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Der "Armutsindex" bildet erstmals die Lebensumstände auf kleinräumiger Ebene in den 2.122 Wohngemeinden in Österreich für den Zeitraum 2010 bis 2017 quantitativ ab, indem er die auf Armut und soziale Ausgrenzung einwirkenden Faktoren wie Einkommen, Erwerbsintensität, Alter und Qualifikation in einer Indexzahl bündelt. Aus diesem Aggregat lassen sich Rückschlüsse auf die Lebensumstände auf Wohngemeindeebene in Österreich ziehen. Nicht nur werden die zwischen städtischen und ländlichen Regionen bzw. dicht und dünn besiedelten Gebieten unterschiedlichen Lebensbedingungen aufgezeigt, zugleich wird auch Einblick in die Heterogenität innerhalb der ländlichen Regionen geboten, wie der Blick auf die peripheren ländlichen Regionen auf der einen Seite und die zentralen ländlichen Räume im Umland von Zentren auf der anderen Seite zeigt.

Trump's trade wars hit a new dimension expanding from mini to global trade wars. They target sectors (e.g., aluminium and steel) for the protection of "national security" (according to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962) and countries (e.g., China) for unfair trade practices (according to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974). Both legal instruments give the US President the power to impose sanctions and protective measures. Since Trump came in office, he has cancelled most multilateral agreements or projects the USA were previously involved (TTIP, TPP, NAFTA, Paris Climate Agreement, JCPoA). Whereas the US trade conflict with China escalated dramatically and could ultimately – beginning with 1 September 2019 as President Trump has threatened – affect all bilateral trade flows, the tensions with the EU are currently limited to aluminium and steel. However, a trade war with respect to cars could follow if no agreement on an US-EU FTA-light is reached, besides the agreement on increasing the share of duty-free imports of hormone-free beef from the USA, signed on 2 August 2019. We analyse the trade wars already underway (aluminium and steel; USA–China) and possible new conflicts (cars) and agreements (FTA-light) with two methods: 1. a static CGE model and 2. a global dynamic economic macro model. The comprehensive US trade war with China results in the biggest impact for the involved countries, followed by a possible car conflict and an FTA-light agreement.

The global economy reached its business cycle peak in 2018 and growth is likely to slow in the coming years. Over the forecast period 2019-2023, the Austrian economy is expected to grow by 1.6 percent p.a. (2014-2018 +1.8 percent p.a.), slightly stronger than the euro area average. The income tax relief for private households granted by the family bonus will support consumer demand in 2019 and especially in 2020. Over the forecast period, private consumption is expected to grow at an annual rate of 1.6 percent (2014-2018 +1.0 percent p.a.). Employment will expand faster than labour supply up to 2020 as a result of the economic conditions and the unemployment rate will remain at 7.3 percent. However, from 2021 labour supply will again grow faster than demand, so that the unemployment rate will rise to 7.5 percent by the end of the forecasting period. Inflationary pressure will remain moderate in the medium term, and the positive inflation differential with the euro area should continue to narrow, but not reverse. WIFO expects an average consumer price inflation rate of 1.8 percent p.a. Based on the projected economic outlook and the assumed economic policy conditions, the overall fiscal balance will remain positive over the forecasting period and even improve slightly. As a result, the public debt ratio (general government debt as a percentage of nominal GDP) will fall by around 17½ percentage points as compared with 2018 to below 57 percent by 2023.

Die Ergebnisse des WIFO-Konjunkturtests vom Juli 2019 zeigen für die Gesamtwirtschaft eine Seitwärtsbewegung der Kon-junktureinschätzungen. Zwischen den Sektoren sind aber markante Unterschiede zu beobachten: Während sich die Konjunktureinschätzung der Unternehmen in den Dienstleistungsbranchen verbessert und in der Bauwirtschaft trotz eines Rückganges im optimistischen Bereich bleibt, geben sie in der Sachgütererzeugung weiter nach.

Die Hochschätzung anhand der Meldungen der im WIFO-Investitionstest erfassten Unternehmen ergibt für 2019 insgesamt eine Expansion der Investitionen um 5,0% gegenüber 2018. Kleine und mittelgroße Betriebe weiten ihre Investitionen dabei stärker aus als Großunternehmen. Insbesondere die Hersteller von langlebigen Konsumgütern und Vorprodukten planen heuer Investitionssteigerungen. Die Investitionen der Hersteller von kurzlebigen Konsumgütern und Kraftfahrzeugen werden voraussichtlich sinken. Für Österreichs Gesamtwirtschaft rechnet das WIFO 2019 mit einem Anstieg der Bruttoanlageinvestitionen um real 2,4%.

In this laudation of Wilhelm Kohler's 65th birthday I firstly will do a retrospective on the fight for Europe by Willi and me at the same time with different methods. We both did research around Austria's accession to the EU. We made several ex-ante studies about the possible economic impact of EU membership. The expected effects on GDP and trade were positive. This was then verified in ex-post studies. At that time the EU only was in the stage of the Single Market. Later it continued its process of deepening (EMU with the introduction of the Euro) and enlarging. Lastly the EU increased to 28 members. These integration steps gave enough impetus for Willi and me to do respective research. Research has also been done on the reform of the SGP and the several tries to reform the EMU after the Euro crisis. The Brexit is a new challenge not only politically, but economically. After discussing the present multiplicity of problems of the EU (Brexit, Euro crisis, migration problem) and a reflexion of the already existing reform proposals I try to develop a vision for a new (institutional) future for Europe: a dissolution of the present EU and a new foundation as the United States of Europe.