Austria 2025: An Agenda for higher Dynamics, Social Balance and Environmental Sustainability
Today, the economy in Austria is faced with new challenges: after the impressive feat of rising into the league of highest-income countries, it has managed only sagging growth for the past half-decade, and unemployment is on the rise. The combination of low growth and higher inflation (relative to other countries) can be interpreted as result of competition in the private sector or inefficiency in the public sector. Returning to the top requires a new strategy. Given this diagnosis, WIFO, in its current research programme entitled "Austria 2025", is developing detailed analyses into a reform agenda that covers five political fields: 1. strengthen innovation and focus on increasing energy and resource productivity, 2. boost economic dynamism by investing in new infrastructure, cut down on income gaps and make inroads on the jungle of regulations, 3. fight unemployment by implementing skilling strategies, make working hours systematically more flexible and cut taxes on labour, 4. sever the link between energy and materials consumption and economic growth, and 5. make use of the public sector as a reform engine by restructuring taxes (while reducing the tax burden in general).