Themenplattform "Europäische Herausforderungen"

The European Central Bank (ECB) is independent in the conduct of monetary policy. However, it is accountable to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament. This is implemented via the "Monetary Dialogue". Every three months, the President of the ECB or, occasionally, another member of the ECB's Executive Board appears before the Committee to report on monetary policy and answer questions from Members of Parliament, who are informed in advance by experts. WIFO is part of a consortium of institutes that provides the Committee with independent expert advice on monetary and economic policy for the period 2020-2024.

This project investigates the possibility of the existence of middle-income traps among European NUTS-2 regions. Thus, the study extends the literature on middle-income traps, which has so far mainly focused on the national level, to the subnational level. Given the granularity of regional data, the study aims at improving existing spatial econometric methods by simultaneously accounting for spatial dependence, the nature of spatial spillover processes and the uncertainty regarding alternative definitions of growth regimes. Furthermore, the project focuses on analysing growth determinants of middle-income regions, such as EU regional funds, and studies factors driving regions to falling into and escaping from a middle-income trap.

Framework Contract with DG TAXUD with reopening of competition for the provision evaluation and impact assessment-related services. WIFO is part of a consortium, led by ECORYS.

Current research on US monetary policy shocks has improved identification of these shocks considerably. Research on euro area monetary policy has not yet incorporated these methodological advancements; identification is either weak or based on strong assumptions. We adopt the new approaches and sharpen inference on the macroeconomic and financial market effects of ECB monetary policy. In a first step, vector autoregressive models are estimated with Bayesian methods and monetary policy shocks are identified by means of sign restrictions. In a next step, identification is strengthened along two recently proposed dimensions: first, by applying sign restrictions also to the systematic component of monetary policy (Arias et al., 2016) and secondly, by exploiting narrative information on large reduced-form residuals (Antolin-Diaz & Rubio-Ramirez, 2016). We will not only estimate models for the euro area as a whole, but also for small euro area countries, including Austria. By employing a block exogenous framework, we duly take into account the specificity of the euro area as a monetary union of sovereign countries. We will not only present sample-averaged results by means of impulse response analysis and forecast error variance decompositions, but we will focus in particular on time series ("historical") decompositions. We will also apply them to new data in order to quantify in a timely manner the effects of the exit from the zero interest rate environment, which is to be expected over the project horizon.

Die Schaffung einheitlicher rechtsverbindlicher Normen und Standards sind eine essentielle Grundlage für das Funktionieren des EU-Binnenmarktes, die zugleich über den internationalen Handel zunehmend auch über die Grenzen der EU verbreitet werden. Die Gestaltung globaler Standards und Regulierungen nach EU-Richtlinien auch außerhalb der EU-Grenzen ist ein wichtiger Wettbewerbsvorteil der EU. Der EU gelingt es auch, sich ohne internationale Verträge oder Vereinbarungen, Regeln, Vorschriften und Standards nur durch Marktmechanismen in Drittländern durchzusetzen. Dies hat bereits in vielen Bereichen zu einer "Europäisierung" vieler wichtiger Aspekte des globalen Handels beigetragen. In der wissenschaftlichen Literatur wird dieser unilaterale regulatorische Einfluss der EU als "Brussels Effect" beschrieben. Im Rahmen dieses Projektes steht ein umfassender Überblick und Zusammenhang des Brussels Effects mit der EU-Handelspolitik im Vordergrund, der darlegt inwiefern ein Brussels Effect im Netzwerk der EU-Handelsabkommen zu beobachten ist. Auf Basis einer umfassenden und breiten Identifizierung des Brussels Effects setzt sich diese Studie das Ziel, die Handelseffekte im Sinne der führenden Rolle in der Gestaltung globaler Standards und Regulierungen für die EU und Österreich zu quantifizieren und darauf aufbauend weitere Bereiche qualitativ zu erfassen, in denen das Potential eines "Brussels Effects 2.0" im Rahmen der EU-Handelspolitik noch nicht ausgeschöpft ist.

In the programming period 2014-2020, the requirement of developing a smart specialisation strategy has been introduced as an ex-ante conditionality for the allocation of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under thematic objective 1 (strengthening research, technological development, and innovation). Within the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027, updated smart specialisation strategies again constitute an enabling condition for the allocation of ERDF funding under the political objective 1 (a more competitive and smarter Europe). What is new in this programming period is an explicit emphasis on developing skills for smart specialisation, industrial transition, entrepreneurship, and adaptability of enterprises to change. The rationale behind is the aim of improving human capital endowments relevant to specific key industries and/or technologies in a region, which may accelerate – and improve – the smart specialisation process and result in preferential outcomes (such as industrial transition appropriate to local strengths and opportunities). To provide assistance to 2021-2027 programming and as part of JRC's HESS project (Work Package 4), the aim of this analysis is to explore activities during the MFF 2014-2020 to see whether managing authorities have dedicated resources to supporting Higher Education for Smart Specialisation (HESS) in the past. Relevant ERDF projects are identified and analysed using the ERDF Beneficiaries 2014-2020 dataset created by WIFO on behalf of JRC.

Der bisher größte Reformschritt zur Liberalisierung und Vertiefung des EU-Binnenmarktes für Dienstleistungen wurde mit der EU-Dienstleistungsrichtlinie vollzogen. Mit ihrer Umsetzung sollte ein deutlicher Impuls zur Beseitigung bestehender Hindernisse für den freien Dienstleistungsverkehr, die Niederlassungsfreiheit von Dienstleistungserbringern und zur Verwaltungsvereinfachung gesetzt werden. Das Projekt quantifiziert die Auswirkungen der Richtlinie auf den österreichischen und EU-Dienstleistungshandel und die Wohlfahrt, zeigt aber auch ungenutzte Potentiale auf, die sich aus verbleibenden administrativen Barrieren und bestehenden Schwächen bei der Umsetzung und Durchsetzung der Binnenmarktregeln ergeben. Die Schätzung stützt sich auf ein strukturelles Gravitationsmodell, das auf einer disaggregierten Branchenebene geschätzt wird.

The objective of the study is to describe the potential effects of some possible corporate tax reforms on economic efficiency, inequality and tax competition. The study will offer an in-depth descriptive overview of the channels and possible interactions between them, where relevant. Furthermore, it will explore the main components of potential reforms, each within the Single Market and at international level: a reallocation of taxing rights across jurisdictions, the implementation of a minimum effective tax rate, and a harmonisation of tax bases. When quantification is possible, the study will also provide the methodology to estimate the magnitudes of the various effects of the reforms on economic efficiency, inequality and tax competition, together with preliminary estimates of the effects. Lastly, the study will didactically describe in detail whether and how the European Commission's CORTAX model might be further developed to include the potential effects discussed. In case the effects are not currently included in CORTAX, the study will conductible explain how to integrate them into the model and provide a detailed description of the methodology to integrate the effects, in the form of reduced-form equations.