Karl Aiginger - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Karl Aiginger

Wirtschaftsdienst, Aug 1, 2016

If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Comm... more If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence.

Wirtschaftsdienst, 2016

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 1, 2015

Industrial policy is back on the agenda and the consensus is that it must be different "this time... more Industrial policy is back on the agenda and the consensus is that it must be different "this time" from the past. We redefine industrial policy for industrialised countries as a strategy to promote "high-road competitiveness", understood as the ability of an economy to achieve "Beyond-GDP"' Goals. High-road strategies are based on advanced skills, innovation, supporting institutions, ecological ambition and an activating social policy. This "new industrial policy" is systemic, working in alignment with other policy strands and supporting social and environmental goals; it affects the structure of the economy as the whole not only the manufacturing sector. Short-term actions, such as protecting employment in unviable companies, low prices for fossil fuels, or reducing wages in high-income economies are counterproductive. To pursue an industrial policy that targets society''s ultimate goals without public micromanagement will be challenging. It could be achieved 1. by setting incentives, particularly those impacting on technical progress (e.g., to make it less labour-saving and more energy-saving), 2. by the use of the important role governments play in the education and research sectors, 3. by greater public awareness and 4. if consumer preferences will call for socio-ecological transition.

The complete study (either the english long version or the german short version) is available at

In the spring of 2008, WIFO, KMU Forschung Austria, Prognos AG in Germany and convelop were joint... more In the spring of 2008, WIFO, KMU Forschung Austria, Prognos AG in Germany and convelop were jointly commissioned by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth to perform a systems evaluation of the country's research promotion and funding activities. Based on their findings, six recommendations were developed for a change in Austrian RTDI policy as outlined below: 1. to move from a narrow to a broader approach in RTDI policy (links to education policy, consideration of the framework for innovation such as competition, international perspectives and mobility); 2. to move from an imitation to a frontrunner strategy (striving for excellence and market leadership in niche and high-quality segments, increasing market shares in advanced sectors and technology fields, and operating in segments of relevance for society); 3. to move from a fragmented approach to public intervention to a more coordi...

Political opposition to globalisation has risen in industrialized countries, although the positiv... more Political opposition to globalisation has risen in industrialized countries, although the positive overall effects on the growth of the world economy and the alleviation of poverty are empirically verifiable. However, the effects of globalisation vary according to regions, professional groups, and education. In the period of intensive globalisation, unemployment and inequality have risen, and people feel their lives to be determined by forces they cannot influence. Since the many new challenges, such as climate protection, can be better solved by worldwide efforts, it is indispensable to avoid new national barriers and to strengthen the endorsement of globalisation and the concomitant welfare effects. However, it is also necessary to respect cultural differences in preferences and to view globalisation as a search and learning process. Instruments for the implementation of such a strategy may vary according to regional specifics. Social and ecological goals – gaining higher importan...

Wirtschaftspolitische Begriffe, die unter nationalen Aspekten definiert wurden, mussen heute an d... more Wirtschaftspolitische Begriffe, die unter nationalen Aspekten definiert wurden, mussen heute an die neuen Anforderungen von Technologieentwicklung und Globalisierung angepasst werden. So hat sich der Begriff der Wettbewerbsfahigkeit von einer vorwiegend kostenseitigen Betrachtung zu einem Konzept entwickelt, nach dem die Fahigkeit eines Landes zur Erreichung von Nachhaltigkeitszielen ("Beyond GDP") beurteilt wird. Diese Definition ermoglicht die konsequente Verfolgung einer "High-Road-Strategie": Sie nutzt Innovationen, Skills und Ambitionen, um damit hohe Einkommen, sozialen Zusammenhalt und okologische Exzellenz zu erreichen. Auch Strukturpolitik und Industriepolitik mussen neu definiert werden, und der Erfolg der Globalisierung darf nicht nur an Indikatoren uber Export- und Importanteile beurteilt werden, sondern auch an der Berucksichtigung von okologischen und sozialen Standards. Unter Berucksichtigung von Nachhaltigkeitszielen ist die Wettbewerbsfahigkeit d...

This paper argues that an industrial policy strategy is needed for the southern European countrie... more This paper argues that an industrial policy strategy is needed for the southern European countries for regaining competitiveness and stability. That strategie need to be different from the past industrial policy, more systemic, and should include innovation strategies and ways to upgrade education. They should embrace competition on national and international markets as driver of change. They should create and support clusters and industrial zones, which could then be the basis for technology transfers, foreign direct investment and for making use of globalisation. New industrial policies should emphasise on sectors where society has a long term interest, e.g. alternative energies or health tourism. In short, industrial policy is a necessary strategy element in times of budget consolidation especially for the southern European periphery.

