FIW Policy Brief No. 39: The Contribution of Material Goods Exports to Economic Performance: An Input-Output Analysis

For Austria as a small, open economy, exports are a decisive component of overall economic demand. However, the increasing international division of labour not only leads to an increase in the volume of exports, but also to a fragmentation of production, which is associated with the increasing use of imported inputs in production and thus potentially reduces the value-added contribution (as well as the employment intensity) of the export economy. This short study examines the development of value-added intensity and the employment effects of Austrian exports over time. For foreign exports at the level of the Austrian Länder, the service content of the Austrian goods trade is also measured and the thesis of "piggyback exports" is examined in more detail.