Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/204269 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
Policy Notes and Reports No. 26
Publisher: 
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), Vienna
Abstract: 
Since the Eastern enlargement of the EU in 2004, Austria has lost global export market shares. At the same time exports to Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE) have gained a significant portion of Austria's total exports. Moreover, in recent years Austrian GDP growth has slowed down and unemployment increased. In this context our main research question is whether the opening to the East has had a structural lock-in effect for Austria's economy. In a novel approach on the territorial lock-in effect we apply a multi-perspective view from a microeconomic (firm-level), mesoeconomic (industry-level) and macroeconomic (country-level) perspective. The major finding is that by and large Austria is not subject to a lock-in effect into CESEE markets. On the contrary, the results suggest a growing internationalisation of the Austrian export structure. Nevertheless, policy recommendations that aim at further improving Austria's competitiveness include a productivity‑oriented wage policy, an industrial policy that aims at technological upgrading, support for European policy measures that speed up income convergence across the continent as well as additional measures to internationalise Austrian businesses with a focus on the booming emerging markets in India and Africa.
Subjects: 
competitiveness
lock-in effect
total factor productivity
value added trade
real exchange rate
Eastern Europe
Austria
JEL: 
D24
F14
F41
E64
Document Type: 
Research Report

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