Andreas Wörgötter

Regional Per Capita Income Convergence in Austria

HOFER H. and WORGOTTER A. (1997) Regional per capita income convergence in Austria, Reg. Studies 31, 1‐12. The question of whether there is a tendency for regional convergence has become a central topic for economic research. This paper examines growth and dispersion of output per capita across nine Austrian regions and 84 districts. Time series analysis of the Austrian regions finds no evidence for cointegration between regional output and national output. We extend our empirical work by estimating convergence regressions for Austrian regions and districts. The rate of convergence β is about 1% a year and indicates a convergence pattern with a very slow pace. If we include dummy variables for type of district we estimate β=2% which is a familiar value from other studies. HOFER H. et WORGOTTER A. (1997) La convergence des revenus regionaux par tete, Reg. Studies 31, 1-12. La tendance eventuelle a la convergence regionale est devenue un theme principal de la recherche economique. Cet article examine la cro...

East-west intra-industry trade dynamics

ConclusionsTrade liberalization, integration and catching-up with the developed countries are often associated with an increase in intra-industry trade. We showed in the literature survey that the reduction of trade barriers is associated with the growth of intra-industry trade. We currently observe that the trade of the selected EU countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands) with the CEECs (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia) follows this pattern as well. However, the increase of intra-industry trade is not uniform, but reflects different patterns of integration and progress of industrial restructuring.

Economic Growth of Landlocked Countries

Twenty years ago, blaming problems of economic underdevelopment on geography (or climate) would likely have led to accusations of „environmental determinism“. However, as economic divergence between rich and poor countries, as well as between middle-income and low-income developing countries, has persisted (Pritchett 1997), it has again become acceptable to seek the causes of poor economic performance in „natural“ factors. Gallup et al. (1998) suggest that location and climate, through their impacts on transportation costs, the burden of disease and agricultural productivity, have significant effects on development. In this paper, we focus on one of the main geographical disadvantages that a country can face, being landlocked

Structural reforms and the benefits of the enlarged EU internal market: still much to be gained

In the light of recent calls for additional structural reforms in Europe, this article looks at the role that a reduction of remaining barriers for integration and competition in the EU internal market can play in this context. This article presents new estimates of the likely impact of product market reform on labour productivity in old and new EU member countries, with a particular focus on network industries, professional services and retail trade. These estimates reveal that labour productivity could be boosted by an average of 10% over a time horizon of 10 years, in reward for a reform agenda that would align the stringency of anti-competitive regulation in services sectors to European best practice across all countries.

Structural Reforms and the Benefits of the Enlarged EU Internal Market

On attendait beaucoup des deux vagues d’elargissement de l’UE a l’est en 2004 et 2007, et le developpement du marche interieur de l’UE devait grandement dynamiser la croissance economique dans les nouveaux et dans les anciens Etats membres. Effectivement, d’enormes progres ont ete accomplis, les donnees actuelles indiquant une intensification des echanges et des flux d’IDE, un renforcement des migrations est-ouest et un environnement macroeconomique plus stable. Mais l’achevement du marche interieur progresse a un rythme inegal et on a comparativement moins avance dans les activites de services, qui representent plus des deux tiers des emplois et de la valeur ajoutee dans l’economie. Les simulations effectuees a partir d’un modele empirique montrent que des reformes qui amelioreraient la concurrence et renforceraient les echanges dans les activites de services pourraient se traduire par des gains substantiels de productivite dans les Etats membres de l’UE. Sur une periode de dix ans, la croissance predite de la productivite du travail qui resulterait d’un ambitieux programme de reformes est de l’ordre de 10 % pour le pays moyen de l’UE, et les nouveaux Etats membres tireraient encore davantage profit de ces reformes. De plus, les priorites de la reforme structurelle en vue d’un marche interieur de l’UE plus integre devraient etre les suivantes : l’elimination des obstacles qui subsistent a la mobilite des travailleurs, l’amelioration des infrastructures de transport, la reconnaissance mutuelle des qualifications et une integration plus etroite des marches dans les industries de reseau. Enfin, une utilisation plus explicite de l’evaluation comparative pourrait contribuer a accelerer les reformes futures concernant le marche interieur.

Does foreign policy determine foreign trade? Cointegration analysis of exports from selected countries to the Middle East

The paper analyses the relations between foreign policy and export performance. The paper deals with exports of selected European countries and the USA to Middle Eastern countries including Israel. Cointegration analysis is used to identify common stochastic trends in export series. A long-term relationship implies no significant influence of foreign policy differences on trade performance. According to the Johansen tests applied to bivariate and multivariate models, German, Austrian, Dutch and EU exports to Israel are cointegrated with the US exports, while Swiss exports are never cointegrated with the exports of these countries. This result confirms the importance of foreign policy in trade performance.

