Conventional R&D-based growth theory suggests that productivity growth is positively correlated with population size or population growth, an implication which is hard to see in the data. Here we integrate R&D-based growth into a unified growth setup with micro-founded fertility and schooling...

We revisit the influential economic growth model by Lucas (1988) ["On the mechanics of economic development." Journal of Monetary Economics, 22(1):3-42], assuming that households optimally allocate consumption and education over the life-cycle given an exogenous interest rate and exogenous...

We analyze the effects of automation on the wages of high-skilled and low-skilled workers and thereby on the evolution of wage inequality. Our model explains the simultaneous presence of i) increasing per capita income, ii) declining real wages of low-skilled workers, and iii) an increasing...

The current demographic developments and their consequences for workforce ageing challenge the sustainability of intergenerational transfers and economic growth. A shrinking share of the young workforce will have to support a growing share of elderly, non-working people. Therefore, the...

There is a strong interdependency between public transfers and the shape of the economic life-cycle. Austria and Sweden are very similar economies in terms of production, income and the size of the public sector. There are however remarkable differences in the design of public transfers, their...

Matched employer-employee (panel) data sets are gaining increasing importance in the analysis of labour markets. In collaboration with Statistics Austria we recently initiated the set up of a matched employer-employee panel data set for Austria, which covers the years 2002-2005. The aim of the...

We examine within a life-cycle set-up the simultaneous choice of health care and retirement (together with consumption), when health care contributes to both a reduction in mortality and in morbidity. Health tends to impact on retirement via morbidity, determining the disutility of work, and...

This paper investigates the role of recent pension reforms for the development of the social security system and economic growth in Austria. We use a computable general equilibrium model that is built up of overlapping generations that differ by their household structure, longevity, educational...

In this paper we analyse the link between the age structure of the labour force and average labour productivity at the intermediate level of economic sectors. The analysis is based on a panel data set ranging over six years (2002-2007) and covers the sectors of mining, manufacturing and market...

Current demographic developments are expected to challenge the sustainability of welfare in industrialised economies. Persistent low fertility levels and increasing survival rates to older age imply a decreasing share of younger individuals within the labour force that needs to support an...