Post-war European integration is a succession of regime changes: customs union in the 1960s, Single Market and EMU in the
1990s and EU enlargement in the 2000s. Since 1995 Austria as an EU member takes part in the deepening of EU integration (Single
Market, EMU and Monetary Union) and participates in the enlargement process of the EU. Around the years 2014-15 Austria celebrates
several anniversaries: 25 years of the fall of the Iron Curtain and hence expansion of new market opportunities through the
opening-up of Eastern Europe, 20 years of EU and 15 years of EMU, 10 years since the start of the EU enlargement towards Eastern
Europe. With the Croatian accession in 2013, the EU now counts 28 member countries. In order to capture the effects of the
last 25 years of Austria's integration into Europe, an integration model for Austria is estimated. It is able to reproduce
the main integration effects theoretically expected from the regime changes since 1989. In this respect, the Austrian integration
model could also serve as a prototype for other EU countries. Overall, the participation in all integration steps since 1989
has added about 1 percent to Austria's real GDP per year.
Keywords:European Integration, Model simulations, country studies
Forschungsbereich:Makroökonomie und öffentliche Finanzen