The stock of financial assets owned by private households at the end of 1993 was estimated at almost Sch 2,100 billion. For the individual household this amounts to financial assets worth about Sch 660,000 on average, while indebtedness was slightly higher than Sch 260,000. These amounts may...

For many years private ownership in Austria's banking system was the exception rather than the norm, given the great importance of public ownership and the de facto "lack of ownership" in the credit cooperatives and the savings and loans sector. As a consequence, the question of foreign...

The European Monetary System (EMS) was founded 10 years ago. Austrian monetary policy has traditionally pursued goals very similar to those of the EMS. In line with the hard-currency option, the effective exchange rate of the Schilling has gained in nominal as well as in real terms. The value of...

The concept of a final tax (combining the inheritance tax with a tax on capital income) on capital income, which was implemented at the beginning of 1993, has proven successful. No negative macroeconomic effects have been recorded. In the capital markets, Austrian securities seem to have become...