OECD Regional Development Working Papers

Besides giving insight into the context of a territorial approach to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), these papers offer concrete examples of integrated approaches to international agendas in the form of country-specific reports.

© OECD

Regional development describes the general effort to enhance well-being and living standards in all region types, from cities to rural areas, and improve their contribution to national performance and more inclusive, resilient societies. The OECD works in the specific field of regional policy, multi-level governance and policies tailored to rural and urban areas. OECD’s Regional Development Policy Division has developed a comprehensive collection of working papers covering issues such as urban and rural governance as well as economics, including regional statistics and analysis, and multi-level governance.

One of the more recent Regional Development Papers presents the comprehensive approach to understanding urban productivity effects of local governments. By investigating the link between subnational governance arrangements and urban labour productivity, the study explicates the direct and indirect effects of decentralisation, government quality and fragmentation. All of their findings are empirically grounded and demonstrate the need for a comprehensive approach for a sustainable regional economic development. 

Published on a monthly basis, the papers cover the divers regions and cities of the world, case studies from across the globe and the implementation of international agendas. 

Find the reports here.