Structural transformation and export diversification into higher value-added products and away from primary commodities remain major development objectives for low-income countries (LICs). Sectors such as apparel or leather products have traditionally been gateways to export diversification for...

Die wirtschaftliche Replizierbarkeit von Endkundenprodukten marktbeherrschender Unternehmen ist eine der Voraussetzungen für eine flexiblere Entgeltregulierung von Breitbandvorleistungen. Diese wird anhand des Economic Replicability Test (ERT) überprüft. Im Rahmen des ERT prüft die nationale...

Nachdem sich der Wirtschaftspolitische Ausschuss im Jahre 1988 schon einmal mit Problemen der Deregulierung befasst hatte (H. St. Seidenfus, Hrsg., Deregulierung - eine Herausforderung an die Wirtschafts- und Sozialpolitik in der Marktwirtschaft, Schriften des Vereins für Socialpolitik, N. F.,...

There were fears in the European Union that eastern enlargement would lead to major job losses and transfers. More recently, these fears have extended to high-skilled and IT jobs. This paper examines using unique firm-level data if these fears are justified for Austria and Germany. We find that...

We examine the dynamics of bank lending to the private sector for countries of the Euro area by applying a Markov switching error correction model.We identify for Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Portugal stable, mean reverting regimes and unstable regimes with no tendency to return to the long...

The financial integration in Europe concentrates on cross-border mergers rather than cross-border lending and emphasizes the need for harmonizing bank regulation and supervision. We study the impact of cross-border lending in a theoretical model where banks acquire either hard or soft...

The labour productivity impact of innovation is investigated in this paper combining neo-Schumpeterian insights on the variety of innovation, with the importance of industrial structures and firm size; two models are proposed for explaining productivity and export success in European...

The Savings Directive has been celebrated as a major political break-through in coordinating taxation in Europe. Against this background, the present paper evaluates the real-world effects of this directive. The directive has left a loophole by providing grandfathering (exemption from...

During the 90s the increase in health spending which compared to the overall growth had taken place at a rather rapid pace experienced a worldwide slow-down. In relation to overall economic growth and the expansion of other countries' health care systems, Austria's system grew below average- a...

We compare three EU countries that have recently experienced substantial but very different reforms of their family support systems: Austria, Spain and the UK. The structure of these systems is different: Austria emphases universal benefits, Spain tax concessions and the UK means-tested...