Die Einführung des Euro betrifft am WIFO vorwiegend die Darstellung volkswirtschaftlicher Daten in den Print- und elektronischen
Publikationen, der vierteljährlichen Wirtschaftsprognose, den WIFO-Wirtschaftsdaten auf der WIFO-Website und der Volkswirtschaftlichen
Datenbank. Die Umrechnung aller volkswirtschaftlichen in Geldeinheiten gemessenen Daten erfolgt einheitlich mit dem fixierten
Umrechnungsfaktor von 13,7603 S je Euro und soll bis spätestens 15. Jänner 2002 umgesetzt sein. Vor 1999 entspricht dieser
Kurs nicht dem Außenwert des Schillings; diese künstliche Währungseinheit wird als "Euro-ATS" bezeichnet. Diese Umrechnungsregel
gewährleistet, dass alle Veränderungsraten und Deflatoren gegenüber den in Schilling ausgewiesenen Werten unverändert bleiben.
Die Niveaus aller Variablen werden durch die Euro-Transformation nur verschoben. Für den Binnenvergleich, d. h. für Vergleiche
innerhalb Österreichs, ergibt sich dadurch kein Anpassungsbedarf. Die Transformation mit dem Umrechnungsfaktor ist allerdings
für einige wirtschaftlich interessante Fragestellungen nicht konsistent.
Keywords:Die Euro-Umstellung am WIFO; Change-over to the Euro at WIFO
Forschungsbereich:Makroökonomie und öffentliche Finanzen
Sprache:Deutsch
For WIFO, unlike private households, businesses and public corporations, the change-over to the euro requires more than a
simple transformation of prices by the conversion factor and double cash management in both Austrian schillings and euros
during the transition period. The essential issue for WIFO is to preserve the economic relevance of the data published. All
economic data previously denominated in ATS will be converted into euros on the basis of the official conversion factor of
13.7603 by 15 January 2002, at the latest. The resulting artificial currency unit applicable to data from before 1 January
1999 will be called euro-ATS. The other Member States of the euro zone will be using the same "euro-national currency" designation
for their artificial currency units (e.g., euro-DEM, euro-ITL). All data from after 1 January 1999 expressed in monetary units
are already euro-based. This procedure is being applied in accordance with the most important providers of economic data in
Austria: the Austrian National Bank and Statistics Austria. The change-over concerns all WIFO media: the quarterly economic
forecast, which will be expressed in euros already as of December, the WIFO economic data published on the website, data in
current publications (above all the WIFO monthly reports and the Austrian Economic Quarterly), the WIFO studies, and the economic
database of Austrian and international economic data administered by WIFO. All data expressed in monetary units and administered
by WIFO (data classes: (K)GEN, FTA3, KON, NMAU, REZB, etc.) will be changed over to the euro. As regards data class (K)GEN,
users will still be able to obtain ATS-denominated data in the newly generated (K)GENS section, but such data will no longer
be maintained in the future, i.e., data revisions will only be considered in the euro time series. Transformation on the basis
of the constant conversion factor offers many advantages for domestic data users. Firstly, data already published in euros
are not affected by the change-over. Secondly, all rates of change of both nominal and real data are identical with the rates
of change of ATS time series. Thirdly, the deflators remain unchanged, and fourthly, there is no limit to back-calculations
in euro-ATS. For international comparisons, however, data expressed in euro-ATS are subject to certain limitations, which
might lead to distorted conclusions. Values expressed in euro-ATS should not, for example, be added to values in euro-ITL,
as the constant conversion factor disregards the exchange-rate fluctuations between Italy and Austria. For nominal data, for
example, the calculation of market shares in foreign trade should be made on the basis current exchange rates. International
comparisons of purchasing power should be performed, if possible, in purchasing power parities. Finally, real data in an international
comparison should be calculated on the basis of the exchange rate of the base year of the price deflator.