Rudiger Ahrend - (OECD)

Rudiger Ahrend is Head of the Economic Analysis, Data and Statistics Division in the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. In addition, he also oversees the activities of the OECD Laboratory for Geospatial Analysis. In these capacities, and in his previous role as Head of the Urban Programme, he has been supervising numerous projects in a wide area of subjects, including on industrial transition, regional and urban innovation and development, subnational finance, spatial productivity, metropolitan governance, land use, land value capture, housing, green growth, climate change, transport, metropolitan governance, and national urban policies. He has also supervised numerous reviews and case studies of regions and major metropolitan agglomerations, and is the main author of “The Metropolitan Century: Understanding Urbanisation and its Consequences”. During his time as Head of the Urban Programme, Dr Ahrend was also in charge of the OECD Working Party on Urban Policies, as well as the OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers.

Putting industrial policy in its place

07 April 2026 Dorothée Allain-Dupré - (OECD), Rudiger Ahrend - (OECD) and Andrew Paterson - (OECD)

Reading Time: 4 minutesAfter years in economic exile, industrial policies are back in a big way. Industrial policy interventions increased 20-fold in the past decade, as governments seek to rebuild competitiveness, support emerging technologies and shore up supply chains. This is true in OECD countries, but also in developing countries which use it more intensively.

Many of these are adopting a place-based approach: between 2019-22, regional industrial policy support rose by over 50% as a share of GDP in 11 OECD countries. But why?

Land-Use Policies: Local Solutions for Global Challenges

06 March 2024 Rudiger Ahrend - (OECD), Andrés Fuentes Hutfilter - (OECD), Jaebeum Cho - (OECD) and Matteo Schleicher - (OECD)

Reading Time: 4 minutesWhat role can land use policies play in addressing global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and demographic shifts?

Business Statistics as Usual Will No Longer Suffice

01 March 2024 Rudiger Ahrend - (OECD), Sandrine Kergroach - (OECD) and Annabelle Mourougane - (OECD)

Reading Time: 6 minutesOECD experts Rudiger Ahrend, Sandrine Kergroach, and Annabelle Mourougane look at how business statistics play a critical role in driving economic growth, fostering innovation, and addressing climate challenges.

Land-value capture: Money doesn’t grow on trees, it grows below them

07 October 2022 Rudiger Ahrend - (OECD) and Matteo Schleicher - (OECD)

Reading Time: 3 minutesA smart policy instrument called “land-value capture” can help governments pay for expensive infrastructure and other public services without drawing from their general budget. Let’s look at how they do it.

Has COVID-19 Triggered an Urban Exodus?

12 May 2022 Rudiger Ahrend - (OECD), Boris Cournède - (OECD), Paolo Veneri - (OECD) and Volker Ziemann - (OECD)

Reading Time: < 1 minuteRemote working could help rejuvenate rural areas that have been struggling with both population decline and subdued economic growth. Improving internet access and service provision will be beneficial and help close the gap between them and leading regions…

Where SimCity Gets Zoning Right, and Where Not

28 July 2021 Rudiger Ahrend - (OECD) and Jaebeum Cho - (OECD)

Reading Time: 4 minutesMany readers will be familiar with the game SimCity. You play an omnipotent mayor, laying roads, planning infrastructure, and zoning land to grow your city and attract “Sims”, the inhabitants of your marvel creation. With good planning, your city prospers, Sims are happy, and you earn “Simoleons” (SimCity’s currency) to develop your city further. That is, of course, barring the occasional zombie apocalypse.