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...

WIFO has been conducting its Business Cycle Survey since 1954. Today, some 1,600 businesses, with altogether more than 200,000 employees, are participating in the survey. The findings of the survey are analysed to obtain leading indicators of the state of the Austrian economy. The analysis shows...

In 2013, the cash-flow-to-sales ratio of the Austrian manufacturing sector reached an estimated 9.0 percent, a value significantly below the long-run average of 9.6 percent. The persistently muted performance of the manufacturing sector has affected the cash-flow-to-sales ratio, which declined...

Globalisation has been associated with increased international mobility of capital but less so of labour partly because of legal restrictions. In theory, labour mobility and trade are generally substitutes in respect of tradeable goods and services. There are, however, also instances of...

There are marked differences in health conditions of the Austrian population by socioeconomic status, gender, age, education, occupation and income as well as by nationality. The low educational attainment of migrants, their concentration in particular occupations and industries and their...

There are considerable differences in the incidence of sickness, the pattern of diseases and the duration of episodes of sickness by age, gender, education and employment status. Employed have a significantly better health record than the unemployed. The question why this should be so is...