developments in Eastern Europe’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Vis-vizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 229-233.
Sobol, A. (2016) ‘Expert seminar report: Taking stock of the 20th anniversary of Poland’s membership in the OECD. Presentation of the OECD Economic Survey of Poland 2016’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 235-238.
Visvizi, A. (2016) ‘Book review: Models of Capitalism in the European Union – Post-crisis Perspectives by Beáta Farkas’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe (Special Issue: Visvizi, A. (ed.) Re-thinking the OECD’s role in global governance: members, policies, influence), 14(4): 241-247.
