BROADBAND AND THE ECONOMY SummaryThis report examines the way in which broadband networks interact with the economy, the role they play in creating the conditions for sustainable economic growth and prosperity, and the structural changes they enable. Emphasis is put on the economic impacts, in particular on growth, globalisation and employment.Broadband networks are an increasingly integral part of the economy. As the technology evolves and bandwidth increases, the scope for broadband to act as an enabler of structural change in the economy expands as it affects an increasing number of sectors and activities. Direct effects result from investments in the technology and from rolling out the infrastructure. Indirect effects come from broadband's impact on factors driving growth, such as innovation, firm efficiency, competition and globalisation. Broadband facilitates the development of new inventions, new and improved goods and services, new processes, new business models, and it increases competitiveness and flexibility in the economy. More generally, broadband enables improved performance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) a general purpose technology (GPT) that is one of only a few technological improvements that fundamentally change how and where economic activity is organised. As such, significant impacts on the economy can be expected for example by enabling organisational change and enhancing co-ordination to reap productivity gains from overall investments in ICTs, although it may be difficult to clearly disentangle the economic impact of broadband from that of ICTs more generally. Furthermore, relative to other historical GPTs, such as railways and electricity, the impacts may be larger and materialise more rapidly.Broadband has become an important part of almost every aspect of the knowledge economy and is especially so in activities that rely on the provision of data and information, particularly in service sectors. Many aspects of producing, delivering, consuming, co-ordination and organisation are now taking place over broadband communications networks. Broadband generates increased efficiency, productivity and welfare gains, and potentially contributes to job creation and occupational change. But it also gives rise to security and privacy concerns, and protecting users' security is increasingly important as the broadbandenabled Internet becomes part of the economic infrastructure.Broadband is also increasingly important as an enabling technology for structural changes in the economy, most notably via its impact on productivity growth, but also by raising product market competition in many sectors, especially in services. ICTs and broadband are facilitating the globalisation of many services, with broadband making it feasible for producers and consumers of services to be in different geographical locations. ICT-enabled globalisation of services is having a fundamental impact on the way economies work and on the global allocation of resources, contributing to productivity growth by ex...