The "Stability and Growth Pact" may have far-reaching consequences for economic policy-making in the member countries of the Economic and Monetary Union. This editorial comments on the arguments behind this pact as well as on its possible implications. The sanctions against excessive deficits,...

With the launching of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on 1 January 1999, the prerequisites should be in place to make European economies more competitive in the long run. Skeptical economists have forwarded numerous reasons why EMU will not work, usually based on the "optimal currency area"...

The eastern enlargement of the European Union provides Austria with the opportunity to expand to the fullest its political and economic relations with neighbouring countries. For Austria's economy, the enlargement would open new avenues of economic development, but it would impose also greater...

Over the last sixty-eight years, WIFO has published the main results of its empirical work in the "Monatsberichte" in German language. In recent years, we noted an increasing interest from abroad on Austrian economic issues. At the same time, our own focus shifted or, more accurately, widened...

The next round of enlargement of the European Union will include a number of countries neighbouring Austria. Such a move may take effect in few years' time, when the current accession negotiations have been completed and their results ratified by the national parliaments. Accession to the EU by...