https://hdl.handle.net/10419/128649 2026-10-23T18:46:03Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308792 Title: Statistical profiling as a targeting tool: Can it enhance the efficiency of active labor market policies? Authors: Eppel, Rainer; Huemer, Ulrike; Mahringer, Helmut; Schmoigl, Lukas Abstract: Digitization has spurred interest in the potential of statistical profiling to improve the targeting of active labor market policies. Despite growing adoption, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of such profiling in program allocation is scarce. We evaluate a semi-automated statistical profiling model in Austria that aims to target policies based on predicted reemployment prospects (low, medium, high). Our analysis shows that a reallocation of resources from low-chance to medium-chance segments, as envisaged by the Public Employment Service, would not yield the desired efficiency gains. Employment programs have a stronger impact on jobseekers with low job prospects than on those with medium prospects, and training programs are not consistently less effective in the low-chance segment either. Our findings suggest that the focus should remain on the most disadvantaged, both from an efficiency and an equity perspective. They caution against relying on overly coarse profiling and stress the need for nuanced targeting strategies. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/318442 Title: Business use of online platforms: Competition, satisfaction and willingness to pay Authors: Peneder, Michael; Bilek-Steindl, Sandra; Bärenthaler-Sieber, Susanne; Bock-Schappelwein, Julia; Charos, Alexandros Abstract: Online platforms have evolved into powerful programmable architectures that enable heterogeneous groups of autonomous but interdependent users to interact. Based on a stratified sample of 1,380 companies from a newly developed enterprise survey in Austria, the analysis aims to reduce the lack of comprehensive empirical research of the general patterns and regularities of business use of online platforms across different markets and industries. We conduct a comprehensive set of (ordered) probit estimations on the determinants of platform adoption, their interaction with platform competition, their joint impact on platform users, and their overall satisfaction and willingness to pay (more) for platform services. The analysis provides ample empirical evidence of the importance of rivalry between platforms for delivering its value proposition to all participants: for instance, the estimates show that more competing platforms imply (i) greater ease of switching, (ii) a greater likelihood of negotiable and favourable terms of use, and (iii) associate positively with a greater impact on the number of business partners, revenue per customer or product variety. In turn, (iv) better impacts for business users go hand in hand with their higher satisfaction, which directly links to (v) a higher willingness to pay (more) for platform services. Conversely, the ease of switching to an alternative platform associates with a significantly lower willingness to pay (more). Competition between platforms thus increases the bargaining power of users and allows them to claim a larger share of the platform's value proposition. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/318493 Title: The role of vacancy posting and unemployed hiring in start-up success Authors: Angel, Stefan; Eppel, Rainer; Fidrmuc, Elisabeth; Mahringer, Helmut; Weber, Andrea Abstract: Using a unique combination of Austrian administrative data, we show that start-ups' search and hiring decisions matter for their business success. Firms that report vacancies to the Public Employment Service in the early stage of their existence stay longer in the market and grow stronger. Moreover, while hiring the unemployed can benefit startups, the timing is crucial. Hiring within the first six months increases exit risk, whereas hiring in the second half-year reduces it. This is probably due to the nature of the positions filled. Key management positions, often filled early, seem to be better suited for other employees. Conversely, once the management team is in place, hiring the unemployed for "regular" positions fosters survival and growth. This pattern holds for different subgroups of the unemployed. Evidence of learning effects suggests that positive experiences with early PES involvement and unemployed hires encourage continued use of these practices later on. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/318496 Title: Central banks fuelling inequality: A comparative case study of Japan's unconventional monetary policy 1999-2006 Authors: Uhl, Moritz Abstract: Reoccurring instability keeps forcing central banks repeatedly to intervene in financial markets, since the 2007-2008 crisis most notably with massive asset purchases, whose popularisation was spearheaded by the Bank of Japan. This paper exploits the world's first implementation of quantitative easing in the vicinity of zero interest rates in Japan from 1999 through 2006 to evaluate their distributional impact by means of the synthetic control method. Comparing the actual and counterfactual development demonstrates that unconventional monetary policy increased the top 10 percent to bottom 50 percent income ratio by more than 28 percent. This exercise also detects a rise of more than 7 percent for the Gini coefficient which is beneath the corresponding value of 12.5 percent for the share of the top income decile. These results, together with evidence from capital and labour income trends as well as data on household ownership of financial assets, suggest that inequality widened via heightening asset prices converting into gains for richer income groups. Conditional upon structural features of an economy a negative distributional side effect of central banking's new tools may turn out to be of severe magnitude. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z