The programmes for financial market stabilisation and economic stimulus, which were implemented to cushion the effects of the financial and economic crisis, as well as additional government expenditures in the wake of the crisis, have entailed substantial costs for government budgets....

The budget plan drawn up in the Austrian Stability Programme 2009-2013 projects government net borrowing above the Maastricht limit of 3 percent of GDP for at least five years. The debt ratio will rise from just below 60 percent of GDP in 2008 to almost 80 percent of GDP in 2013. Fiscal...

One of the focal points of the discussion on the reform of Austrian public finances and the system of fiscal equalisation is the question of how to reform the municipal tax system. The accordance of spending and financial responsibilities (principle of connectivity) at the local level increases...

Led by a dynamic export growth real GDP in Austria grew by 2 percent in 2010. Between 2011 until 2015 the Austrian economy is expected to grow by 2.2 percent. The annual growth rate of trend output will average at 1.7 percent in the forecast period, ¼ percentage point below the average of the...

WIFO is coordinating the integrative research project "Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe – WWWforEurope", which is financed by the European Commission from its 7th EU Framework Programme and which combines 33 partner institutes from 12 EU member countries.

Apparently the consolidation programmes that individual EU countries have presented so far broadly tend to take "the easy road". The latter includes short-term cuts in public sector pay, which are easy to push through, but do not lead to a lasting improvement of public finances, as well as an...

Following difficult negotiations, the European institutions eventually, in May 2006, arrived at a consensus on a new Financial Framework for the European Union's budget over the years 2007 to 2013. In an additional declaration, the European Commission was invited to undertake a full review...

As of the beginning of the year 2008, a reformed system of federal fiscal relations will start in Austria with a planned duration of six years. The new system is essentially a continuation of the previous system. However, the agreements also include the establishment of a commission of experts...

The standard exercise of conjecturing the savings potentials in public administration draws on a general notion that Austria's bureaucracy is "too big" and/or "too expensive". Against the background of a perennial discussion of administrative reform we compare the cost of public administration...