According to the concept of the productivity-oriented wage policy, increases in wages should be guided by the development in labour productivity. This would leave unit labour costs unchanged. This applies, however, only to economies which are in equilibrium; it is not valid for disequilibrium...

The construction industry is generally thought of as a sector which is sheltered from foreign competition. In a comparison with the manufacturing sector, a typical open sector, wages in the construction industry nonetheless turn out to be highly flexible. During the last 15 years increases in...

Two consumer price indices are computed in Austria: the national Consumer Price Index and the Harmonised Consumer Price Index, which is comparable to those of other EU countries. Both indices differ with regard to the weighting scheme, the product coverage as well as to the formula employed at...

Austria's accession to the EU has intensified competitive pressure at all levels of production and distribution. Where price reductions are based on cost reductions considerable lags must be expected. One important exception are foods prices. At the beginning of 1995 Austria adopted the EU's...

Since the 19960s, several countries have adopted income policies in various forms to control inflation that had been interpreted as the result of a distributional struggle between business and labour unions. Recent writings on the NAIRU, however, ignore past policy interventions in the wage and...

Wage differentials in Austria's manufacturing sector exhibit wide fluctuations. The main determinants are the state of the labour market and the number of foreign workers in Austria. A decrease in unemployment reduces wage differentials, an increase in the number of foreign workers widens the...

The opening of the East and the proposed integration of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe into the EU has focused attention on the economic and social effects of immigration to Europe. This literature review draws on U.S. and German studies to outline the impact of immigration on...

Several contributions to the economic literature on industrial relations claim that wage bargaining in Austria is characterised by pattern bargaining or wage leadership. This claim has, however, never been investigated empirically. This paper fills this gap by examining the development of...