This paper aims to redefine the term competitiveness to enhance its usefulness for the evaluation... more This paper aims to redefine the term competitiveness to enhance its usefulness for the evaluation of country performance and for policy conclusions. We attempt to establish a definition that is adequate if economic policy strives for a new growth path that is more dynamic, socially inclusive and ecologically sustainable. We tentatively apply the proposed definition to evaluate the "competitiveness" of EU member states as well as to compare Europe's "competitiveness" with that of the US (and, where possible, with Switzerland, Japan and China). In the first part of the paper, we examine the evolution of the concept from a focus on "inputs" at the firm level (price or cost competitiveness) to economic structure and capabilities at the country level and finally to "outcome" competitiveness, where outcomes are defined in a broad sense and in the context of the WWWforEurope project. We propose to define competitiveness as the "ability of a ...

This paper analyses why many citizens believe that the current social and economic system is far ... more This paper analyses why many citizens believe that the current social and economic system is far from optimal, but do not vote for a change in the desired direction in election processes. There is an increasing erosion of central political parties, and new populist parties are appearing at both extremes of the political spectrum. They are good at attracting angry and disappointed voters but are unable to offer consistent concepts that can produce a social economic system with efficiency, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. Since populist parties agree on what they do not want, and not where to go, both right-wing and left-wing parties are able to cooperate against the prevailing system.

Journal of Applied Economics, 2004

Some recent studies have shown that specialisation of countries has tended to increase, while reg... more Some recent studies have shown that specialisation of countries has tended to increase, while regional concentration of countries has tended to decrease. This seems to be counterintuitive at first glance. In this paper, we use the entropy index-as the indicator of structural change with the neatest aggregation properties to show how this divergence can happen. The main purpose of the paper is methodological, but we also apply the methodology to a specific case study: Manufacturing in the European Union since 1985. We confirm for this interesting period that increasing industrial specialisation has been offset by faster growth in the smaller Member States, with the net effect that industries have become somewhat less geographically concentrated. In terms of economic geography the evidence is in line with the second part of the inverted U-curve (where decreasing transport costs eventually foster de-concentration). This is no contradiction to increasing specialisation of countries in specific industries as predicted by many models in the old as well as the new trade theory.

Intereconomics, 2016

Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence.

Intereconomics, 2016

Wifo Working Papers, Oct 6, 2003

Insufficiently flexible labour markets combined with high welfare costs are often thought to be t... more Insufficiently flexible labour markets combined with high welfare costs are often thought to be the main cause of unsatisfactory growth in Europe. This paper uses the OECD data on regulation of the product and labour market to confirm the difference in the extent of regulation between US and Europe in labour and product market regulation. However, there are at least two other explanations for European underperformance during the nineties: insufficient investment in long run determinants of growth and macroeconomic policy. We first show that European policy differed from that of the US in all three areas. The extent of the differences is decreasing for labour market regulation, but increasing for macroeconomic policy and for investment into future growth. Then we exploit performance differences between European countries to assess the relative importance of labour market reforms versus investment into long-run growth. The best performing European countries did fine tune incentives in labour and product markets, without dismantling the welfare regime and with little deregulation for regular labour contracts. The largest continental economies − Germany, France and Italy − did not reform their institutions to the same extent. However the main difference between the top 3 and the big 3 countries is the increasing investment of the successful countries into the determinants of long run growth. This indicates that labour market regulation may be an important condition for growth, while investment into research, innovation and new technologies is the sufficient condition.

Review of Economics Finance, 2011

Ekonomiaz Revista Vasca De Economia, 2013

This paper compares the depth and length of the recent crisis with the Great Depression in the 19... more This paper compares the depth and length of the recent crisis with the Great Depression in the 1930s. It claims that economic policy played a crucial role in shortening and curtailing the recent crisis. We analyse which policies were applied during the recent crisis and which measures worked. We know that policies relying on large infrastructure projects inherently involve an

Wirtschaftsdienst, Aug 1, 2016

Wirtschaftsdienst, 2016

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 1, 2015

The complete study (either the english long version or the german short version) is available at

Journal of Applied Economics, 2004

Intereconomics, 2016

Wifo Working Papers, Oct 6, 2003

Review of Economics Finance, 2011

Ekonomiaz Revista Vasca De Economia, 2013