Making Reform Happen. Lessons from OECD Countries

This volume should prove a valuable resource for policy makers engaged in reform work today and tomorrow.

This collection of essays analyses the reform experiences of the 30 OECD countries in nine major policy domains in order to identify lessons, pitfalls and strategies that may help foster policy reform in the future.



The importance of such reform lessons is all the greater in the wake of the global financial and economic crisis. As OECD governments confront the challenge of trying to restore public finances to health without undermining the recovery, they will need to pursue a careful mix of fiscal policies and growth-enhancing structural reforms. Designing, adopting and implementing such a policy mix will require the crafting of effective reforms and effective strategies for implementing them.
Table of Contents

Executive summary
Chapter 1. Reform beyond the crisis
Chapter 2. Opening markets to competition
Chapter 3. Advancing pension and labour-market reforms
Chapter 4. Making fundamental tax reform happen
Chapter 5. Making reform happen in environmental policy
Chapter 6. Making reform happen in education
Chapter 7. Effective ways to realise policy reforms in health systems
Chapter 8. Modernising government
Chapter 9. Enabling regulatory reform
Chapter 10. Achieving and sustaining fiscal consolidation