The aim of this paper is to assess whether the use of ICT has an impact on student performances as measured in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006. After controlling for observable students’ characteristics and self-selection, we did find a positive and significant effect of the frequency of computer use on science scores. In most countries, however, this effect seems larger when computer is used at home rather than at school. This finding questions the effectiveness of educational policies aimed at promoting computer use at school as a tool for learning.

O ver the coming decades, the size and age-profile of the population in O E CD countries will undergo substantial changes because of lower fertility rates and longer life expectancy. The proportion of elderly people is forecast to increase dramatically in all industrialized countries, and the size of the population to decrease in many of them.The growing proportion of elderly people raises concerns about the financial sustainability of pension and health-care systems and a possible reduction in economic growth. To counterbalance these effects, some international instit utions and national governments have advocated an increase in the length of working life through a postponement of the retirement age. While this policy would reduce the financial pressure on welfare systems, its effects on the labour market are less clear-cut.In many industrialized countries, particularly in E urope, the current level of unemployment is quite high already, so there is concern that an increase in the labour supply of elderly workers could result in even higher unemployment for young workers. Furthermore, increasing the labour force participation of elderly people would not necessarily translate into higher overall employment levels if demand does not adjust to the increase.The aims of this article are, in the first part, to analyse the labour market effects of ageing and, in the second, to discuss the main policy measures needed to cope with this trend. The opening part consists of five sections, the first of which examines projected population and labour force dynamics in the major O E CD countries over the next few decades. The second section discusses the short-run impact of a reduction in the labour force on the unemployment rate, while the third and fourth extend the analysis to the long run by looking at the effects of * ILO , Geneva .

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This study uses an econometric approach to estimate the contribution of three types of ICT investments (computer, software and communication) in 26 industries (the whole business sector) in 18 OECD countries over 199518 OECD countries over -2007, based on the EU KLEMS Database. The estimated contribution of ICT investments to value added growth in the business sector varies from 1.0% a year in Australia to 0.4% a year in Japan. In one-third of the countries considered, the contribution of ICT investment was bigger or equal to the contribution of non-ICT investments. In most countries, computing equipment provided the largest contribution and accounted for over 50% of the overall ICT contribution. The only exceptions are Finland, where investments in communication equipment exceeded those in computing equipment, and Japan, where software was the most dynamic component of ICT investments. ICT producing industries account for no less than two-thirds of total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Germany, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, about 60% in the United States and just below 50% in France and the Netherlands. In Denmark, the Czech Republic and Italy, TFP increased in the ICT producing industries whereas it decreased for the total business sector. JEL classification: O47, E23, E22.

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