Computer and video games is a young industry with rapid growth underpinned by technological development. The global market in 2003 was over USD 21 billion compared with USD 32 billion for the recorded music industry. The main segments are off-line consoles and PCs; online and wireless games are...

Since the 1960s the family in the OECD area has undergone significant transformation. In many countries, the extended family has all but disappeared, and the traditional two-parent family has become much less widespread as divorce rates, re-marriages, cohabitation, single parenthood and same-sex...

Virtual worlds are increasingly evolving into Internet-mediated “spaces”, where large groups of people meet and interact in real-time while experiencing a shared sensation of being there together. This enables richer and more dynamic social interaction and collaboration across national and...

Drawing on an expanding array of intelligent web services and applications, a growing number of people are creating, distributing and exploiting user-created content (UCC) and being part of the wider participative web. This study describes the rapid growth of UCC and its increasing role in...

In the ongoing public debate on globalisation, concerns have been expressed about the economic, social and environmental impacts of deepening international trade and investment ties and about the activities of the multinational enterprises. These concerns focus on a variety of issues including...

Recent years have witnessed growing concern over the controversial issue of trade and labour standards. In a context of intensified international competition, alleged cases of child labour exploitation or of denial of rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining in some developing...

The expanding geographical sweep of supply chains reflects important advances in the area of logistics management. Some of these advances are linked to progress in computing, telecommunications and robotics technologies as well as to the accumulation of management expertise. Managers have...

OECD Committee on Consumer Policy Forum Session on Online Advertising and Marketing Directed toward Children, intended to provide information on how OECD Member countries are dealing with issues related to children and the Internet.

Digital content and digital delivery of content and information are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, driven by the expanding technological capabilities and performance of delivery platforms, the rapid uptake of broadband technologies and improved performance of hardware and software. Network...