Structural Policy Priorities 2009:

Until the present downturn, there had been an improvement in the pace of convergence in GDP per capita of OECD countries relative to the best performing countries. Nevertheless, underlying performance weaknesses remain in many countries. This chapter provides an overview of broad long-term trends in economic performance and an updated set of policy priorities that have been identified in each country to address specific performance weaknesses. Many of the policy priorities that were deemed important two years ago still remain important in 2009. In particular, an emphasis on productivity-enhancing reforms remains, especially for the lower income OECD countries, with an increased emphasis on measures that enhance human capital. Although labour utilisation improved until recently in many countries, reforms of tax and benefit systems are identified as priorities in a large number of them