The German Labor Market in the Great Recession: Lessons for Other Countries

The performance of the German labor market during the crisis that began in 2008 stands out among developed countries. During the crisis, employment was preserved to a much larger extent than in other countries, notably when compared with the scale of the downturn; this outcome is now frequently described as the “German miracle.” The increase in unemployment in the great recession—the global economic decline that started in 2008 and the effects of which continue—differed substantially among countries, with Germany occupying one end of the spectrum (almost no increase) and the US (and notably Spain) standing at the other end (with a larger increase than many observers had expected). Furthermore, while the German economy recovered forcefully from the recession, and unemployment has fallen below its estimated long-run structural rate (i.e., the unemployment rate that is unaffected by cyclical variations), the US labor market is plagued by an unusual stickiness of long-term unemployment. It is as if labor market flexibility, for example the relatively light employment protection legislation that eases hiring and firing, does not pay off in the US in terms of growth, while Germany is not punished for having frozen its employment structure by avoiding layoffs during the crisis. Explaining the driving factors behind these differences is essential not only for understanding the German labor market miracle but also for providing lessons for other countries.

Estonia and Euro Adoption

En mettant en place un regime de caisse d’emission en 1992, l’Estonie a renonce pour sa gestion macroeconomique aux instruments que constituent la politique de taux de change et la politique monetaire. Tout en ayant ete tres utile pour le pays durant la periode de transition des annees 1990, le regime de caisse d’emission n’offre qu’une souplesse limitee pour mettre en œuvre les mesures qui faciliteraient la convergence par rapport a l’UE et qui attenueraient aussi la crise financiere et economique mondiale. Du fait de la crise financiere actuelle, l’adoption de l’euro est plus attrayante que jamais et est une des priorites du pays. Malgre tout, les chocs que subit l’Estonie ne sont que faiblement synchronises avec ceux que connait la zone euro et la structure de l’economie estonienne est egalement assez differente de celle de l’economie de la zone euro. Pour beneficier pleinement de la participation a l’UEM, l’Estonie devra renforcer d’autres mecanismes d’ajustement aux chocs economiques ; il lui faudra un marche du travail plus flexible, un environnement plus propice aux activites industrielles et commerciales et un cadre qui lui permette de mener des actions budgetaires anticycliques.

Bedeutung und Potentiale im österreichischen Außenhandel mit mitteleuropäischen Ländern

Die Öffnung Osteuropas brachte eine vollständige Änderung der Orientierung des Außenhandels dieser Länder mit sich. Dies ist vor allem in den ostmitteleuropäischen Ländern geprägt, mit denen Österreich bereits vor dem Beginn der Wirtschaftsreform reiche Handelsbeziehungen hatte. Vor dem Jahre 1988 war die UdSSR der wichtigste Handelspartner für alle ostmitteleuropäischen Länder. Zur Zeit nimmt eindeutig die Europäische Union (EU) diese Stelle ein. Österreich, das zwar zu den kleineren Ländern der EU gehört, spielt dabei entsprechend der geographischen Lage an der Grenze der EU zu Osteuropa eine verhältnismäßig wichtige Rolle. Für Österreich war die Zeit der Öffnung Osteuropas gleichzeitig durch die Eingliederung in den Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum und im Jahre 1994 in die EU geprägt. Andererseits bedeutet die Erweiterung der EU um Finnland, Österreich und Schweden eine Intensivierung der Handelsbeziehungen mit den osteuropäischen Ländern, weil die neuen Mitglieder der EU überdurchschnittlich hohe Handelsströme mit diesen Ländern ausweisen. Dementsprechend gliedert sich der folgende Beitrag in zwei Hauptabschnitte. In den folgenden beiden Kapiteln wird der Osthandel der EU beschrieben. Der Stellung Österreichs im Vergleich zu den anderen EU-Ländern wird dabei besondere Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet. Die darauf folgenden drei Kapitel untersuchen dann im Detail die Strukturänderungen im österreichischen Osthandel. Dabei wird die Entwicklung im Außenhandel mit Osteuropa mit jener im österreichischen Außenhandel mit Italien verglichen. Italien ist besonders als Beispiel geeignet, da Italien der zweitwichtigste Handelspartner Österreichs ist und aufgrund der Abwertungen der Lira seit 1992 größere Strukturänderungen als im Handel mit anderen westeuropäischen Ländern zu erwarten sind. Es zeigt sich jedoch, daß alle osteuropäischen Länder im Handel mit Österreich deutlich größere Strukturänderungen aufweisen als Italien.