The paper characterises a number of welfare state models in the tradition of Esping-Andersen, analysing the economic and social performance of these different welfare regimes on an encompassing empirical basis both in the long run and with respect to their adaptability to the challenges of the...

Sick workers in many countries receive sick pay during their illness-related absences from the workplace. In several countries, the social security system insures firms against their workers' sickness absences. However, this insurance may create moral hazard problems for firms, leading to the...

Socio-economic transformations associated with the shift to post-industrial societies have not only created new opportunities and prosperity, but have also given rise to the emergence of new social risks occurring at different stages of life. This paper examines the situation of children, who...

In 2007, a working hour cost Austrian manufacturers 29.90 €, 7.8 percent more than the average of the other EU-15 countries. This amount consists of a wage share of 15.88 € plus 14.02 € in non-wage labour costs. At 88.3 percent, the incidental costs were slightly lower than in the previous...

A just income distribution is an important goal of economic policy. Thus the question to what extent this goal has been achieved in comparison to other countries is an important subject of economic research, but, as in many other countries, the statistical basis for an analysis of the personal...

In 2006, an hour of work in the Austrian manufacturing sector cost 29.15 €, or 8.8 percent more than the average in the other EU-15 countries ("EU 14"). This amount was made up of 15.45 € in pay and 13.70 € in incidental wage costs. The latter thus contributed 88.7 percent to the total, or...

Austria's GDP grew by just 0.3 percent in 2014, making for a sluggish economy for the third year in a row. Causes for the sluggishness were not just continued investment reticence on the part of businesses and muted expenditure on the part of private households but also the lack of any strong...