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Across the world, pension systems and their reforms are in a constant state of flux driven by shifting objectives, moving reform needs, and a changing enabling environment. The ongoing worldwide financial crisis and the adjustment to an uncertain “new normal” will make future pension systems different from past ones. This policy review paper briefly reviews recent and ongoing key changes that are triggering reforms; outlines the main reform trends across pension pillars; and identifies a few areas on which the pension reform community will need to focus to make a difference. The latter includes: creating solutions after the marginalisation or, perhaps, demise of Bismarckian systems in countries with high rates of informality; keeping the elderly in the labour market; and addressing the uncertainty of longevity increases in pension schemes.

This paper examines the issues in the context of lessons drawn from four ICT based government to citizen (G2C) and citizen to government (C2G) projects in India. The projects examined are Bhoomi, a G2C project aimed at computerized access to land records in Karnataka; Gyandoot, a G2C and C2G project aimed at delivering a host of government services to the people in Madhya Pradesh; eSeva, a G2C and C2G project for delivering government services in Andhra Pradesh; and the e-government component of the Sustainable Access in Rural India (SARI) project, a G2C and C2G project in Tamil Nadu aimed at delivering government services to the public.

This paper tests some of these bold claims by focusing on the issue of inequality – of convergence and divergence – between nations; specifically between industrialised OECD countries and developing countries (DCs). In Section A, it argues that ICTs are diffusing – and will continue to diffuse – more slowly in developing than industrialised economies. In Section B, it argues that there is an inequality of ICT-related impacts. Developing countries are more likely to bear the costs of ICTs; industrialised countries are more likely to reap the benefits of ICTs. Section C therefore concludes that this is an economically-divergent technology and that investment priorities must be geared to address this divergence.

Deforestation is one of the main sources of greenhouse gases; accounting for at least two thirds of Brazil’s emissions. This study provides a case study of the PRODES and DETER satellite-based monitoring systems used for policy making and law enforcement in the Brazilian amazon. It draws attentions to the role of continuous political support, negotiation and transparency in the successful development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the monitoring of climate change.

This study focuses on the Sustainable Access in Rural India (SARI) project in Tamil Nadu, India. This project aims at rural social, economic, and political development by providing comprehensive information and communications services through computer and Internet kiosks in rural communities. Started in November 2001, the project at its peak established over 80 such kiosks in rural communities in Melur Taluk (an administrative unit within the district) of Madurai district in Tamil Nadu.

The Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) framework has emerged as a result of the Copenhagen and Cancún Agreements and is used to encourage developing countries to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Theses NAMAs can be part of more comprehensive domestic low-carbon development strategies. However, new projects and policies, eligible to be considered as NAMAs, will only be put in place if adequate financing is provided by developed countries. This Climate Report analyses the difficulties that can arise both during the financing process and the implementation of climate change mitigation measures.

This study examines the extent and characteristics of ICT usage among 384 junior high and high school students in Israel. Its focus is on (a) the purpose and patterns of ICT usage, with focus on the Internet, by 12-18-year-old youngsters; (b) gender and age differences in ICT use; (c) the linkage between ICT usage and school activities; and (d) the students’ perception of their own ICT level of knowledge. The findings show that ICT is being used by 90% of the research population, and the Internet by about 50% of the students.

This paper investigates the impact of ICT- and non-ICT capital, and of labour at different skill levels, on productivity and employment in the financial intermediation sector of twelve EU member countries plus the US and Japan. A stochastic possibility frontiers (SPF) approach is applied to assess the relation between the production inputs and to compute both time-varying and average inefficiencies. For the empirical analysis, annual data from 1995 to 2005 are employed that were obtained from recently released data contained in the EU KLEMS database. The results obtained shed some light on the relative impact of ICT- and non-ICT capital and labour inputs, and provide new insights about the structural dynamics between these factor inputs.