The economic policy of the European Union influences the almost 23 million small and medium-sized companies in the 28 Member States in a variety of ways. Yet, there exists no coherent EU policy on small and medium-sized enterprises. With the Small Business Act of 2008, small and medium-sized...

In the context of increasing globalization, global competition and rapid change the EU sees innovation and its commercialization as an effective way to build long-term global competitive advantage. Innovation policy is a link between research and technological development policy and industrial...

Structural change is both a challenge and an opportunity for countries and companies. However, there is no silver bullet in terms of superior economic models. Instead, different economic models can deal with structural change in a successful way. Both economies with a focus on services and those...

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of contributors -- List of figures and tables -- 1 Job quality in an era of flexibility: introduction -- 2 Job quality in Europe -- 3 Deregulation, job security and employability during the Great Recession: a...

The European Union has prioritised the pursuit of innovation-based growth and targeting of resources to promote research and development, but performance on innovation remains weak. With the lack of results comes fatigue, waning interest and mounting criticism about policy. Should the EU abandon...

This paper investigates how the intergovernmental reform process of European economic governance affected national parliaments' oversight of that policy area. Which parliaments became disempowered and which managed to secure their formal powers – and why? The dependent variable of the study is...

Following the European Commission's guidelines, WIFO has undertaken a monitoring of the implementation of the Austrian National Reform Programme within the framework of the European 2020 growth strategy. The main components are the development of normative target corridors to assess progress in...

Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen in den südeuropäischen EU-Ländern haben oft nur begrenzten Zugang zu Krediten. Der Präsident des Europäischen Parlaments, Martin Schulz, möchte diese Unternehmen fördern, um die Arbeitslosigkeit zu verringern. Auch der neue Präsident der EUKommission,...

Die Eurokrise hat ihren Ursprung nicht nur in einer Staatsschuldenkrise. Sie wurde ebenfalls durch eine Zahlungsbilanzkrise verursacht. Ein breit gefächerter Ansatz in der Wirtschaftspolitik ist daher erforderlich, um die Eurozone auf einen nachhaltig stabilen und dynamischen Wachstumspfad...

The EU Services Directive was adopted in 2006 to foster competition in services across Europe. However, progress in liberalizing services has fallen short of expectations due to the article 15 of the Directive, which allows countries to maintain pre-existing restrictions if judged necessary to...

Following the European Commission's guidelines, WIFO has undertaken a monitoring of the implementation of the Austrian National Reform Programme within the framework of the European 2020 growth strategy. The main components are an analysis of Austria's progress towards reaching its five EU 2020...

The European Commission is trying to increase the EU's competitiveness by building on its assets, particularly its many ICT industrial clusters. The Commission is seeking to strengthen the role of European ICT poles of excellence (EIPEs). But where are EIPEs and what are their characteristics?...