Cross-border purchases are a normal feature of market economies. The magnitude of these purchases depends on economic factors (such as price differentials), administrative factors (such as import quotas), and on a variety of other factors (such as geographic constellations). Within the EU the...

Over the past few years, expenditure on private consumption rose more rapidly than incomes because private households continued to spend in spite of the reticent development of incomes. As a consequence, the propensity to save declined and remained at a steady low level in the first half of...

Factors influencing expenditure by private households on energy are, chiefly, population density, home type (house or flat) and use. Households in relatively thinly settled regions spend 55 percent more on energy for their homes than do households in urban areas. Energy spending on transport...

Cross-border purchases are an essential feature of market economies, the magnitude of which depends on economic (e.g., price differentials), administrative (such as import quotas) and a variety of other factors (such as geographical constellations). Within the EU the largest cross-border flows...

Although economic activity is expanding in the EU countries, private consumption remains subdued as a result of restrictive fiscal policies. In Austria, too, income growth was dampened by measures to consolidate the public sector deficit. The first measures were implemented in the middle of 1996;...