The social function of the Internet has changed dramatically in recent years. What was, until recently, a supplement to other channels of information and communication has become increasingly a basic requirement of social and economic inclusion. Educational systems, employers, and government agencies at all levels have shifted services online—and are pushing rapidly to do more.

This report uses recent economic modelling to relate cognitive skills - as measured by PISA and other international instruments - to economic growth, demonstrating that relatively small improvements to labour force skills can largely impact the future well-being of a nation.

This report provides an overview of how broadband physical coverage and availability can be measured and compared across countries. It first summarises what data are available from official and non-official sources. The approach taken by the report is to consider coverage and availability related to different types of technologies. These include Digital Subscriber Line, cable...

Housing markets have played a prominent role in macroeconomic developments over recent years. For a great part of the 2000s, buoyant housing markets have contributed to sustained economic activity in most OECD countries. But many markets overheated and the collapse of the US subprime mortgage market has been at the epicentre of a deep financial...

The latest formal statement of US defence policy, the QDR, plays down sweeping ambition in order to remain focused on the tasks immediately at hand—Iraq and above all, Afghanistan. And it sees a future of ‘hybrid’ warfare, likely to involve a diversity of actors and to blur the traditional distinction between inter-state conflict and protracted...