After the slow pace recorded in 2014, growth of the Austrian economy is likely to remain modest also in early 2015. Leading indicators to date give no substantial hint for a revival of business activity. Hence, the conditions for a cyclical recovery during the first half of the year are hardly...

The European Central Bank starts to purchase government bonds of euro-zone countries; the Expanded Asset Purchase Programme (EAPP) is intended to increase liquidity in order to ward off the risks of a prolonged low inflation phase. Greece requires more financial aid. The sanctions imposed by the...

After the double-dip recession starting in 2008, the European construction sector returned to growth in 2014. With an average rate of +1.0 percent across all 19 Euroconstruct member countries, the recovery is not very strong but can be found in almost all countries. Despite the sluggish economic...

Global economic developments have been uneven, but activity has recently been robust notably in large economies such as the USA and the UK. In the euro area, by contrast, momentum has been muted. The Austrian economy stagnated in the second half of 2014. Given the somewhat more positive economic...

A key objective of a reform of the Austrian tax system should be the improvement of the tax structure. This includes a shift in the revenue composition away from certain tax bases towards other bases, implying their higher taxation. The latter should not only compensate revenue losses from...

The tax burden in Austria is comparatively high, and the gap vis-à-vis the EU average has widened. The tax structure exhibits a number of specific features: taxes on labour are high, both from the employee's and the employer's side, following an upward trend and markedly exceeding the...

The WIFO Business Cycle Survey serves as an important early-indication tool for the economic situation in Austria. Using a Markov regime-switching model, it is possible to determine at an early point in time whether the business cycle is in its upward or downward mode. Regime probabilities are...

In recent years Austrian family policy was aimed at improving individual work-life balances and increasing the participation of fathers. This included introducing child care benefit months that cannot be transferred between partners, adding a short-term income-dependent option to the original...

Economic output stagnated in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter, according to WIFO Quarterly National Accounts. Compared with a year before, the decline was 0.2 percent. For 2014 as a whole, economic growth was 0.3 percent. The slight increase in the impetus provided...

Family policies vary considerably, in their focus as much as in the instruments used, in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, the countries chosen for the study. Germany's traditional type of family policy was fundamentally rehauled in recent years in order to boost female...