Public discussion and the media have put the global debt crisis right at the centre of attention. The discussion, however, is unduly focussed on public indebtedness as the dominating cause. As a consequence, the appropriate remedy is seen in restricting public expenditure. Yet this ignores...

WIFO in general and Karl Aiginger in particular were among the first to point out that in highly developed industrial countries prices and costs are just one of many (and usually not even the most important) elements of competitiveness; in this case applying business management insights to...

Over the years, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research has been called upon to respond to a constantly changing brief. After 1980, the economic policy system had to be adapted to a newly opened macroeconomy and the liberalisation of international capital markets. The rising complexity of...

Flexicurity, an "integrated strategy to simultaneously strengthen flexibility and security in the labour market", is perceived both by the European Union and in economic policy discussion as a tool to overcome current weaknesses in the labour market. In actual practice, flexicurity was typically...

European banks have accumulated important risks through excessive rescheduling of debt maturities, purchase of US derivatives and loans extended to companies and households of the European periphery. Aggressive lending in the – already before structurally weak – periphery countries fuelled...